Metro Newspapers

Metro Newspapers, also known as Weeklys, is an American newspaper company based in San Jose, California. It publishes five free alternative weekly newspapers in Northern California: Metro Silicon Valley, Good Times, the Pacific Sun, East Bay Express and the North Bay Bohemian; and eight community newspapers: the Gilroy Dispatch'', the Hollister Free Lance, the Morgan Hill Times, the King City Rustler, Salinas Valley Tribune, Aptos Life, The Pajaronian and Press Banner . Together, the publications reach a weekly audience of about half a million people, according to The Media Audit. Metro Newspapers also operates two web-based businesses, Metroactive and Boulevards.[1]

Metro Newspapers
TypeNewspaper
Founded1985
HeadquartersSan Jose, California, United States
ProductsAlternative newspapers
Websitemetronews.com

The publications are free-distribution, tabloid-sized newspapers emphasizing news and analysis, local coverage and in-depth coverage of arts, culture and entertainment. Its Boulevards affiliate operates city guides on the web internationally, under such URLs as SanAntonio.com.

The Metro weekly began celebrating its 25th year starting in March 2009,[2] making it the most established free weekly in the South Bay Area of Northern California. It was one of the first newspapers to publish Matt Groening's Life in Hell and Rob Brezsny's Real Astrology. The company is operated by its founder and longtime executive editor, Dan Pulcrano. [3]

History

In 1984 Dan Pulcrano put together a group of local entertainment industry investors and recruited LA Weekly executive David Cohen as co-publisher to launch Metro. From on initial circulation of 40,000 it grew to approximately 100,000.[4]

In 1990, Metro acquired Los Gatos Weekly, a newspaper Pulcrano had founded eight years earlier, and the Chicago Tribune-owned Los Gatos Times-Observer. The two were merged to become Los Gatos Weekly-Times.[4] The acquisition was the beginning of Metro’s expansion into community journalism.

A second alt weekly, Metro Santa Cruz, began publishing in 1994. The same year, Metro Newspapers purchased the Sonoma County Independent, which, in October 2000, expanded its distribution to cover Napa and Marin counties and is now published under the North Bay Bohemian flag.

In March 2009, on the publication's 15th anniversary, Metro Santa Cruz was renamed Santa Cruz Weekly. In March 2014, Metro Newspapers acquired Good Times, the Gilroy Dispatch, the Hollister Free Lance and the Morgan Hill Times, and merged Good Times and the Santa Cruz Weekly.[5]

In 2015, Metro acquired the Pacific Sun; the Bohemian ceased distribution in Marin County and increased its Sonoma County and Napa County distribution.[6][7]

In 2020, the company introduced the Weeklys brand, acquired the East Bay Express, launched East Bay magazine and acquired the Scotts Valley-based Press Banner.[8][9][10]

Silicon Valley Community Newspapers

Metro developed a group of weekly community newspapers, including the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident and Sunnyvale Sun. Under Metro's ownership, the group won numerous awards, including the California Newspaper Publishers Association's "General Excellence" award in its Better Newspapers Contest. On December 17, 2001, Cohen, a co-founder of Metro, bought the group, which at the time included six publications and left to run Silicon Valley Community Newspapers as an independent company. Cohen sold it three years later to Knight Ridder which sold the group to McClatchy Corp. McClatchy immediately resold SVCN to Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group. [11] In 2014, Bay Area News Group marketing director Erika Brown announced that the newspapers would be distributed to subscribers of the Mercury News, rather than generally to homes in the community. [12]

Early online player

Metro was an early participant in the online publishing revolution, in 1993 launching the Livewire online service, one of the first online efforts by a non-daily newspaper publisher. The service offered free email accounts, online commerce, chats, posting forums, and online articles.

Virtual Valley, a similar service with an emphasis on covering Silicon Valley communities, was launched the following year and helped put the city governments of San Jose, Milpitas and Los Gatos online. Also in 1994, Metro established Boulevards, a network of web sites, each covering a major U.S. metropolitan area, that pre-dated Citysearch and Microsoft's short-lived "Sidewalk" service.

In 1995, Metro launched the online version of the newspaper on the web under the brand Metroactive. This now includes all three papers and includes a downloadable edition in PDF format.

Awards

Metroactive has received several awards[13] for its work, including:

References
  1. Releases, -Press (2001-12-19). "Metro Publishing Group Completes Spinoff • Association of Alternative Newsmedia". Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  2. Dan Pulcrano, "Twenty-Four and Counting," Metro Silicon Valley March 4–10, 2009, p. 06, http://www.metroactive.com/metro/03.04.09/letters-0909.html
  3. Stoll, Michael (26 September 2013). "C2SV: The Music and Technology Festival of Silicon Valley". liquidagency.com. Liquid Brand Exchange. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  4. Releases, -Press (2001-12-19). "Metro Publishing Group Completes Spinoff • Association of Alternative Newsmedia". Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  5. Metro Newspapers buys weeklies in Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Morgan Hill and Hollister
  6. Zaragoza, Jason (2015-05-06). "Metro Newspapers Acquires Pacific Sun". AltWeeklies.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  7. Holbrook, Stett (2015-05-13). "The 'Sun' Also Rises". North Bay Bohemian. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  8. Debolt, David (March 24, 2020). "East Bay Express sold to group led by Metro Silicon Valley". East Bay Times. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  9. Siegel, Fern (October 8, 2020). "Weeklys Buys 'Press Banner,' Enlarges Its Newspaper Stable". Publishers Daily. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  10. "Good Times Purchases Press-Banner". GoodTimes.sc. October 6, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  11. Stoll, Michael (14 March 2006). "Knight Ridder breakup may create unprecedented concentration of ownership in Bay Area newspapers". gradethenews.org. Grade the News. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  12. "Wake of the Weeklies". San Jose Inside. Metro Newspapers. 12 February 2006. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  13. Awards, Metroactive's web awards, Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.
  14. "AltWeeklies.com". Aan.org. Retrieved 2011-12-01.


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