RISN Operations

Infobox_Company
company_name = RISN Operations Inc.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = January 22, 2007
location = 508 Main Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19804 USA
key_people = Melanie Radler, president Roland McBride, vice president
industry = Newspapers
products = "The Call" and eight other newspapers in Rhode Island
homepage = |

RISN Operations Inc., also called Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers, is a privately owned publisher of four daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The company was founded by Illinois-based newspaper executives in early 2007 to purchase the Rhode Island holdings of Journal Register Company, which it did for $8.3 million.Grimaldi, Paul. "Journal Register Co. Sells its Nine R.I. Newspapers". "The Providence Journal", January 27, 2007.]

Officers

The corporation's first two named officers, Melanie Radler (president) and Roland McBride (vice president and treasurer), were both Illinois residents connected with Conrad Black's former Hollinger International newspaper chain. Radler is the daughter of F. David Radler, a former Hollinger boss; McBride is chief financial officer of Horizon Publications Inc., the company Radler founded after he left Hollinger.

McBride also served as CFO of American Publishing Co., a former Hollinger subsidiary, and was said in an indictment to have aided Black's and the elder Radler's misappropriation of $5.5 million in connection with the sale of some newspaper properties from Hollinger to Horizon. [Miner, Michael. [http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/news-bites/tag/Horizon%20Publications/ "News Bites: David Radler's Daughter"] , "Chicago Reader" online, January 31, 2007. Accessed February 16, 2007.]

As of March 2007, the company had not yet announced a local headquarters. Its incorporation papers list a Delaware address. [ [http://www.rules.state.ri.us/corporations/corp_search/index.php?help=active_detail&CORP_ID=161180 Rhode Island Corporation Information: R.I.S.N. Operations Inc.] , Rhode Island Secretary of State's Office. Accessed March 9, 2007.]

Dailies

RISN operates three daily newspapers:
* "The Call" of Woonsocket, Rhode Island
* "Kent County Daily Times" of West Warwick, Rhode Island
* "The Times" of Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Weeklies

RISN's five weekly newspapers, known collectively as Southern Rhode Island Newspapers, are based in the village of Wakefield, part of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. As Journal Register properties, the weeklies managed to avoid circulation slips as sharp as those that plagued the dailies in the early 2000s, but nevertheless have still cut back on staff members, consoladating positions that were once held by multiple people and forcing new responcibilities onto the employees that remain. In the past 16 months, the weekly chains have lost three full-time photographers, two full-time sportswriters and eight full-time reporters. A "Providence Journal" report said the group's combined weekly circulation of around 13,000 in 2007 was down from 16,140 in 2001.

Southern Rhode Island Newspapers' offices are at 187 Main Street, Wakefield, Rhode Island 02879.

;"The Chariho Times" :"The Chariho Times" covers Charlestown, Hopkinton and Richmond, three rural towns in western Washington County that form the Chariho regional school district (the name comes from the first letters of each town's name). Founded in 1993, the paper circulated an average of 1,328 copies each Thursday in 2006.Audit Bureau of Circulations [http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/newssearchus.asp "e-circ"] data for six months ending September 30, 2006. Accessed March 7, 2007.]

;"The Coventry Courier" :"The Coventry Courier" covers Coventry and West Greenwich, the two westernmost towns of Kent County, also covered by the "Kent County Daily Times". It was founded in 1996 and circulated an average of 849 copies each Friday in 2006.

;"The East Greenwich Pendulum" :"The East Greenwich Pendulum" has covered East Greenwich in Kent County since 1854. Its Thursday circulation in 2006 averaged 2,040.

;"The Narragansett Times" :With the largest and most frequent circulation of the Wakefield-based papers -- 5,006 in 2006, delivered twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday -- "The Narragansett Times" is the second oldest, having covered Narragansett and South Kingstown, in southeastern Washington County, since 1855.

;"The Standard-Times" :"The Standard-Times" is the only of RISN's newspapers to cover a community off the mainland. In addition to Exeter and North Kingstown, it covers Jamestown in Newport County. Founded in 1888, its Thursday circulation was 3,854 in 2006.

References