CCN Merges Two Newspapers

In April, Carroll County Newspapers Inc. merged two weekly newspapers — the Eureka Springs Times-Echo and Star-Tribune of Berryville — to create the Carroll County News Midweek.

Bob Moore, CCN’s publisher, said he has only had two calls complaining about the change, and one of those was from a reader who didn’t like the new name.

Moore said it’s a challenge to produce one weekly newspaper that serves communities as diverse as Eureka Springs, Berryville and Green Forest.

“When you’re dealing with cowboys and artists, it makes for a very flavorful paper,” he said.

Three years ago, CCN merged the Green Forest Tribune and Berryville Star Progress to form the Star-Tribune.

In 1999, the company started publishing the Carroll County News Weekend for the entire county. CCN still publishes that newspaper — which has a press run of about 4,200 — on Fridays.

Carroll County News Midweek, which is published on Tuesdays, has a press run of about 5,100.

With newspapers coming out twice a week countywide, Moore said he hopes the CCN will eventually go daily, but that could be five to 10 years from now.

“We’re positioning ourselves to go to a five-day daily when the retail business is there to support it,” he said.

Also, in January, CCN bought The Lovely County Citizen, a free weekly alternative newspaper, from Bill King and John Rankine, who continue to work for that publication.

CCN is owned by Rust Communications of Missouri.