CherryRoad Media

CherryRoad Media is an American newspaper publisher and commercial printer based in New Jersey. It is the communications division of CherryRoad Technologies and was founded in 2020 by its CEO Jeremy Gulban. The company specializes in weekly publications in rural communities. It has received national media attention for rapidly buying and launching new titles amid the decline of newspapers.

As of May 2024, the company has acquired or started 85 newspapers across 18 states. Most of these papers print weekly, but three print five times a week and about a dozen print two or three times a week. CherryRoad Media employs around 500 people and Gulban expects revenue to be around $30 million for 2024.

Expansion strategy
CherryRoad Media owns newspapers in rural communities across the United States, with a large number of them bought from Gannett. Print circulations for these papers are typically in the hundreds to low thousands. The company acquired so many titles in its first two years of operation that in 2022 it owned the eighth largest number of newspapers in the United States. CEO Jeremy Gulban has not publicly disclosed how much the company pays to acquire a newspaper, but in 2022 he said someone who wanted to buy a small weekly "probably could do so for less than $100,000." When it comes to the total number of papers CherryRoad intends to own, Gulban has said "there's a sweet spot of around seven to 10 publications in every state."

Some of the newspaper's CherryRoad has acquired were absorbed into titles with a larger circulation or merged to create a new publication. The company on at least four occasions launched new titles in markets where papers had recently shuttered, often hiring on staff from the closed papers.

Newsroom operations
CherryRoad Media typically employs one or two people on the editorial-side of its newsrooms. Small weeklies often have one full-time and one part time reporter. Larger papers have around two or three workers in the newsroom. CherryRoad uses its own web-based content management system and its websites come equipped with a paywall. Gulban said the company strives to minimize regional and national content it its papers, excluding its daily newspapers, and focus on local stories.

The company tries to employ an advertising sales representative based in every market where they operate, but Gulban said local ad and page designers are "a luxury that we can't afford." CherryRoad uses several third-party software tools on the business-side of its newsrooms. The company employs the Community Publishing System, made by Software Consulting Services, to handle selling advertisements and uses the Column software tool to manage public notices.

Revenue streams
CherryRoad Media runs its newspaper operations at a relatively low profit margin. Gulban said he could "get a steady 10% margin" from subscriptions and ad sales "and then drive other revenue at a higher margin out of it." The business is supplemented by offering technology services like designing, launching and hosting websites. The company offers “newspaper as a service” software, such as cloud-based storage and circulation systems. CherryRoad has sold off at least five newspapers and other kinds of publications to employees while in some instances continuing to provide software support to the new business owners. To cut costs, CherryRoad will move a newly acquired newspaper's office to a cheaper location when the lease ends. As of May 2024, the company has not turned a profit.

Printing operations
CherryRoad Media owns four newspaper printing presses: the Hutchinson operation in Kansas, Eagle Print in Ohio, the News-Press & Gazette Company commercial printer in Missouri and Page 1 Printers in Minnesota. The printing of the company's papers are done at these sites, or else outsourced to other businesses. The company also prints specialty publications at their facilities including magazines for school districts.

Origins
In 1983, Michael Gulban started a technology company in New Jersey called DataStudy Inc. The business' name was changed 20 years later to CherryRoad Technologies, which came from the firm's original address. The company's roots were in complex software implementation and financial reporting systems, often for local government agencies. Over time it became an internet service provider offering cloud computing platforms and programs for hosting multiple websites.

Michael Gulban's son Jeremy Gulban, a graduate of Drew University where he majored in economics and minored in political science, took over operations in 2008 after working 10 years in Chicago. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, CherryRoad created software applications for virtual meetings and remote learning and offered them for free to school districts and local governments, but none were interested. So Jeremy Gulban said the company turned its attention toward using the technology to improve community newspapers.

In November 2020, Jeremy Gulban founded CherryRoad Media with the purchase of the Cook County News-Herald, a weekly newspaper in Minnesota. The previous owners Hal and Deidre Kettunen had owned the newspaper since 2008.

2021
In June, CherryRoad purchased four weekly newspapers in Arkansas: The Mountaineer Echo of Flippin, the Marshall Mountain Wave, the Clay County Courier in Corning and the Pocahontas Star Herald.

CherryRoad tried to buy the International Falls Journal from Alden Global Capital but the company chose to close the paper instead in June. Alden had owned the paper since 2020 as part of its acquisition of Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing Co. In response to the closure, CherryRoad launched the Rainy Lake Gazette about three weeks later in July.

The seventh newspaper the company acquired was The Clayton Record in Alabama. The sale was completed in August.

In September, CherryRoad purchased 20 publications from Gannett. The sale included 13 Kanas papers: the Hays Daily News, the Garden City Telegram, the Leavenworth Times, the St. John News, the Kiowa County Signal, the Dodge City Daily Globe, the McPherson Sentinel, the Butler County Times-Gazette, the Wellington Daily News, the Ottawa Times, the Newton Kansan, the Pratt Tribune and the Penny Press in Hiawatha.

The Gannet sale also included two newspapers in Nebraska: Nebraska City News Press and Syracuse Journal-Democrat; four Missouri papers: Independence Examiner, Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Boonville Daily News, Linn County Leader; and the Hamburg Reporter in Iowa. The purchase of the newspapers went into effect Oct. 1.

In December, CherryRoad purchased four Colorado newspapers from Gannet: La Junta Tribune-Democrat, the Fowler Tribune, Bent County Democrat and Ag Journal. That same month the CherryRoad Media announced its acquisition of seven rural Minnesota newspapers from Gannett: the Crookston Times, Granite Falls Advocate Tribune, Montevideo American-News, Redwood Falls Gazette, St. James Plaindealer, Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch and the Tri-County News in Cottonwood.

2022
In January, CherryRoad founded its second start up newspaper, the Lake County Press, in Lake County, Minnesota.

In February, CherryRoad purchased several Gannett-owned newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma. The Texas newspapers included: Sherman Herald Democrat, Waxahachie Daily Light, Stephenville Empire-Tribune, Brownwood Bulletin, Alice Echo-News Journal, Van Alstyne Leader, Anna-Melissa Tribune, Prosper Press, Grayson County Shopper, Midlothian Mirror, Runnels County Register, Glen Rose Reporter, Cross Timbers Trading Post and Shop Local. The Oklahoma newspapers included: the Daily Ardmoreite in Ardmore and the Shawnee News-Star.

In March, CherryRoad purchased nine newspapers Rust Communications. The sale included four newspapers in Missouri: Marshall Democrat-News, Monett Times, Cassville Democrat and South Missourian News in Thayer. Also sold were five newspapers in Arkansas: Carroll County News in Berryville, Lovely County Citizen in Eureka Springs, The News in Salem, Villager Journal in Cherokee Village and Clay County Times-Democrat in Piggott.

In September, CherryRoad purchased four weekly papers in Massachusetts purchased from Gannett. The sale included The Landmark in Holden, the Leominster Champion, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and The Grafton News. The acquisition averted the planned Sept. 15 closure of The Landmark.

That same month CherryRoad acquired three weekly Utah newspapers from Brehm Communications Inc., including The Richfield Reaper, The Vernal Express and the Uintah Basin Standard. CherryRoad also bought The Chronicle-Express in New York from Gannett, saving the paper from closure.

In November, CherryRoad purchased The Star-News in Idaho from Central Idaho Publishing. That same month CherryRoad purchased The Clinton Item, another Massachusetts paper, from Gannett.

In December, CherryRoad sold several publications it had acquired earlier that year from Rust Communications. The Carroll County News, the free weekly tabloid Lovely County Citizen, shopper Ozark Mountain Trader, and specialty publications Eureka Springs Visitor and Currents magazine were sold to Carroll County Community Media LLC, a partnership between Scott Loftis, David Bell and Steve Johnson. The Cassville Democrat was sold to Kyle Troutman and Jordan Troutman. The Monett Times and Connection Magazine was sold to Lisa Craft.

2023
In February, CherryRoad acquired the McPherson News Ledger and absorbed it into the McPherson Sentinel.

In April, CherryRoad sold The Mountain Echo to Robert Lyons Jr. and Peggy Mason.

In August, CherryRoad purchased several Kansas newspapers from the family owned News-Press & Gazette Company, including the Miami County Republic, the Atchison Globe and the Hiawatha World. The sale also included two papers based in Liberty, Missouri: the Courier-Tribune and the Gladstone Dispatch. CherryRoad also acquired the company's commercial printing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Also in August, CherryRoad acquired the Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations from Gannett. At the time, the facility printed most of CherryRoad's Kansas publications as well as numerous other newspapers in the area. That same month, CherryRoad acquired eight community newspapers and Eagle Print from Delphos Herald, Inc. The sale included Ohio papers the Delphos Herald, Van Wert Times Bulletin, the Putnam County Sentinel, the Paulding Progress, the Ada Herald, the Putnam County Vidette, Monroe County Beacon and The Register in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

In September, the Villager Journal of Cherokee Village and the Salem News, which CherryRoad purchased in February 2021, were merged into a single publication called Areawide News. The Pratt Tribune, Kiowa County Signal and St. John News were merged to form Tri-County Tribune. CherryRoad acquired all three papers in September 2021. The Fort Leavenworth Lamp, which was acquired from Gannet in 2021, was closed. The AG Journal ceased and the Fowler Tribune was absorbed into the La Junta Tribune Democrat following Gannett closing The Pueblo Chieftain's printing operation.

In October, the company acquired the Moberly Monitor-Index from Westplex Media Group.

2024
In January, CherryRoad purchased Page 1 Printers, a commercial printer based in Slayton, Minnesota, from Graphic Arts Advisors, LLC.

In April, the company announced plans to launch two new Minnesota papers in Hutchinson and Litchfield. This was in response to MediaNews Group announcing the closure of the Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review. The newly created Hutchinson Station and Litchfield Rail launched in May.

In June, the company announced The Gardner News in Kansas will close. The weekly newspaper founded in 1982 had been owned by CherryRoad since 2022. The paper had under 200 subscribers and lost money every month. It was the last remaining community newspaper in the county.