Public Radio for the Central Kenai Peninsula
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Support public radio — donate today!

Homer News moves to new office following building sale

The former Homer News building on Oct. 3, 2024. The building was sold on Sept. 30.
Jamie Diep
/
KBBI
The former Homer News building on Oct. 3, 2024. The building was sold on Sept. 30.

The longtime newsroom for Homer’s only print newspaper is moving. That’s after the Homer News’ building sale went through earlier this week.

The weekly newspaper has been housed by Beluga Lake in Homer since 1987. While printing operations in Kenai moved off site last year, reporters remained at the building.

Advertising sales manager Cara Hall said the paper’s reporters are relocating to a space across the street from Homer Middle School.

“I think it's just with the idea that people can work remotely, you know, there's a lot more flexibility in the workplace," she said, "we just realized that we didn't need this large of a space.”

Hall said the decision to sell the building came from the paper’s new owners.

Mississippi-based media conglomerate Carpenter Media Group bought the Homer News’ owner Sound Publishing back in March and its parent company, Black Press Media. Since then, the three newspapers formerly owned by Sound Publishing have gone through changes.

For instance, The Peninsula Clarion, which is based out of Kenai, reduced its printing schedule to once a week earlier this year. Its building is for sale as well.

Sound Publishing also laid 62 employees from its newspapers in Washington state, according to the Seattle Times.

Sound Publishing president Josh O’Connor did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

Jamie Diep is a reporter/host for KBBI from Portland, Oregon. They joined KBBI right after getting a degree in music and Anthropology from the University of Oregon. They’ve built a strong passion for public radio through their work with OPB in Portland and the Here I Stand Project in Taipei, Taiwan.Jamie covers everything related to Homer and the Kenai Peninsula, and they’re particularly interested in education and environmental reporting. You can reach them at jamie@kbbi.org to send story ideas.