Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9505020038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We're looking forward to the challenge of serving readers and advertisers in the Christiansburg and Pulaski areas," Wayne Brockenbrough, owner of New River Newspapers, said in a news release. He and his wife, Dolores, live in Christiansburg.
Brockenbrough, who also owns the Carroll News in Hillsville, owned the Christiansburg-based News Messenger until it was sold in 1980 to Worrell. He would not comment Friday on his plans for The Southwest Times, published six days a week, and The News, published three times a week.
Although it had been rumored for some time that a purchaser might be looking to buy The News, the announcement took several longtime area newspaper executives by surprise, in that Brockenbrough, reputed to be in his 60s, had stepped back from day-to-day operation of his Hillsville paper.
Terry Hall, vice president of Worrell and publisher of the Lynchburg News & Advance, said it was a simple matter of, "Wayne wanted to get back into the newspaper business."
Worrell had also bought Radford's The News Journal and The Blacksburg Sun in 1980, and shortly afterward closed the Sun.
In July 1993, the News Messenger and The News Journal merged, cutting publishing from five days a week apiece to three days as The News.
Worrell Enterprises owned nine daily newspapers and 60 weekly or bi-weekly newspapers, according to the 1994 Editor & Publisher yearbook, although industry sources said that the company had sold anywhere from three to eight of its papers in recent weeks. Calls to Worrell's corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., were not returned Friday. Hall said she didn't know of any plans by the corporation to sell any more of its newspapers.
Brockenbrough, who said he dabbled in the real estate business since selling the News Messenger, would not comment on who will run the papers, what his managing style will be, the purchase price or why he decided to buy the papers. William Smith, publisher of The Southwest Times, declined comment. Mike Blanton, Smith's counterpart at The News, did not return phone calls.
The News Messenger sign still stands outside The News office on U.S. 460 in Christiansburg, even though it changed names more than 20 months ago. Asked if he would change the sign to the newspaper's current name, Brockenbrough said, "We'll have to see."
by CNB