News-Transcript Group
| Industry | Newspapers |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Fate | Bought |
| Successor | Community Newspaper Company |
| Headquarters | 33 New York Avenue, Framingham, Massachusetts 01701  United States |
Key people | Asa Cole, group publisher |
| Products | Middlesex News, two other dailies, and 11 weekly newspapers |
Number of employees | 1994: 460 |
| Parent | Harte-Hanks Communications |
News-Transcript Group, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA, was a newspaper publisher eastern Massachusetts, overseeing three daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers before being bought by Fidelity Investments and dissolved into Community Newspaper Company in 1995.
History
The group was formed in 1986 when Harte-Hanks bought Transcript Newspapers Inc. of Dedham, Massachusetts, merging it with the Middlesex News. Later that year, Harte-Hanks bought Century Newspapers and combined its operations with News-Transcript. In the mid-1990s, as Harte-Hanks divested its newspaper holdings, the company announced in 1994 that it would sell the 14-newspaper chain to Fidelity Investments.[1]
The purchase price was not disclosed, but was estimated at US$30 million to US$40 million. When the sale was complete in 1995, Fidelity combined News-Transcript with Community Newspaper Company to form a 766,000-circulation publisher, one of the largest in Massachusetts.[2]
Northeast Group
Harte-Hanks bought the Middlesex News in 1972, establishing its "Northeast Group" of newspapers, which included three Town Crier weeklies in towns neighboring the News' main coverage area of Framingham and Natick, Massachusetts. The News, a 40,000-circulation daily, gave Harte-Hanks -- and later CNC -- a mid-sized daily newspaper to serve as a flagship for scattered weeklies and smaller dailies.
Northeast Group added the 79-year-old Wellesley Townsman October 1, 1986, part of a push by the Middlesex News into the affluent suburb.[3]
Transcript Newspapers Inc.
The publisher of two smaller daily newspapers, Transcript Newspapers Inc. was owned for years by Wisconsin publisher Post Corporation. The papers' typesetters organized a long and at times violent strike in 1980, alleging unfair labor practices. Eleven reporters and editors at the Waltham paper were fired for refusing to cross a picket line; in all, about 60 Transcript employees were laid off for striking.[4]
Between August 1984 and March 1986, the company was sold four times: to Gillett Communications in 1984; then to Thomson Newspapers that December; in April 1985 to William Dean Singleton (head of MediaNews Group)[5] -- and eventually, in 1986, to Harte-Hanks.[6]
Properties
At the time of its sale to CNC, News-Transcript Group consisted of three daily and 11 weekly newspapers, all in Massachusetts (the papers' owners before 1986 are listed in parentheses):[1]
- Daily Transcript of Dedham (flagship of Transcript Newspapers)
- Middlesex News (daily) of Framingham (flagship of Harte-Hanks' Northeast Group)
- News-Tribune (daily) of Waltham (Transcript)
- The Arlington Advocate of Arlington (Century Newspapers)
- Belmont Citizen-Herald of Belmont (Century)
- Needham Chronicle of Needham (Transcript)
- The Newton Graphic of Newton (Transcript)
- Parkway Transcript of Roslindale, in Boston (Transcript)
- Sudbury Town Crier of Sudbury (Northeast Group)
- Wayland Town Crier of Wayland (Northeast Group)
- Wellesley Townsman of Wellesley (Northeast Group)
- West Roxbury Transcript of West Roxbury, in Boston (Transcript)
- Weston Town Crier of Weston (Northeast Group)
- The Winchester Star of Winchester (flagship of Century Newspapers)
All of these newspapers except the Newton Graphic are still published by Community Newspaper Company, now a division of GateHouse Media, although the dailies' and Roslindale paper's names have changed. The Newton paper was merged with CNC's Newton Tab after the News-Transcript sale.
References
- ^ a b "Middlesex News Changing Owners". Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), November 23, 1994.
- ^ Nutile, Tom. "Fidelity Unit Buys Harte-Hanks Papers". Boston Herald, page 18, April 1, 1995.
- ^ Sleeper, Peter B. "Read All About It: 4 Newspapers Woo Wellesley -- and Ad Dollars". The Boston Globe, page 21, October 23, 1985.
- ^ "Employees Fired in Newspaper Strike". The Boston Globe, page 1, July 26, 1980.
- ^ Fox, Wendy. "Transcript Newspapers Sold for Third Time in 8 Months". The Boston Globe, p. 32, April 23, 1985.
- ^ Adams, Jane Meredith. "Harte-Hanks Acquires Transcript Group". The Boston Globe, March 14, 1986.