I”m so proud and honored to have worked with so many dedicated and passionate people.” “I just have so many memories of what this newspaper has accomplished in the 13 years since I”ve been here. “I don”t think I slept too much last night if at all,” said Slack. Good Times publisher Ron Slack, reached at a conference in Washington, D.C., said that he would “probably” not be retained. The current Santa Cruz Weekly began publishing in 1994 as Metro Santa Cruz. A UC Santa Cruz grad, he worked for the now defunct Santa Cruz Independent and was briefly the editor of the first incarnation of the Santa Cruz Weekly, and was the founder of the Student Guide. Pulcrano has a long history with Santa Cruz”s alternative journalism community. Pulcrano said that generally in the newspaper industry, “it”s no longer fashionable for the investment community to invest in publishing, but it”s a great business for owner/operators.” Until January, MainStreet Media – the corporate parent of Good Times – was a subsidiary of the investment fund the Brookside Group. Even during the last 20 years of digital media, weeklies seem to have been the survivors.” “We”re actually excited about the future of print,” said Pulcrano. The acquisition doubles the numbers of newspapers under the Metro Newspapers banner, which also includes Metro Silicon Valley in San Jose and the North Bay Bohemian in Santa Rosa. Currently, Greg Archer is the editor of Good Times, which has a staff of 19 Steve Palopoli of the Santa Cruz Weekly.
Pulcrano also said that he would be retaining “the majority of both staffs,” but declined to state who would be the editor of the new product. “In about a week, we”ll be distributing jointly in a single package with aspects of both publications.” “We will be consolidating operations but keeping both nameplates alive in some fashion,” said Pulcrano. He did say, however, that the Santa Cruz Weekly and Good Times would combine into one publication, under the Good Times nameplate. Pulcrano declined to state the acquisition”s price. The acquisition from MainStreet Media Group also includes the two dailies the Gilroy Dispatch and the Morgan Hill Times. Metro”s Chief Executive Officer Dan Pulcrano announced the deal Monday. Santa Cruz > In a historic deal in local journalism, Metro Newspapers, the parent company of the Santa Cruz Weekly, has acquired the Weekly”s primary competitor, the 39-year-old weekly Good Times.