In an effort to better serve readers and advertisers, owners of The Pinnacle and Mainstreet Media Group announce today they are merging business operations.
Hollister – In an effort to better serve readers and advertisers, owners of The Pinnacle and Mainstreet Media Group announce today they are merging business operations.
News, views and advertising at The Pinnacle and Pinnacle South Valley will remain independently handled by Tracie Cone, publisher, and Anna Marie dos Remedios, general manager.
“Readers and advertisers should notice no difference, unless it’s an improvement,” Cone said, “because we no longer will be saddled with the business operations of the newspaper which, as right-brain thinkers, we do not enjoy.”
Mainstreet Media Group President Anthony Allegretti had shown an interest in the properties for years. He and business partner Steve Staloch recently acquired the Gilroy Dispatch, Hollister Free Lance and Morgan Hill Times and began making changes to improve content – including ending Citizen’s Voice, an anonymous letters to the editor column that was used to attack community leaders under the previous management.
“I want Tracie and Anna to keep doing what they are doing, which has succeeded in these communities,” Allegretti said.
The Pinnacle and Pinnacle South Valley become Mainstreet Media Group’s largest and most widely distributed newspapers, which include: the Good Times in Santa Cruz; the Ledger-Dispatch and Amador Direct in Jackson; The La Jolla Light; The Navy Compass in San Diego; San Diego Web Offset, a commercial printing company; and South Valley Direct, a weekly direct mail publication serving Santa Clara and San Benito County. Allegretti said that he has come to the area realizing that the area is populated with sophisticated readers who are extremely interested in the communities in which they live. The commitment to award-winning community journalism remains, he said. No staff changes are planned.
The sale comes on the five-year anniversary of the purchase of The Pinnacle by Cone and Remedios from the Klauer family. Since then they and their staff have increased revenues by more than 350 percent while also earning dozens of awards for excellence in journalism. The Pinnacle was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, and in 2002 Cone and Remedios were named co-California Newspaper Executives of the Year.
“We look forward to the passion for journalism they bring to the company.” Allegretti said.
