Ohio Community Media

{{Infobox company

|name = Ohio Community Media

|logo =

|type = Private

|foundation = {{start date|2010|09|03}}

|location = 4500 Lyons Road,
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342, United States

|locations =

|key_people = Scott T. Champion, CEO

|area_served = Illinois, Missouri, Ohio

|industry = Newspapers

|products =

|services =

|revenue =

|operating_income =

|net_income =

|num_employees =

|parent = Versa Capital Management

|fate = Merged into Civitas Media

|divisions =

|subsid =

|slogan =

|homepage = www.ohcommedia.com

|footnotes =

}}

Ohio Community Media was an American privately owned publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, primarily in the state of Ohio. It was headquartered in the Dayton suburb of Miamisburg, Ohio, and was owned by Philadelphia-based Versa Capital Management.

History

Most of the company's holdings comprise the Ohio core of Brown Publishing Company, a family-owned publisher based in Cincinnati that declared bankruptcy in April 2010. In September of that year, Brown's 14 Ohio dailies and about 50 weekly publications were transferred to Ohio Community Media, a new entity owned by Brown's creditors, in a transaction valued at $21.75 million.{{cite news|last=Sanctis|first=Matt|title=Judge OKs Sale of Brown Newspapers|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-25793891.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610231151/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-25793891.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=June 8, 2012|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|date=September 4, 2010}}

Over the next few months, the new company sold a "mini-empire" of business newsweeklies that Brown had assembled starting in 2007, unloading titles in such far-flung cities as Charleston, South Carolina; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Fort Worth, Texas; and Naperville, Illinois.{{cite news|title=Brown's Biz Journals Now All Sold|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-252131008.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610231146/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-252131008.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=June 8, 2012|newspaper=NewsInc.|date=February 14, 2011}}

Versa completed its purchase of Ohio Community Media for an undisclosed price in May 2011. By this point, the chain consisted of 14 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies, all in Ohio.{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-28741410.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610231148/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-28741410.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|title=Business Headlines: Local Newspapers Have New Owners|access-date=June 8, 2012|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|date=May 21, 2011}}

In February 2012, Versa purchased Impressions Media, owner of Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and in May of that year it bought four Midwestern dailies formerly owned by Freedom Communications. That purchase included The Lima News in Ohio, as well as dailies in Illinois and Missouri.{{cite news|last=Rutz|first=Heather|title=Versa Capital Will Purchase The Lima News|url=http://www.limaohio.com/articles/lima-83591-community-company.html|access-date=June 8, 2012|newspaper=The Lima News|date=May 17, 2012|location=Lima, Ohio}} The four dailies acquired from Freedom were integrated into Ohio Community Media.{{cite news|last=Wursthorn|first=Michael|title=News Release: Versa Buys Four Papers From Freedom Communications|url=http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFLBO0020120517e85hnea4j&pid=15&ReturnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fpevc.dowjones.com%3a80%2fArticle%3fan%3dDJFLBO0020120517e85hnea4j%26pid%3d15|access-date=June 8, 2012|newspaper=Dow Jones LBO Wire|date=May 17, 2012}}

In 2012 Versa merged Ohio Community Media, the former Freedom papers, Impressions Media, and Heartland Publications into a new company, Civitas Media.{{citation |access-date=April 10, 2017|url= http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120911006840/en/Versa-Capital-Announces-Formation-Civitas-Media-LLC |author=Business Wire | title= Versa Capital Announces the Formation of Civitas Media, LLC }}

Holdings

Ohio Community Media published 18 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies (paid and free), in addition to several free weekly shopper publications.{{cite web|title=Newspapers |url=http://www.ohcommedia.com/ |work=OHComMedia.com |access-date=June 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530000518/http://www.ohcommedia.com/ |archive-date=May 30, 2012 }} The Beavercreek News-Current, now a weekly, was formerly a daily publication.