Santa Cruz’s Good Times weekly has purchased the Press-Banner from Tank Town Media just as the Santa Cruz Mountains newspaper prepares to celebrate its 60th year of publishing.
The Scotts Valley-based weekly, which, in addition to serving the city of 11,500, covers Boulder Creek and the San Lorenzo Valley, joins a group that includes Good Times, Aptos Life and Watsonville’s Pajaronian. Last year, the locally-based Santa Cruz publishing group anchored by Good Times purchased the Pajaronian from News Media Corp. of Rochelle, Illinois.
“With the addition of the Press-Banner, we can offer advertisers unrivaled reach in Santa Cruz County and provide readers with coverage from all corners of the county,” said publisher Dan Pulcrano.
The publishing group, now known simply as Weeklys, also publishes Metro Silicon Valley, Morgan Hill Times and Gilroy Dispatch in Santa Clara County, as well as weeklies in Monterey, San Benito, Alameda, Marin and Sonoma counties. Earlier this year it purchased the East Bay Express and introduced East Bay magazine and the Salinas Valley Tribune.
Tank Town Media, which is owned by longtime publishers Will Fleet and Ralph Alldredge, has operated the Press Banner since 2012, when it purchased it along with the Tracy Press in San Joaquin County. In addition to the Press, Tank Town publishes the Patterson Irrigator.
“For the past eight years, we have been proud caretakers of this beautiful community’s newspaper. We deeply appreciate our many readers and advertisers who supported us,” publisher Will Fleet said.
“We’re pleased the Press-Banner will be in good hands,” Fleet said. “The new owners share our commitment to locally-focused, independent community journalism.”
The Press Banner was first published on December 2, 1960 as the Valley Press. In 1974, the owners of the Valley Press created and published the Scotts Valley Banner. The two papers merged in 2006 to become the Press Banner.
Good Times is Santa Cruz County’s largest circulation publication. This year it received the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s First Place “General Excellence” award, the highest honor amongst weeklies in the state of California.
About Weeklys
Founded as Metro Publishing and recently rebranded Weeklys, the company operates 13 Northern California newspapers, including alternatives Metro Silicon Valley, East Bay Express, Santa Cruz’s Good Times, Marin’s Pacific Sun and North Bay Bohemian, circulated in Sonoma and Napa counties. The company also publishes traditional community newspapers in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Benito County, Salinas Valley, King City, Watsonville, Aptos and Scotts Valley. Headed by founder and longtime area resident Dan Pulcrano, Weeklys is independent and locally-owned.
