News-Transcript Group , based in Framingham, Massachusetts , United States, was a newspaper publisher in eastern Massachusetts , overseeing three daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers before being bought by Fidelity Investments in 1995 and dissolved into Community Newspaper Company the next year.
22-502: The group was formed in 1986 when Harte-Hanks bought Transcript Newspapers Inc. of Dedham, Massachusetts , merging it with the Middlesex News . Later that year, Harte-Hanks bought Century Newspapers and combined its operations with News-Transcript. In the mid-1990s, as Harte-Hanks divested its newspaper holdings, the company announced in 1994 that it would sell the 14-newspaper chain to Fidelity Investments . The purchase price
44-551: A flagship for scattered weeklies and smaller dailies. Northeast Group added the 79-year-old Wellesley Townsman October 1, 1985, bought from owner Robert Linnell. The purchase was part of a push into the affluent suburb by the Middlesex News , which also debuted a new edition of the daily paper there. The publisher of two smaller daily newspapers, Transcript Newspapers Inc. was owned for years by Wisconsin publisher Post Corporation . The papers' typesetters organized
66-759: A long and at times violent strike in 1980, alleging unfair labor practices. Eleven reporters and editors at the Waltham paper were fired for refusing to cross a picket line; in all, about 60 Transcript employees were laid off for striking. Between August 1984 and March 1986, the company was sold four times: to Gillett Communications in 1984; then to Thomson Newspapers that December; in April 1985 to William Dean Singleton (head of MediaNews Group )—and eventually, in 1986, to Harte-Hanks. Harte-Hanks' purchase of Century Newspapers in mid-1986 added six weeklies to News-Transcript Group, in suburbs north and west of Boston . Two of
88-475: A nationwide network of local advertising content online for consumers and businesses, were sold to OpenGate Capital in 2013. Harte Hanks had owned the publication since 1972. In 2006, Harte Hanks acquired Global Address, a software company based in the United Kingdom that developed International Address Validation technology. In 2008, Global Address was renamed to Trillium Software. Trillium Software
110-656: The Abilene Reporter-News and the San Angelo Standard . During the 1920s and '30s, he continued to acquire other newspapers, including the Corpus Christi Times . Harte-Hanks Newspapers was created in 1948. At the time of his death, in 1972, the company owned a television station and 19 newspapers across six states. While leading his first newspaper, Harte also served as a captain during World War I (1918-1919). Harte created
132-710: The Citizen , bought the less newsy Herald from publisher John Martin Jr. in early 1986. The Herald 's editor, Robert Mead, urged Belmont residents to boycott his former paper, as the two "competitors" began collaborating their coverage and sharing staff, although initially they continued to publish separate editions. At the time of its sale to CNC, News-Transcript Group consisted of three daily and 11 weekly newspapers, all in Massachusetts (the papers' owners before 1986 are listed in parentheses): All of these newspapers except
154-909: The Newton Graphic and Needham Chronicle are still published by Community Newspaper Company , now a division of GateHouse Media , although the dailies' and Roslindale paper's names have changed. The Newton paper (itself the product of a merger) was merged with CNC's Newton Tab after the News-Transcript sale. Harte-Hanks Harte Hanks is a global marketing services company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Harte Hanks services include analytics, strategy, marketing technology, creative services, digital marketing, customer care, direct mail, logistics, and fulfillment. Founded by Houston Harte and Bernard Hanks in 1923 as Harte-Hanks Newspapers (and later Harte-Hanks Communications ),
176-694: The WAIM radio and TV stations in Anderson as part of its purchase of the Independent and Mail , as well as television stations in Jacksonville, Florida , Greensboro, North Carolina , and Springfield, Missouri . In 1978, Harte Hanks bought radio stations formerly owned by Southern Broadcasting . In 1980, the company's broadcast holdings were four television stations, 11 radio stations and four cable television systems. It sold off most of these assets in
198-620: The 1920s and 1930s included the Harlingen Star , Corpus Christi Times , Big Spring Herald and Paris News . The company incorporated as Harte-Hanks Newspapers, Inc. in 1948. The company bought two competing newspapers in Greenville, Texas in the mid-1950s, consolidating them into the Herald-Banner after two years of fierce rivalry. A court case followed, with Harte Hanks accused of unfair competition. The chain
220-744: The Massachusetts-based Middlesex News , two other dailies, and associated weeklies in the western suburbs of Boston . It had owned the News since 1972 and bought the News-Tribune and Daily Transcript in 1986. The Abilene, Anderson, Corpus Christi, and San Angelo papers were among the last remaining Harte Hanks newspaper properties and were sold to E. W. Scripps Company in May 1997. Scripps spun out its newspaper assets into Journal Media Group in April 2015. Journal
242-418: The News-Transcript papers to new Metro, Northwest and West units. Harte-Hanks bought the Middlesex News in 1972, establishing its "Northeast Group" of newspapers, which included three Town Crier weeklies in towns neighboring the News ' core coverage area of Framingham and Natick, Massachusetts . The News , a 40,000-circulation daily, gave Harte-Hanks—and later CNC—a mid-sized daily newspaper to serve as
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#1732790269240264-509: The book In Our Image along with Time illustrator , Guy Rowe, a collection of Bible stories published in 1949 by Oxford University Press . For that book, the two men won a Christopher Award . Harte was instrumental in preserving historic Fort Concho in San Angelo. He also donated substantially to Angelo State University , and served on the board of directors for Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University ). Harte
286-656: The company spent its first 50 years operating newspapers in Texas . In 1968, the company relocated from Abilene to San Antonio. It made its first IPO on March 8, 1972, later diversifying into television and radio properties. In 1984, the company's managers took it private, later going public again in 1993. In the mid-1990s, the company withdrew from the newspaper and broadcasting business and focused solely on direct marketing and shopper publications. Harte Hanks' first newspapers were Hanks' Abilene Reporter-News and Harte's San Angelo Standard . Other early acquisitions in
308-674: The mid-1980s to pay down debt incurred in the leveraged buyout that took the company private. Harte Hanks continued to hold KENS until 1997, when it and the company's remaining newspaper properties were sold to Scripps. Harte Hanks was formerly associated with the publication of weekly shopper publications, with a circulation at one time of 13 million weekly in 1,100 separate editions of The PennySaver and The Flyer in California and Florida , respectively. The company sold The Flyer to Coda Media in 2012, having owned it since 1983. The PennySaver and website PennySaverUSA.com,
330-642: The newspapers remain part of Community Newspaper Company today: The Arlington Advocate and The Winchester Star . By the time Fidelity bought the newspapers, the Belmont Citizen and Belmont Herald had merged, the Watertown Sun had closed, and the Newton Transcript had merged with Northeast Group's Newton Graphic . The merger of the two Belmont papers was controversial. They had competed for 50 years when Century, publisher of
352-592: The time of the first IPO in 1972, the firm owned properties in 19 markets across six states. The paper expanded outside of Texas that year with the purchase of the Anderson Independent and Anderson Daily Mail of Anderson, South Carolina , merging them into the Anderson Independent-Mail . By 1980, the company owned 29 daily and 68 weekly newspapers. In 1995, Harte Hanks sold to Community Newspaper Company its interest in
374-624: Was a newspaperman who co-founded Harte-Hanks Communications. Harte was born January 12, 1893, in Knob Noster, Missouri . After a year at the University of California, Harte returned to the University of Missouri, where he received his degree in journalism in 1915. Harte went to work as business manager for the Missouri Republican and was then its editor and publisher until 1920. Hanks' first newspaper acquisitions were
396-459: Was acquitted of the charges in 1959. In 1962, the company took full ownership of San Antonio Express-News , its largest circulation newspaper. The Express-News was one of the first properties Harte Hanks sold off, however, as it began to narrow its focus to smaller newspapers and eventually to direct marketing. Rupert Murdoch paid $ 19 million for the Express-News in 1973. At
418-491: Was also a confidante of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson . His association with Johnson led him to end his longstanding friendship with a leading Johnson critic, historian J. Evetts Haley. Harte married Caroline Isabel McCutcheon in 1921. Their two sons, Edward H. Harte and Houston H. Harte, also became prominent newspaper publishers. Harte died March 1972 in San Angelo, Texas . This Texas biographical article
440-587: Was later sold to Syncsort in 2016. In 2008, Harte Hanks acquired Mason Zimbler, a UK-based digital marketing and media provider. In 2008, Harte Hanks acquired Strange & Dawson, a UK-based digital advertising service. In 2010, Harte Hanks acquired Information Arts, a UK-based data insight, data management and database-marketing firm. In 2015, Harte Hanks acquired San Mateo, California-based digital marketing firm 3Q Digital. In 2018, Harte Hanks sold 3Q back to an entity owned by previous 3Q Digital owners. Houston Harte Robert William Houston Harte
462-498: Was not disclosed, but was estimated at US$ 30 million to US$ 40 million. When the sale was complete in 1995, Fidelity made News-Transcript a division of Community Newspaper Company , which became the second-largest circulation publisher in Massachusetts , with 766,000 weekly copies. News-Transcript—known within CNC as Middlesex Community Newspapers—was dissolved in early 1996, when CNC realigned its operating units by geography, assigning
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#1732790269240484-443: Was then absorbed into Gannett in April 2016. The company made its first foray into other media as early as 1962, when Harte Hanks bought KENS-AM - TV , San Antonio's CBS radio and television affiliates, as part of its acquisition of the Express-News . Harte Hanks turned KENS from a perennial ratings also-ran to the market leader by 1968. In the 1970s, the newspaper-dominated company further diversified its holdings by purchasing
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