Daily sale could be completed by March 1

W.Va.-based Ogden owns 40 newspapers throughout country

By Sally Voth -- svoth@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- Four months after announcing that The Northern Virginia Daily was for sale, Editor John Horan introduced its prospective new owners to employees Friday morning.

The Ogden Newspapers Inc., based in Wheeling, W.Va., has an agreement in principle to buy the paper and expects to close on the sale Feb. 29, taking over the paper March 1. The terms of the sale, which includes the paper's website, nvdaily.com, won't be disclosed.

Ogden President and CEO Robert M. "Bob" Nutting told the paper's staff that while the company owns 40 newspapers, "we don't think of ourselves as a chain of newspapers."

"[Chain] feels very structured and corporate to me, and probably doesn't reflect who we think we are as a family because we really do think of ourselves as a family that loves newspapers," he said.

Nutting's great-grandfather, H.C. Ogden, founded the company in 1890.

The company now owns newspapers in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Florida and Hawaii. Among its papers are The Journal in Martinsburg, W.Va., and the Shepherdstown Chronicle.

Additionally, Nutting is the chairman and principal owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and chairman of Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania, he said.

"We are here because we believe in the future of newspapers," Nutting said. "You all have published a very good newspaper for a long period of time. We're very pleased, very pleased to be here."

He said he was impressed with the number of awards the Daily has received from the Virginia Press Association, including the "News Sweepstakes" award for each of the past 11 years.

"We are committed to the printed newspaper and know newspapers continue to be the best source for news and advertising in every community we serve," Nutting said. "We are also well positioned for the growth of online news and advertising. I am pleased to see that nvdaily.com is a valuable, relevant and robust information source for this region."

The website averages nearly 180,000 unique visitors and more than a million page views per month, he pointed out.

"We want our newspapers to be strong, active, community-minded, locally edited newspapers," Nutting said. "We intend to present balanced and complete news coverage, which we hope will be of interest and service to our readers throughout our circulation area."

Current Daily owners Pat and Dee Keister announced the sale on Oct. 7. Pat Keister, 84, is the son of E.E. Keister, who started the newspaper in September 1932. The Keisters were represented by W.B. Grimes and Co., a mergers and acquisitions firm in Gaithersburg, Md.

Nutting told the Daily staff that he expected them to be wondering how the sale will affect their jobs and benefits.

"What I can tell you right now is we have a lot of those same questions, and what we are here to do is to learn as much as we possibly can so we can tell you as quickly and accurately and honestly answers to all of those questions," he said.

Nutting said he expects the Daily's printing operation to ultimately be moved to Ogden's press in Martinsburg. He said Ogden is considering whether the Daily will remain in its current and original building at 152 N. Holliday St. and has been in discussions about bringing in a publisher.

Horan, who has been the Daily's editor since 1977, said several newspaper groups, as well as some local individuals, expressed interest in buying the paper.

"While it's bittersweet that the Keister family is selling The Northern Virginia Daily, we're delighted that Ogden is buying us," he said. "They're a well-regarded newspaper company with mostly small newspapers. They're committed to quality journalism and we look forward to their ownership of the paper."

Mrs. Keister thanked the paper's management and staff, who she credited for making the paper and website "outstanding." She and her husband think of them as family, she said.

"We have had a glorious past and our excellence continues today," Mrs. Keister said. "We now look forward to a bright future for the Daily and nvdaily.com under the guidance of Ogden Newspapers and the Nutting family."