Pictured from left, are: Ryan Harvey, President/CEO of Mid-America Publishing, and Roger and Karen Rector, the previous owners of the Ida County Courier-Reminder, in Ida Grove.
Effective Thursday, July 2, the Ida County Courier and The Reminder will be published by a new owner, Mid-America Publishing Corporation based in Hampton.
Mid-America had entered into an agreement earlier in June 2015 to purchase the publications from Roger and Karen Rector. The July 7-8 editions will mark the first editions under Mid-America’s stewardship.
“We are very excited to add the Ida County Courier and the Reminder to our family of newspapers,” said Ryan Harvey, president and CEO of Mid-America Publishing. “Roger and Karen have done a tremendous job with the papers over the past few years and we look forward to continuing to build upon the tradition that they have established.”
Rector has been associated with the Reminder and Courier for a total of 55 years.
The publications will join a growing group of 23 weekly newspapers owned and operated by Mid-America. The Courier is the ninth county seat newspaper owned by the company. They include the Hampton Chronicle, Butler County Tribune-Journal (Allison), Wright County Monitor (Clarion), the Eldora Herald-Ledger and Hardin County Index, of Eldora; The News-Review, of Sigourney; the Grundy Register, of Grundy Center; The Graphic-Advocate (Lake City-Rockwell City); and The Leader (Garner-Britt). Other papers owned and operated by the company include: The Record (Conrad), The Sheffield Press; The Eagle Grove Eagle; The Kanawha Reporter; The Buffalo Center Tribune; The Pioneer Enterprise (Rockwell-Thornton); The Keota Eagle; The Clarksville Star; The Ogden Reporter; the Calmar Courier; The Postville Herald; The Sun (New Sharon-Fremont); and The Outlook (Monona.) The company also produces two weekly political newspapers, the Conservative Chronicle and the Liberal Opinion Week.
Additionally the company prints several TMC shoppers, such as The Hampton Chronicle’s Bonus in Hampton, The Spectrum in Lake City-Rockwell City, The Leader’s Shoppers News Review in Garner, and the Wright County Reminder in Clarion; plus monthly shoppers such as The Dual County Leader in Eagle Grove and the Keokuk County Chief in Sigourney.
“Terms of the purchase have not been released. The Ida County publications are a natural fit in our company,” Harvey said. “The backbone of our company is community-focused weekly newspapers. We only hope to build upon the strong foundation that Roger and Karen have built.”
Harvey will serve as the regional publisher. Day-to-day operations will be handled by office manager Amy Forbes. Forbes, along with the rest of the staff in Ida Grove, have been offered employment by Mid-America.
News editor Beth Wolterman has chosen to retire from her position along with the Rectors. Wolterman has covered area news for the Courier for the past 31 years. Mid-America is currently advertising to fill the Courier’s news editor position.
“Karen and I would like to thank all our dedicated subscribers, readers and advertisers for your support and friendship over the years. It has been a long and amazing career, and we are confident Mid-America Publishing will carry on our tradition and make our publications even stronger in Ida County,” Rector said.
“I would also like to thank my dedicated staff for their many years of service to the company. It has been a huge team effort every single week, from the planning stages to the final product,” Rector said.
Mid-America also has a commercial printing division, based in Hampton, that offers customized printing and publishing solutions such as banners, posters, postcards, direct mailing, mailing list management, letter head design, newsletter management and dozens of other marketing and promotional products which it plans to make available locally in the Ida Grove area.
“We’re more than thrilled to be a part of Ida Grove and Ida County,” said Harvey.
Harvey further added that Mid-America’s interest in Ida Grove is partly because of the good mix of businesses operating there including both new and established industries, and employers who bring people to the community.
“A community newspaper is only as healthy as the community it serves,” Harvey stated. “It is encouraging to see the commitment to commerce in Ida Grove over the long term.”
Matt Grohe, board chair of Mid-America Publishing added “We appreciate Roger’s willingness to working with us to incorporate these publications into our lineup. We are very grateful for his consideration and look forward to serving the citizens and businesses in Ida Grove and beyond well into the future.”
The newspaper will stay in its current location at 214 W. Main St. and will retain the same mailing address, email addresses and phone number.
Readers of the newspapers will notice some immediate changes however. The newspaper’s billing and circulation will be handled by the company’s home office staff in Hampton and additional content will appear. The printing of the newspaper will also move to the Hampton facility rather than being printed in LeMars.
Both the Courier and Reminder will now be printed on Monday, rather than Tuesday. The deadline for all news and display advertising will be Friday at 3 p.m. The deadline for all classified advertising will be Friday at 5 p.m.
In addition, a new-look website will be launched in the next couple of months, along with a new Facebook page.