Southbridge Evening News

Infobox Newspaper
name = Southbridge Evening News


caption =
type = Daily newspaper
format = broadsheet
foundation = 1923
ceased publication =
price = US$0.60
owners = Stonebridge Press
publisher = Frank G. Chilinski
editor = Walter C. Bird Jr.
language =
political =
circulation = 3,500
headquarters = 25 Elm Street, Southbridge, Massachusetts 01550 USA
ISSN =
website = [http://www.southbridgeeveningnews.com/ southbridgeeveningnews.com]

The "Southbridge Evening News" is a weekday (Monday-Friday) afternoon daily newspaper in Southbridge, Massachusetts. It is the flagship newspaper of Stonebridge Press, a chain that also includes several weekly newspapers in central Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut. The paper has a circulation of approximately 3,500.

The News

"The News", headquartered in the historical Tiffany Leonard House downtown, steps away from Town Hall, [ [http://www.dickwhitney.net/RBWSThenNowLManning.html Whitney, Dick. "Southbridge - Then and Now"] ] focuses its coverage on the "tri-community" towns of Southbridge, Sturbridge and Charlton, and three adjoining smaller towns, Brimfield, Holland and Wales. It competes in each of these towns with the daily "Telegram & Gazette" from Worcester, and in the three smaller towns with the daily "The Republican" of Springfield and weekly "Palmer Journal".

Its owners since 1995, John E. Coots and David S. Cutler of Stonebridge Press, have played up the "Evening News"' local roots, relegating most news from outside its circulation area to the inside of the newspaper. Stonebridge Press also oversaw the paper's return to broadsheet newsprint and its conversion to digital photography and pagination.

The newspaper is distributed each weekday around 3 p.m. by local carriers. It is printed in Southbridge, in Building 25 of the former American Optical Company plant.

History

The "Evening News" was a cornerstone of Central Massachusetts newsmedia long before Stonebridge Press was formed in 1995. It was the flagship of Worcester County Newspapers, which included many of the same weeklies as Stonebridge.

In the mid-1990s, the rising cost of newsprint forced Worcester County Newspapers president and "Evening News" editor Loren F. Ghiglione to make severe cuts: the company's printing plant in Auburn, Massachusetts, was closed (the plant is now owned by Community Newspaper Company); the publishing schedule was cut from six to five days a week; several of the company's weeklies were closed; and the "Evening News" and remaining weeklies switched from broadsheet to tabloid paper. [Gushue, Harold. "Local Paper Shuts Plant; Worcester County Newspapers to Contract," "Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette", March 25, 1995]

The editorship since Stonebridge Press became the owner has been held by Cutler (1995-98), Henry Frederick (1998), Mike Saucier (managing editor 1995-1997; editor, 1998-1999), Tim Kane (1999-2004), Lorraine Urbanski Martinelle (managing editor 2002-2004, editor 2004-2006), and Walter Bird Jr. (2006-present). Urbanski Martinelle was the first woman in the newspaper's history to serve as editor.

Joseph C. Capillo, a prominent and beloved Southbridge journalist and namesake of a park in that town, was a longtime "Evening News" editor and columnist.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.southbridgeeveningnews.com/ "Southbridge Evening News" Website]
* [http://www.dickwhitney.net/TownCouldHaveBeenNamed%20Vienna.htm "How Southbridge Got Its Name" -- an Evening News column by Joe Capillo]
* [http://wbjournal.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3545&Itemid=139 Stonebridge Press Cuts Staffers To Save Costs" Worcester Business Journal]