CherryRoad Media

Last updated
CherryRoad Media
Parent company CherryRoad Technologies Inc.
Founded2020
FounderJeremy Gulban
Headquarters location6 Upper Pond Road, Parsippany, New Jersey
Official website cherryroad-media.com

CherryRoad Media is an American newspaper publisher based in New Jersey. It is the communications division of CherryRoad Technologies and was founded in 2020 by its CEO Jeremy Gulban. The company specializes in weekly publications in rural communities.

Contents

History

Origins

In 1983, Michael Gulban started a technology company in New Jersey called DataStudy Inc. The business' name was changed 20 years later to CherryRoad Technologies, [1] which came from the firm’s original address. [2] The company's roots were in complex software implementation and financial reporting systems, often for local government agencies. Over time it became an internet service provider offering cloud platforms and programs for hosting multiple websites. [2]

Michael Gulban's son Jeremy Gulban, a graduate of Drew University where he majored in economics and minored in political science, [2] took over operations in 2008 [1] after working 10 years in Chicago. [3] After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, CherryRoad created software applications for virtual meetings and remote learning and offered them for free to school districts and local governments, but none were interested. [3] So Jeremy Gulban said the company turned its attention toward using the technology to improve community newspapers. [3]

In November 2020, Jeremy Gulban founded CherryRoad Media with the purchase of the Cook County News-Herald, a weekly newspaper in Minnesota. [1] The previous owners Hal and Deidre Kettunen had owned the newspaper since 2008. [4]

2021

In February, CherryRoad purchased five former properties of Rust Communications in Missouri: Carroll County News in Berryville, the Lovely County Citizen in Eureka Springs, the Salem News, the Villager Journal of Cherokee Village and the Clay County Times-Democrat of Piggott/Rector. [3]

In June, CherryRoad purchased four weekly newspapers in Arkansas: The Mountaineer Echo of Flippin, the Marshall Mountain Wave, the Clay County Courier in Corning and the Pocahontas Star Herald. [3]

CherryRoad tried to buy the International Falls Journal from Alden Global Capital, but the company chose to close the paper instead [2] in June. [5] Alden had owned the paper since 2020 as part of its acquisition of Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing Co. [5] In response to the closure, CherryRoad launched the Rainy Lake Gazette about three weeks later [2] in July. [1]

In September, CherryRoad purchased 20 publications from Gannett. The sale included 13 Kanas papers: the Hays Daily News, the Garden City Telegram, the Leavenworth Times, the St. John News, the Kiowa County Signal, the Dodge City Daily Globe, the McPherson Sentinel, the Butler County Times-Gazette, the Wellington Daily News, the Ottawa Times, the Newton Kansan, the Pratt Tribune and the Penny Press in Hiawatha. [6]

The Gannet sale also included two newspapers in Nebraska: Nebraska City News Press and Syracuse Journal-Democrat; four Missouri papers: Independence Examiner, Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Boonville Daily News, Linn County Leader; and the Hamburg Reporter in Iowa. [7] The purchase of the newspapers went into effect Oct. 1. [6]

In December, CherryRoad purchased four Colorado newspapers from Gannet: La Junta Tribune-Democrat, the Fowler Tribune, Bent County Democrat and Ag Journal. [8] That same month the CherryRoad Media announced its acquisition of seven rural Minnesota newspapers from Gannett: [9] the Crookston Times, Granite Falls Advocate Tribune, Montevideo American-News, Redwood Falls Gazette, St. James Plaindealer, Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch and Tri-County News in Cottonwood. [1]

At some point in 2021, CherryRoad acquired the The Clayton Record in Alabama. [1]

2022

In January, CherryRoad founded its second start up newspaper, the Lake County Press, in Lake County, Minnesota. [1] In February, CherryRoad purchased several Gannett-owned newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma. [10]

In September, CherryRoad purchased four weekly papers in Massachusetts purchased from Gannett. The sale included The Landmark in Holden, the Leominster Champion, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and The Grafton News. The acquisition averted the planned Sept. 15 closure of The Landmark. [11]

That same month CherryRoad acquired three weekly Utah newspapers from Brehm Communications Inc., including The Richfield Reaper, The Vernal Express and the Uintah Basin Standard. [12]

In November, CherryRoad purchased The Star-News in Idaho from Central Idaho Publishing. [13] That same month CherryRoad purchased The Clinton Item, another Massachusetts paper, from Gannett. [14]

2023

In August, CherryRoad purchased several Kansas newspapers from the family owned The News-Press Gazette & Company, including the Miami County Republic, the Atchison Globe and the Hiawatha World. The sale also included two papers based in Liberty, Missouri: the Courier-Tribune and the Gladstone Dispatch. [15]

Also in August, CherryRoad acquired the Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations from Gannett. At the time, the facility printed most of CherryRoad's Kansas publications as well as numerous other newspapers in the area. [16] That same month, CherryRoad acquired eight community newspapers and Eagle Print from Delphos Herald, Inc. The sale included Ohio papers the Delphos Herald, Van Wert Times Bulletin, the Putnam County Sentinel, the Paulding Progress, the Ada Herald, the Putnam County Vidette,Monroe County Beacon and The Register in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. [17]

On Sept. 7, the Villager Journal of Cherokee Village and the Salem News, which CherryRoad purchased in February 2021, were merged together into a single publication called Areawide News. [18]

2024

In January, CherryRoad purchased Page 1 Printers, a commercial printer based in Slayton, Minnesota, from Graphic Arts Advisors, LLC. [19]

Publications

As of July 2023, CherryRoad Media owns 75 newspapers across 17 states. [20]

Newspapers owned by CherryRoad Media
StateService areaNewspaperWebsite
Alabama Clayton The Clayton Record claytonrecord.com
Arkansas Piggott Clay County Times-Democrat cctimesdemocrat.com
Salem Villager Journal villageronline.com
Salem The News thenewsinsalem.com
Marshall Marshall Mountain Wave emountainwave.com
Pocahontas Pocahontas Star Herald starheraldnews.com
Corning Clay County Courier claycountycourier.com
Colorado La Junta AG Journal agjournalonline.com
La Junta Bent County Democrat bcdemocratonline.com
Trinidad Chronicle News thechronicle-news.com
La Junta Fowler Tribune fowlertribune.com
La Junta La Junte Tribune-Democrat lajuntatribunedemocrat.com
Idaho McCall The Star-News mccallstarnews.com
Illinois Beardstown Cass County Star-Gazette beardstownnewspapers.com
Indiana Elwood Tipton County Tribune tiptoncountytribune.com
Elwood The Call-Leader elwoodcall-leader.com
Elwood The Alexandria Times-Tribune alexandriatimes-tribune.com
Iowa Hamburg Hamburg Reporter hamburgreporter.com
Kansas Gardner Gardner News gardnernews.com
Fort Leavenworth Ft. Leavenworth Lamp ftleavenworthlamp.com
Pratt Kiowa County Signal kiowacountysignal.com
El Dorado Butler County Times-Gazette butlercountytimesgazette.com
McPherson McPherson Sentinel mcphersonsentinel.com
Leavenworth The Leavenworth Times leavenworthtimes.com
Dodge City Dodge City Daily Globe dodgeglobe.com
Newton Newton Kansan thekansan.com
Garden City Garden City Telegram gctelegram.com
Pratt St. John News sjnewsonline.com
Hays Hays Daily News hdnews.net
Ottawa Ottawa Herald ottawaherald.com
Wellington Wellington Daily News wellingtondailynews.com
Pratt Pratt Tribune pratttribune.com
Massachusetts Clinton The Clinton Item clintonitem.com
Leominster Leominster Champion leominsterchamp.com
Grafton The Grafton News thegraftonnews.com
Millbury Millbury-Sutton Chronicle millburysutton.com
Holden The Landmark thelandmark.com
Michigan Standish The Arenac County Independent arenacindependent.com
West Branch The Ogemaw County Herald ogemawherald.com
Mio The Oscoda County Herald oscodaherald.com
Minnesota International Falls Rainy Lake Gazette rainylakegazette.com
Sleepy Eye Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch sleepyeyenews.com
Grand Marais Cook County News-Herald cookcountynews-herald.com
Redwood Falls Redwood Falls Gazette redwoodfallsgazette.com
Granite Falls Granite Falls Advocate-Tribune granitefallsnews.com
Montevideo Montevideo American News montenews.com
Two Harbors Lake County Press lakecountypress.news
St. James St. James Plaindealer stjamesnews.com
Cottonwood Tri-County News tricountynewsmn.com
Crookston Crookston Times crookstontimes.com
Missouri Salem South Missourian News southmissouriannews.com
Marshall Marshall Democrat-News marshallnews.com
Independence The Examiner examiner.net
Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune chillicothenews.com
Boonville Boonville Daily News boonvilledailynews.com
Marceline Linn County Leader linncountyleader.com
Nebraska Nebraska City Nebraska City News Press ncnewspress.com
Syracuse Syracuse Journal-Democrat journaldemocrat.com
New York Penn Yan The Chronicle Express chronicle-express.com
Oklahoma Shawnee Shawnee News Star news-star.com
Ardmore The Daily Ardmoreite ardmoreite.com
Texas Mineral Wells Palo Pinto Press palopintopress.com
Brownwood Brownwood Bulletin brownwoodtx.com
Glen Rose Stephenville Empire-Tribune yourstephenvilletx.com
Glen Rose Glen Rose Reporter yourglenrosetx.com
Ballinger Runnels County Register runnelscountyregister.com
Sherman Anna Melissa Tribune amtrib.com
Sherman Van Alstyne Leader vanalstyneleader.com
Waxahachie Midlothian Mirror midlothianmirror.com
Alice Alice Echo-News Journal alicetx.com
Sherman Herald Democrat heralddemocrat.com
Waxahachie Waxahachie Daily Light waxahachietx.com
Utah Vernal The Vernal Express vernalexpressnews.com
Roosevelt Uintah Basin Standard uintahbasinstandard.com
Richfield The Richfield Reaper richfieldreaper.com

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