Virginia City paper acquired

A partnership of newspaper professionals which recently purchased the 6,000-circulation Daily Sparks Tribune now has acquired the 3,000-circulation Comstock Chronicle in Virginia City.

The takeover was set to close this week.

The Tribune's former advertising manager of almost 13 years, Nancy Streets, has moved to Virginia City to become the Chronicle's new publisher.

"I'm very excited," said Streets.

"It's going to be a fun undertaking."

The purchase follows on the heels of the December acquisition of the Tribune by a trio of newspaper veterans.

Randy Frisch, former general manager of The Salt Lake Tribune and former publisher of the Sparks Tribune, joined forces with Dominic Welch, former Salt Lake Tribune publisher and president of the Newspaper Agency Corp., and A.L.

"Butch" Alford to acquire the Tribune.

The trio purchased the Chronicle from Kristen Bachler and Betty Kaplowitz.

According to Linda Brown, Sparks Tribune publisher, Kaplowitz will be retained for a year to provide editorial support.

"We're going to try to keep as many of the contributors as we can," said Brown.

"There are several existing columnists we are in negotiations with right now."

As far as full time employees, the buck stops with Nancy Streets.

"Nancy will be publisher, editor, writer and advertising manager," said Brown.

"With her strong background in advertising sales, I know she'll be able to put into place some successful advertising programs."

The two papers plan to capitalize on synergies between them.

"The Chronicle will be published at the Sparks Tribune, since we only have an office in Virginia City," said Streets.

"I also hope to offer package advertising buys with the other paper printed at the Tribune, The Big Nickel."

The Big Nickel is a weekly shopper with a 50,000 run which covers all of northern Nevada.

"What I want to do with the Chronicle is make it the main source of news, information and advertising in the Comstock," said Streets.

"We'll achieve that in part by taking advantage of the production and distribution resources of the Sparks Tribune."

The first task of Brown and Streets is an evaluation of the readership and advertising base.

"If we find that the readership is strong, we'll keep it that way," said Brown.

"But if necessary, we'll take steps to increase readership."

The 17-year-old paper currently has a mail subscription base of about 300, and is distributed in single copy racks throughout the Comstock, and in Reno and Sparks.

Brown sees room for growth in advertising.

"The people of Virginia City have to come to Reno, Sparks and Carson City to shop," said Brown.

"While the Chronicle currently has a few Carson ads, I see us greatly adding to the advertising base with Reno and Sparks businesses."

The character of Virginia City presents both challenges and opportunities for the new owners.

"The whole town is a historical landmark," said Brown.

"Its history is incredible."

At the same time, the only industry in town is tourism, and the population is static at around 950 people, according to Brown.

"It's a diverse group of people and they're entitled to an excellent publication of their own," said Brown.

Streets looks forward to the challenge.

"I feel like I'm following the footsteps of one of my heroes, Mark Twain," she said.

"He was a columnist and reporter for a Virginia City paper called the Territorial Enterprise which no longer exists." Streets also values the contributions of a community paper.

"Corporate conglomerates, television news and the Internet don't, and never will, cover everything," said Streets.

"Chances are you would not find city politics and commission meetings anywhere else."

Geoffrey Altrocchi, Daily Sparks Tribune, contributed to this article.