Worcester Magazine's New Owners Talk Shop

december 10, 2008  11:03 am
When Holden Landmark, a subsidiary of Cracked Rock Media, purchased the alt-weekly in August, the new owners were "taken off guard by the backlash," the Worcester Business Journal Reports. New publisher Gareth Charter and his boss Kirk Davis say that economics forced them to make deep cuts to their newest property, a move that was heavily criticized. Though some observers have thought of the deal as an odd fit, with Landmark's focus on suburban community papers, Davis says the acquisition makes perfect sense to them. "Worcester is the capital of Central Massachusetts," he says. "We've got a lot of Worcester business in our suburban titles, so it's not like this market was unknown to us." Davis and Charter also say that fears of a "suburbanized" WoMag are unfounded, and point to a recent story to prove that Landmark wants to keep the alt-weekly's edge.