HD Media to Buy Charleston (WV) Gazette-MailBack to News

Charleston, WV – March 9, 2018 – HD Media, publisher of the Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch, was approved today as the successful bidder to acquire the Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is representing the owners of the Gazette-Mail in the transaction.

HD Media’s bid of approximately $11.5 million was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Volk in Charleston. The transaction will close by March 31.

HD Media also owns a number of non-daily newspapers in southwestern West Virginia, and its newspapers are printed at the Charleston newspaper’s plant.

Doug Reynolds is managing partner of HD Media. The company’s investment in the Charleston Gazette-Mail also will include Brian Jarvis, owner of the Clarksburg (WV) Exponent-Telegram, and W. Marston “Marty” Becker.

With daily circulation of approximately 38,000, the Charleston Gazette-Mail is the state’s largest newspaper.

The Charleston Gazette traces its roots to 1873. At that time, it was a weekly newspaper known as the Kanawha Chronicle. It was later renamed the Kanawha Gazette, then the Daily Gazette, before its name was officially changed to the Charleston Gazette in 1907. In 1912, it came under the control of the Chilton family, who still own it.

In 2004, the Chilton family acquired 100% interest in the Joint Operating Agreement entity that operated the Gazette and Daily Mail. The newspapers were merged in 2015.  

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