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Ohio Community Media was an American privately owned publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, primarily in the state of Ohio. It was headquartered in the Dayton suburb of Miamisburg, Ohio, and was owned by Philadelphia-based Versa Capital Management.

History

Most of the company's holdings comprise the Ohio core of Brown Publishing Company, a family-owned publisher based in Cincinnati that declared bankruptcy in April 2010. In September of that year, Brown's 14 Ohio dailies and about 50 weekly publications were transferred to Ohio Community Media, a new entity owned by Brown's creditors, in a transaction valued at $21.75 million.

Over the next few months, the new company sold a "mini-empire" of business newsweeklies that Brown had assembled starting in 2007, unloading titles in such far-flung cities as Charleston, South Carolina; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Fort Worth, Texas; and Naperville, Illinois.

Versa completed its purchase of Ohio Community Media for an undisclosed price in May 2011. By this point, the chain consisted of 14 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies, all in Ohio.

In February 2012, Versa purchased Impressions Media, owner of Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and in May of that year it bought four Midwestern dailies formerly owned by Freedom Communications. That purchase included The Lima News in Ohio, as well as dailies in Illinois and Missouri. The four dailies acquired from Freedom were integrated into Ohio Community Media.

In 2012 Versa merged Ohio Community Media, the former Freedom papers, Impressions Media, and Heartland Publications into a new company, Civitas Media.

Holdings

Ohio Community Media published 18 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies (paid and free), in addition to several free weekly shopper publications. The Beavercreek News-Current, now a weekly, was formerly a daily publication.

Illinois

• Journal-Courier of Jacksonville
• The Telegraph of Alton

Missouri

• Sedalia Democrat of Sedalia
• Whiteman Warrior (weekly) of Whiteman Air Force Base

Ohio

References

1. Sanctis, Matt (September 4, 2010). "Judge OKs Sale of Brown Newspapers". Dayton Daily News. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
2. "Brown's Biz Journals Now All Sold". NewsInc. February 14, 2011. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
3. "Business Headlines: Local Newspapers Have New Owners". Dayton Daily News. May 21, 2011. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
4. Rutz, Heather (May 17, 2012). "Versa Capital Will Purchase The Lima News". The Lima News. Lima, Ohio. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
5. ^ Wursthorn, Michael (May 17, 2012). "News Release: Versa Buys Four Papers From Freedom Communications". Dow Jones LBO Wire. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
6. Business Wire, Versa Capital Announces the Formation of Civitas Media, LLC, retrieved April 10, 2017 {{citation}}: |author= has generic name (help)
7. "Newspapers". OHComMedia.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.

External links

• Ohio Community Media
• Versa Capital Management

• Newspaper companies of the United States