Cape Cod Publishing Company

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Cape Cod Publishing Co.
company_logo =
slogan =
fate = Dissolved into parent
successor = Community Newspaper Company
foundation = September 1990
defunct = January 11, 1996
location = Orleans, Massachusetts USA
industry = Newspapers
key_people = Greg O'Brien, president 1990-1993 Vicki Ogden, president 1993-1996
products = Weekly newspapers on Cape Cod
num_employees =
parent = Fidelity Investments
subsid =

Cape Cod Publishing Company, based in Orleans, Massachusetts, USA, was a publisher of weekly newspapers in the 1990s. It was created by Fidelity Investments as a holding company for newspapers acquired on Cape Cod, and eventually folded into Fidelity's Community Newspaper Company. CNC is now owned by GateHouse Media.

History

Four years before Cape Cod Publishing was formed, Fidelity Investments had provided some financing in Cape publisher Barry Paster's successful bid for North Shore Weeklies. [Adams, Jane Meredith. "North Shore Weeklies Inc. Is Sold". "The Boston Globe", page 69, October 9, 1986.] The North Shore papers eventually became the first component of Fidelity's newspaper chain, which came to be known as Community Newspaper Company.

In 1990, Paster sold his original paper, "The Register" of Yarmouth -- to Fidelity, which also picked up "The Cape Codder" of Orleans, a twice-weekly covering the Outer Cape, from longtime publisher Malcolm Hobbs. [Vennochi, Joan. "Fidelity's Quiet Venture Into Newspapers". "The Boston Globe", June 23, 1991.]

The company grew substantially in 1991 with the purchase of 12 weekly newspapers from Memorial Press Group, including the "Bourne Courier", "Cape Cod News", "Cape Cod Oracle", "Mashpee Messenger" and "Village Broadsider". The combined circulation of "The Register" and the "Cape Codder" was given, at the time, as 27,000; the new additions -- two paid weeklies and 10 free papers -- added 60,000. [McLaughlin, Jeff. "Cape Cod Publisher Buys 12 Newspapers". "The Boston Globe", October 18, 1991.]

Cape Cod Publishing held on to this core through the mid-1990s [Jurkowitz, Mark. "Does Fidelity Have a Nose for News?" "The Boston Globe", December 5, 1995.] , until it was dissolved in early 1996. CNC realigned its operating units by geography, although the Cape papers were transferred wholesale to CNC's new "Cape Unit", a division of the South Unit. [Cassidy, Tina. "Community Newspaper Realigns Properties". "The Boston Globe", January 12, 1996.]

By 1999, several of the Cape papers had closed or been consolidated: "Cape Cod News" was gone, and the company's Bourne, Mashpee and Sandwich properties were consolidated into one publication, the "Upper Cape Codder".

Properties

Since its founding in 1990, Cape Cod Publishing and its successor, CNC's Cape Unit (part of the South Unit) have published several free "Pennysaver" publications as well as several weekly newspapers on Cape Cod:

* "Bourne Courier" of Bourne (bought from MPG, 1991; closed, 1999; reopened, 2007)
* "Cape Cod News" of Barnstable (bought from MPG, 1991; closed, late 1990s)
* "Cape Codder" of Orleans (bought from Malcolm Hobbs, 1990)
* "Falmouth Bulletin" of Falmouth (started by CNC, 2007)
* "Harwich Oracle" of Harwich (was "Cape Cod Oracle"; bought from MPG, 1991)
* "Mashpee Messenger" of Mashpee (bought from MPG, 1991; closed, 1999)
* "Sandwich Broadcaster" of Sandwich (was "Village Broadcaster"; bought from MPG, 1991; closed, 1999; reopened, 2007)
* "The Register" of Yarmouth (bought from Barry Paster, 1990)
* "Upper Cape Codder" of Sandwich (started by CNC, 1999; closed, 2007)

Several of the papers cover adjoining towns, as well: the "Courier" now circulates in Mashpee (replacing the defunct "Messenger"); the "Cape Codder" covers the territory from Orleans to Provincetown; "The Register" covers Barnstable and Dennis; the "Upper Cape Codder" for eight years covered Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich.

References