San Diego firm buys Uinta Basin weeklies

ROOSEVELT — A San Diego-based company has purchased the two weekly newspapers in the Uinta Basin.

Gull Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Brehm Communications Inc., became the owner of the Vernal Express on Sunday and bought the Uintah Basin Standard on Wednesday. The sale also includes two "shoppers," or classified ad weeklies, owned by each newspaper.

Bill Brehm Jr., president of BCI, said the company has no plans to combine the two newspapers, which are 30 miles apart and primarily serve Uintah and Duchesne counties with a combined circulation of just under 14,000.

"Both newspapers must serve their own communities and reflect the need of the basin. Our goal is to have two strong community newspapers," he said last week while meeting with staff members of the Uintah Basin Standard in Roosevelt. "The two newspapers will be able to share resources, improve content, coverage and quality."

The Vernal Express and Uintah Basin Standard each have a long history of family ownership; BCI shares a similar background. The company traces its roots back to 1917 with the purchase of the Fort Madison Daily Democrat in Fort Madison, Iowa. It still owns and publishes the Democrat, along with 50 other community dailies and weeklies in small towns in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois.

Bill Brehm Sr. remains active in the company as chairman of the board. The Uintah Basin Standard is one of the company's larger weeklies, and its pressroom will be used to publish both the Standard and the Express, said Bill Brehm Jr.

The Vernal Express was owned and published by the Wallis family for almost 80 years. Publisher Steve Wallis, the great-great-grandson of the paper's first publisher, James H. Wallis, died unexpectedly on Jan. 30 at the age of 52.

For the past two months, the Express continued to run, under the direction of Wallis' widow, Tami, with help from staff and other family members. The Express covers Uintah County. Kevin Ashby, who formerly published The Sun Advocate and Emery County Progress for BCI, was named as the new publisher of the Vernal Express.

The Uintah Basin Standard, which covered Duchesne and Uintah counties, has been published under different names with different owners since 1917. It has been owned by the Ashby family since 1964. Current publisher Craig Ashby bought it from his father, Clarin Ashby, in 1978. Craig Ashby will remain as publisher of the Standard.

In Utah, Gull Communications also owns The Richfield Reaper in Richfield, The Sun Advocate in Price and the Emery County Progress in Castle Dale.

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