Mariner Group

Last updated
Mariner Group
Industry Newspapers
Fate Bought, then dissolved
Successor Community Newspaper Company
Founded 1972
Defunct January 11, 1996
Headquarters 165 Enterprise Drive, Marshfield, Massachusetts 02050
United States
Key people
 David S. Cutler, founder
Products Several Mariner weekly newspapers along the Massachusetts South Shore
Parent Independent, 1972-1989
Capital Cities/ABC, 1989-1995
Fidelity Investments, 1995-1996

Mariner Group, based in Marshfield, Massachusetts, United States, was a chain of weekly newspapers in the suburban South Shore near Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1972 with one paper, the Marshfield Mariner, the group was sold in 1989 to Capital Cities/ABC and again in 1995 to Fidelity Investments, which dissolved it into Community Newspaper Company a few months later.

Marshfield, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,132 at the 2010 census.

A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published once or twice a week.

Suburb Human settlement that is part of or near to a larger city

A suburb is a mixed-use or residential area, existing either as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. In most English-speaking countries, suburban areas are defined in contrast to central or inner-city areas, but in Australian English and South African English, suburb has become largely synonymous with what is called a "neighborhood" in other countries and the term extends to inner-city areas. In some areas, such as Australia, India, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and a few U.S. states, new suburbs are routinely annexed by adjacent cities. In others, such as Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, and much of the United States, many suburbs remain separate municipalities or are governed as part of a larger local government area such as a county.

Contents

Today, several of the Mariner papers still publish as part of CNC, now owned by GateHouse Media. Many of the others were folded into former competitors after CNC acquired Mariner's chief competitor, Memorial Press Group.

GateHouse Media American media company

GateHouse Media Inc., a holding company for New Media Investment Group, former symbol on OTC Markets Group's OTCQB tier GHSE, is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and digital media in the United States, headquartered in the town of Perinton, New York. As of April 2018, GateHouse Media publishes 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. In addition to publishing content, GateHouse Media offers commercial services including a digital marketing agency (ThriveHive), event production company, and creative services.

Memorial Press Group, based in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States, was a chain of weekly newspapers along the South Shore near Boston, Massachusetts. Long owned by The Patriot Ledger in nearby Quincy, MPG and its daily parent were sold to GateHouse Media in 2006.

History

David S. Cutler, a former reporter for The Patriot Ledger and son of the publisher of the weekly Duxbury Clipper, started the Marshfield Mariner weekly in 1972 and expanded his holdings to include 17 weekly newspapers—including several startup Mariners—by 1989. [1]

The Patriot Ledger is a daily morning newspaper printed in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday.

He sold the company that year to Capital Cities for an estimated US$7 or US$8 million. Fidelity Investments bid for the papers at that time but was unsuccessful. [2]

Fidelity Investments Inc., commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is a multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1993, the company bought the competing Hingham Journal, founded in 1827, and folded it into the Hingham Mariner. [3]

In 1994, Capital Cities announced it would sell all 74 of its newspapers in New England, including the Mariner chain. [4]

New England Region of the United States

New England is a region composed of six states of the northeastern United States: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north, respectively. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the south. Boston is New England's largest city as well as the capital of Massachusetts. The largest metropolitan area is Greater Boston with nearly a third of the entire region's population, which also includes Worcester, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Providence, Rhode Island.

Fidelity, always considered a strong contender to buy Mariner, bought another large suburban chain of weeklies, News-Transcript Group, in late 1994, fueling speculation that a deal for Mariner was close behind. At the same time, The Boston Globe was said to be interested in buying the South Shore weeklies. [5]

The deal was not struck until early 1995, however. Fidelity's subsidiary, Community Newspaper Company, purchased Mariner for an undisclosed sum. At the time, CNC chairman William Elfers said Mariner "sort of fills out the map," giving CNC an uninterrupted belt of papers surrounding Boston, from Cape Cod through MetroWest to the Massachusetts North Shore. The Mariner purchase raised CNC's weekly circulation to 1,018,000. [6]

Mariner Group was dissolved in early 1996, when CNC realigned its operating units by geography. [7] The Mariners became the core of the new South Unit.

Properties

At the time of its sale to CNC in 1995, Mariner Group consisted of the following weeklies:

After the dissolution of Mariner Group, CNC started a Duxbury Mariner in Duxbury, but closed that paper in 1999 after losing a newspaper war with the Duxbury Reporter, part of Memorial Press Group, and the longtime leader, the Duxbury Clipper, of which David Cutler had become publisher. [8]

For a few months following GateHouse Media's purchase of CNC and Memorial Press Group in 2006, the new sister companies continued to publish competing titles in several South Shore towns. Eventually the duplications were eliminated, leading to the closure of the Kingston and Randolph Mariners, and the Abington-Rockland Mariner ceasing Rockland coverage.

Related Research Articles

Plymouth County, Massachusetts County in the United States

Plymouth County is a county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2010 census, the population was 494,919. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton. In 1685 the County was created by the Plymouth General Court, the legislature of Plymouth Colony, predating its annexation by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Norwell, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Norwell is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,506 at the 2010 Census. The town's southeastern border runs along the North River.

Rockland, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Rockland is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,489 at the 2010 census. As of December 31, 2009, there were 11,809 registered voters in the community.

Scituate, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Scituate is a seacoast town situated in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 18,133 at the 2010 census.

Area codes 781 and 339

Area code 781 covers most of the Boston suburbs roughly along Route 128 and about two-thirds of the South Shore. It was created as a split from area code 617 on September 1, 1997.. Use of 781 became mandatory February 1, 1998. Area code 339 has been sharing the service area since May 2, 2001. Since then, 10 digit local dialing is mandatory.

Massachusettss 9th congressional district

Massachusetts's 9th congressional district is located in eastern Massachusetts. It is represented by Democrat William R. Keating.

Massachusetts Route 3A state highway in eastern Massachusetts

Route 3A is a state highway in eastern Massachusetts, which parallels Route 3 and U.S. Route 3 from Cedarville in southern Plymouth to Tyngsborough at the New Hampshire state line.

Greenbush Line An MBTA Commuter Rail line that connects Boston and Greenbush, Massachusetts.

The Greenbush Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which serves the South Shore region of Massachusetts. The 27.6-mile (44.4 km) line runs from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through the towns of Quincy, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate to the Greenbush neighbourhood in southern Scituate. There are ten stations along the line: South Station, JFK/UMass, Quincy Center, Weymouth Landing/East Braintree, East Weymouth, West Hingham, Nantasket Junction, Cohasset, North Scituate, and Greenbush.

This article shows U.S. Census totals for Plymouth County, Massachusetts, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2010.

Massachusettss 16th congressional district

Massachusetts's sixteenth congressional district is an obsolete district. It was also for a short time in the early 19th century a Massachusetts District of Maine. It was eliminated in 1933 after the 1930 Census. Its last location was in eastern Massachusetts at Cape Cod. Its last Congressman was Charles L. Gifford, who was redistricted into the fifteenth district.

Robert L. Hedlund member of the Massachusetts Senate, representing the Plymouth and Norfolk District

Robert L. Hedlund is the Mayor of Weymouth, Massachusetts. He was formerly a member of the Massachusetts Senate representing the Plymouth and Norfolk District. He is a member of the United States Republican Party.

The Old Colony Library Network (OCLN) is a consortium of 29 member libraries located on the South Shore of Massachusetts in the United States. OCLN membership includes 26 town and city libraries and three academic libraries. OCLN's cooperative approach enables member libraries to provide services that they would not be able to afford separately. OCLN was founded in 1984 and is incorporated in Massachusetts as a 501(c)3 corporation. OCLN is recognized as a charitable organization by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office.

North Scituate station Commuter rail station in Scituate, Massachusetts

North Scituate is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Scituate, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line. The station, located at 777 Country Way in North Scituate village, is the primary station for Scituate, while nearby Greenbush station primarily serves as a park-and-ride for adjacent communities. With 532 inbound riders on an average weekday, North Scituate is the second-busiest station on the line. Like the other stations on the Greenbush Line, North Scituate consists of a single full-length high-level platform which provides handicapped-accessible boarding to the line's single track.

Greenbush station

Greenbush is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Scituate, Massachusetts. Located in the Greenbush section of Scituate, it is the terminus of the Greenbush Line.

Inly School is a private, independent pre K–8 Montessori school in Scituate, Massachusetts, 25 miles (40 km) south of Boston for students in toddler and preschool through 8th grade. It serves students from 20 towns on the South Shore of Boston and beyond, including Cohasset, Hingham, Norwell, Hull, Marshfield, Hanover, Pembroke, and Plymouth. Inly blends Montessori curriculum and philosophy with educational best practices to teach core subjects, world languages, arts, athletics, and life skills in a highlyexperiential and individualized manner.

South Shore Railroad railroad in Massachusetts

The South Shore Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1846 to provide rail service between Quincy and Duxbury, Massachusetts through the towns of Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and Marshfield.

Patrick O'Connor is an American politician from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who was elected to the Massachusetts Senate on May 10, 2016, in a special election to replace Robert Hedlund. He represents the Plymouth and Norfolk District, which comprises Cohasset, Duxbury, Hingham, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Scituate, and Weymouth.

References

  1. ↑ Berner, Robert. "Ex-Owner of Mariner Starts Over". The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.), page 25, November 4, 1995.
  2. ↑ Berner, Robert. "Fidelity Finishing Deal to Buy Mariner Weeklies". The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.), page 17, January 13, 1995.
  3. ↑ Preer, Robert. "Readers Losing Local Angle". The Boston Globe, page 33, November 4, 1994.
  4. ↑ Beam, Alex. "Following the New England Paper Trail". The Boston Globe, August 12, 1994.
  5. ↑ Nutile, Tom, and Steven Syre. "On State Street: Harte-Hanks Purchase Makes Johnson's Hobby Even More Lucrative". Boston Herald, November 23, 1994.
  6. ↑ Nutile, Tom. "Fidelity Unit Buys South Shore Papers". Boston Herald, April 8, 1995.
  7. ↑ Cassidy, Tina. "Community Newspaper Realigns Properties". The Boston Globe, January 12, 1996.
  8. ↑ Preer, Robert. "Duxbury Mariner Stops Presses". The Boston Globe, February 21, 1999.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.