FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2009
CONTACT:
Gareth Charter
Publisher
Worcester Mag
Holden Landmark Corp.
508-749-3166, extension 153
gcharter (at) worcestermagazine.com
Today’s edition of Worcester Mag hits the streets with a fresh new design and format that reinforces the publication’s legacy as the intelligent news alternative in Worcester.
The 33-year-old newsweekly will now feature more color pages, crisper reproduction and a stapled bind to make it easier to read. The increased color capabilities are being passed on to advertisers along with a 50 percent price reduction.
Since acquiring Worcester Mag last August the Holden Landmark Corporation has been making some adjustments to the content, introducing new features like the “Two Minutes With” interview, and the WooTown Index. The Night & Day section has been broadened to reflect the wide spectrum of arts and entertainment happening in and around Worcester.
“We’ve listened to readers and advertisers and incorporated that feedback in the improved mix of old and new you hold in your hand today,” said publisher Gareth Charter. Next the company plans to update worcestermag.com to better serve reader needs online with useful listings, blogs and news updates.
“These are unprecedented times for newspapers and media in general. The New York Times has put the Telegram & Gazette up for sale and tied its fate to that of the Boston Globe,” Charter said.
“For more than 30 years Worcester Mag has served up an intelligent, local alternative to that daily drumbeat orchestrated from somewhere else.”
The name Worcester Mag now becomes the publication’s official title. “We are embracing the abbreviation so many readers have used for years,” Charter added. “We are not a magazine in the traditional sense of that term. We are an alternative news voice; in print once a week and online 24/7.”
“In the past year we’ve moved more employees to our Worcester office, increased the business we’re doing with other Central Mass. merchants, and invested in the long-term health of a local media company,” Charter said. “We’re proud to be here and proud of the new Worcester Mag. And we’re going to get even better. We’re not your everyday newspaper.”
Worcester Mag circulates 30,000 free copies weekly throughout Worcester and neighboring communities. The combined circulation of the Holden Landmark Corp.’s five other weeklies in Central Massachusetts equals approximately 30,000. The company also publishes Bay State Parent magazine, distributing 40,000 copies monthly.
About Holden Landmark Corporation, Inc.
Holden Landmark Corporation is a privately held, wholly-owned subsidiary of Cracked Rock Media, Inc. The company’s publications include: The Landmark (founded in 1976), Worcester County’s largest paid weekly newspaper (8,500) serving Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling; The Millbury-Sutton Chronicle (founded 1986), a 3,200 paid circulation weekly which was recently featured at the Newseum in Washington DC; The Community Journal (founded in 1996), a 2,000 paid circulation weekly serving Ashburnham and Westminster, the free weekly Leominster Champion (founded Feb. 2006), and the free weekly Fitchburg Pride (founded Jan. 2007), which each publish approximately 8,000 copies per week. The company also publishes Bay State Parent (founded in 1996), the Bay State’s premier magazine for families serving over 70,000 readers throughout 100 Massachusetts communities. The company is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Holden, Millbury, Leominster and Ashburnham.
The publications have earned nearly 40 national journalism awards in recent years including a third-place finish for The Landmark from the National Newspaper Association, and a first-place Suburban Newspapers of America award for Best Parenting Publication for Bay State Parent four out of the past five years. Photographer Steve King was also named Photographer of the Year by the New England Press Association in early 2006.
The company also publishes 10 local websites that include news, advertisements, and archives plus an expanded local classified marketplace, photo galleries of area events and happenings, and a searchable guide to school field trips and assemblies.
