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Purchase of Kirkland Courier

4.30.07

Sound Publishing, Inc. has purchased the Kirkland Courier from Pacific Publishing Company. The 23,000 circulation monthly product, which has been serving Kirkland residents for many years, will become part of the growing Sound family on April 30.

Sound president Manfred Tempelmayr said he is “excited about the opportunity to continue to expand operations in the King County region”. The Kirkland Courier will be operated by King County Publications as part of its family of community newspapers serving the King County region.

KCP has plans to turn the monthly into a weekly newspaper. The new-look community newspaper will be delivered by carrier to every home in Kirkland, every Wednesday, starting May 23.

“We are very excited about adding Kirkland to our group of community newspapers, said Don Kendall, general manager of King County Publications. “The Courier has done a great job serving Kirkland for many years as a monthly publication.  We will now have the ability to provide up to date, local news, sports and advertising information to our readers.”

Mike Walter will remain with the newspaper as general manager/sales manager.

Other changes come with the increase in publication frequency. The paper will now be known as the Kirkland Courier/Reporter. And the circulation is being increased from 23,000 to 26,100.

Kendall said, “We look forward to serving Kirkland as the community’s newspaper.”

KCP also publishes community newspapers in Bothell/Kenmore, Redmond, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Snoqualmie, Renton, Kent, Maple/Valley Covington and Auburn.

Sound is the largest publisher of community newspapers and shoppers in Washington, with newspapers in the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, Kitsap County, Vashon Island, Tacoma and Federal Way. Sound also purchased the Little Nickel shopper products throughout Western Washington and Northern Oregon last year. Most recently, Sound purchased the operations of the King County Journal, through its subsidiary King County Publications Ltd.