Prairie Mountain Publishing, an arm of Digital First Media/Alden Global Capital, has consolidated the Sunday comics section of four of their north-central Colorado newspapers: the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Longmont Times-Call, Greeley Tribune, and Boulder Daily Camera.
From The Loveland Reporter-Herald:
In our ongoing effort to make the best use of our shared resources, Prairie Mountain Media has created a common Sunday comics section for readers of the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Longmont Times-Call, Greeley Tribune and Boulder Daily Camera. To accomplish this, we had to get all of these newspapers, literally, on the same page, with each newspaper adding some comics and dropping others.
For The Sunday Reporter-Herald and The Sunday Times-Call that means it gains Blondie, Pickles, Doonesbury, Family Circus, and Tundra. The losses are Hi and Lois, Cul de Sac, and Prince Valiant. Regarding that last editor John Vahlenkamp says:
As much as we appreciate this long-running serial, its text-heavy presentation and detailed artwork would make reading it difficult at a smaller size. You can still follow it at comicskingdom.com/prince-valiant.
The Boulder Daily Camera has major changes to its Sunday lineup. Gains are Baldo, Blondie, Dustin, Family Circus, Frank and Ernest, Mother Goose and Grimm, and Peanuts. Losses are Argyle Sweater, Born Loser, Candorville, Grand Avenue, Monty, Sally Forth, Sherman’s Lagoon, and, again, Prince Valiant.
We couldn’t find details for changes at The Greeley Tribune.
UPDATE: James Delach sent The Daily Cartoonist a list of Greeley Tribune Sunday ins and outs.
In: Baldo, Breaking Cat News, Dustin, Fox Trot, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Mother Goose & Grimm, Non Sequitur, Pearls Before Swine, Rose Is Rose, Tundra
Out: B.C., Beetle Bailey, The Born Loser, Cul de Sac, Dennis The Menace, Garfield, Hagar The Horrible, Wizard Of Id
The losses and gains are a mixture of King Features Syndicate and Andrews McMeel Syndication, plus Tundra.
Editor Vahlenkamp closes with:
We understand that we’re removing some strips that readers enjoy and, possibly, a couple that only a few readers will miss. Every one of us who made these decisions had to give up something we like.
Change is inevitable, but the Sunday comics section is a tradition that endures. We hope this new lineup will continue to deliver smiles.
I’ve worked with this combination in another role. They are culturally/geographically related, so that works. But “smaller” isn’t promising, and I wasn’t sorry to slip away from the Alden folks.