Last year the Nashville-based media company SouthComm, Inc. purchased Creative Loafing in Tampa, as well as the CL publication in Charlotte.
Today they announced they're getting bigger, with the acquisition of two more papers — the Atlanta Creative Loafing and the Washington City Paper, both of whom were in the CL family a year ago.
The new purchases make SouthComm one of the biggest players in the alternative newsweekly scene in the U.S. with more than 20 publications, ranking only behind Village Voice Media.
"I am excited to welcome these two excellent papers to SouthComm," said SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell. "Washington City Paper and Creative Loafing are two of the leading alt-weeklies in the country in two of the most influential cities in the world. I look forward to working with the staff in both markets to build on their legacy of strong news reporting and in-depth coverage of dining, music, arts, and culture."
SouthComm Inc. now owns alt-weeklies in Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Washington D.C., Louisville, and Charlotte, as well as a number of regional niche publications and the custom publishing companies Target Marketing and SouthComm Publishing.
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2012.