Patriot Publishing purchases SW Times
Patriot Publishing, LLC – publisher of The Patriot in Pulaski – has purchased The Southwest Times from HD Media of Huntington, W.Va.
The Times will continue publishing each week in print, and will continue its online presence.
Both newspapers will be based in The Patriot’s office at 7 Fifth Street, N.E. in the Home Town Realty building.
To contact either paper, call 540-808-3949.
Marshall Dowdy
November 1, 2023 @ 5:52 pm
Well. It’s about time. I hope there are still some folks there will feel the stupidity of your, and Neecy Payne’s separations. They were STUPID in both!!!!
Shane Callahan
November 1, 2023 @ 6:56 pm
Congratulations Mr. Williams! I wish my Dad could be here with you for this, but he is smiling down. God bless you and your family and God bless the PCPatriot.
Mike Williams
November 1, 2023 @ 7:21 pm
Hey, thanks Shane. That means a lot. Miss your Dad like crazy! He would be pleased.
Marty Gordon
November 2, 2023 @ 1:10 pm
Yes, congrats Mike. Back to the orig. If you ever need a stringer, let me know.
_-marty
Greg East
November 7, 2023 @ 8:55 pm
Congratulations to you and your family Mike! Well deserved. Keep up the good work!
Susan Dalrymple
November 1, 2023 @ 7:36 pm
Congratulations Mike! It’s come full circle.
Brenda
November 2, 2023 @ 9:14 am
I do not know the history of what happened to SWTimes, but am pleased to see PCPatriot taking over. Sadly, SW Times seemed to decline over the years, and made some not so great decisions. One in particular that turned me away was when they removed the ability for readers to comment online via the paper’s website and forced FaceBook as the medium to do so. There were dozens of people who commented regularly. Sometimes arguing, sometimes agreeing, but always interesting banter!! The majority of us obviously didn’t use FB (I didn’t) because comments went from many to almost zero…unless you count the FB ads that popped up on every article promising we could make a fortune with this or that. 🙁
PCP on the other provides more detailed reporting and stories often overlooked in the former, and lets us comment directly without need for social media which many people do not choose to use. Congratulations on the purchase!
Connie Bane
November 2, 2023 @ 10:40 am
I live in Giles County, but I love The Patroit, I do my best to get a copy each week. Keep up the good work, don’t change anything in it.
Warren Morris
November 2, 2023 @ 11:35 am
Hey Mike good move, the best to you
Pat Guthrie
November 2, 2023 @ 12:13 pm
Wow! How wonderful, Mike! God has blessed you greatly because of His love for you and your faithfulness in giving us good news coverage in this area.
Randy Muir
November 2, 2023 @ 12:24 pm
Congrats Mike.
Let me first admit, I am naïve about the history to which previous commenters have alluded.
But I’m more interested in the future. So from that standpoint, I would like to learn about your vision as how the missions and operations of the two papers will differ and evolve over time.
I have sometimes wondered to myself how a relatively small market can justify two papers in this day and age, when the economic realities of running a publication are so challenging.
Brenda
November 3, 2023 @ 8:12 am
What an excellent question Randy! I didn’t even think about having to mange…and pay for…publishing 2 papers and assumed they’d simply be merged into one. Looking forward to the answer (an solution) to this 🙂
Bob Stepno
November 4, 2023 @ 3:47 pm
Randy & Brenda, I wonder whether the SWTimes could find a niche by expanding to be a colorful, well-printed paid-subscription Sunday paper with comics, features and news from a wider area — Pulaski, Radford, Montgomery and Floyd. Non-partisan news reporting, and opinion pages giving a variety of perspectives would be my preference.
Bob
retired journalism professor
Donnie Walls
November 2, 2023 @ 2:30 pm
Best thing that’s happened to the SWT in the last 15 years !
Bob Stepno
November 4, 2023 @ 12:30 pm
Best wishes! Any chance that the Southwest Times will expand and try to live up to its name? A regional Sunday paper could be an asset to the region in many ways.
Still feeling “new here” myself, after 16 years, I’ve never heard the full story of the creation of PCPatriot or met any of the folks involved, but have marvelled that Pulaski County had two newspapers… Alas, living in Radford, I haven’t bought a Southwest Times since the Fairlawn BoJangles fire eliminated my occasional trips to the convenience store next door. Besides, Neesey Payne and Calvin Pynn, my two former Radford students who once worked at SWTimes, were long gone.
Meanwhile, Blacksburg, Montgomery County and the city of Radford certainly could use some competition in the news-reporting department, offering mentoring and role models to young reporters and journalism students, and inspiring older ones to do a better job, for the good of the communities and our journalism-assisted democracy.
Good luck!
Donna Knarr
November 5, 2023 @ 6:45 am
Congratulations Mike! Wonderful news!
Erin Wigginton
November 5, 2023 @ 2:02 pm
Congratulations, Mike and family!!!