A Victory for Family Ownership

     George E. Randall, currently general manager of the newspaper, will head the Randall family operation. His mother, Mrs. Frances Delaplaine Randall, is the sister of George B. Delaplaine, the current publisher of the paper and chairman of its parent company.
     "I’m pleased that we were able to keep The News-Post in the family," said an exuberant George Randall on the morning after the sale was announced. "My goal is to carry on the tradition of excellence and service to the community that was begun by my great grandfather, William T. Delaplaine, who founded the paper on Oct. 15, 1883. Those traditions were carried on by his four sons and then by my uncle George. I will be carrying them on into the fourth generation, and hopefully they will go beyond that."
     The decision to sell the newspaper to Randall came slightly more than three months after it was put on the market, along with other holdings of the parent Great Southern Printing and Manufacturing Co.
     Randall wouldn’t identify the newspaper companies that pursued The News-Post, and neither would he comment on the sale price. Companies identified by The Gazette Newspapers as being among the suitors included The Washington Post, Gannett Co., Landmark Communications, Media General and Ogden Newspapers.
     Randall said there were several companies involved but some dropped out after the initial round. "There were different levels of interest," he noted.
     Combined circulation of The News-Post, Randall said, has climbed to 42,000. The morning Post and the evening News are both published Monday through Saturday. There is no Sunday edition.
     In announcing the sale, Delaplaine said the transfer of ownership to Randall will occur concurrently with the closing of the sale of the assets of Great Southern’s cable television subsidiary to Adelphia Communications Corp. of Coudersport, PA. The Adelphia transaction, announced in mid-June, carried a price tag of $836 million, but it also included a cable system in Virginia along with Great Southern’s.
     Until closing of the transactions, the present ownership and management of both of Great Southern’s businesses will remain intact, Delaplaine said. Closing is expected to occur before the end of the year.