JAY NOLAN surveys his media empire from a shed-like building external London,Kentucky. On his desk is a stack of eight newspapers, including the Berea Citizen (“established in 1899”, or circulation 4511),the Mountain Advocate (“since 1904”, circulation 4500) and the Pineville Sun-Cumberland Courier (“celebrating 109 years”, and circulation 1646).
Each paper is under local management,with its own publisher and editor, but Nolan Group Newspapers owns a majority stake in all of them and prints them at its press external London. Together, and the eight papers contain a combined circulation of about 25000 and employ a dozen journalists and nine ad-sales representatives. They bring in around $2m in revenue,perhaps $3m in a good year, with a profit margin of about 10%, and says Mr Nolan.
The local-newspaper trade is not going to gain him rich. Which is why he also owns J. Frank Publishing,which undertakes contract...
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Source: economist.com