Salisbury Post acquired by Boone Newspapers

Published 10:14 pm Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Salisbury Newsmedia LLC, a newly formed North Carolina affiliate of Boone Newspapers Inc., of Tuscaloosa, Ala., completed its purchase of the Salisbury Post on Tuesday.

Agreement in general for the sale was announced by Evening Post Industries in January, and final details were worked out in recent weeks. EPI, based in Charleston, S.C., has owned the newspaper since 1997. The sale includes The Davie County Enterprise-Record and The Clemmons Courier.

Publisher Greg Anderson and key personnel plan to remain with the Salisbury, Mocksville and Clemmons newspapers.

Salisbury Newsmedia will publish the newspapers, websites and affiliated publications, including the Market Place Miner; Living In The South and Insider magazines; The Chamber Membership and Visitors Guide; and Time Out magazine, a weekly entertainment publication covering the arts, music, theatre and dining.

BNI manages newspapers in similar sized communities in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. Its North Carolina papers include the Washington Daily News, Scuppernong Reminder in Columbia, Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald in Ahoskie, Tryon Daily Bulletin and Gates County Index in Gatesville.

Todd H. Carpenter of Natchez, Miss., is president and chief operating officer of BNI, and James B. Boone Jr. of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is chief executive officer. Carpenter is among the new owners.

BNI has a rich history of quality newspapers and other publications in the communities it serves, explained in part by Boone’s corporate philosophy: “We seek to produce the highest quality product the economics of the community served can support. And then, by ingenuity and imagination, we strive for a higher quality in an effort to serve and build that community.”

Carpenter said Salisbury Newsmedia “will work hard to meet every obligation to readers, customers, employees and all who have a stake in Salisbury. We are pleased that Greg Anderson is remaining with us as publisher. His steady leadership and knowledge of the community will be important to us during the transition and thereafter.”

The Salisbury Post debuted as The Salisbury Evening Post on Jan. 9, 1905. The Post was owned by the Hurley family from 1912 to 1997.

The Post has consistently ranked as one of the best daily newspapers of its size in North Carolina. Last year the news and editorial department won 23 awards in the annual N.C. Press Association editorial and photojournalism contest, including first-place honors in a dozen categories and second place for General Excellence.