Pacific Media Purchases Weekly Kirkland Courier

KIRKLAND

The Kirkland Courier, a free weekly newspaper with 17,000 circulation in Kirkland and Juanita, has been purchased by Pacific Media Group of Seattle, according to Denis Law, Pacific Media vice-president.

Law, who lives in Woodinville, is the new Courier publisher, taking over from former owners Dan and Dianne Zimmerman who had owned the newspaper for four years.

The Courier, which publishes 12 to 14 pages each week, was founded by Carol Edwards, publisher of the Woodinville Weekly, and Will Knedlik shortly after Kirkland's historic newspaper, the East Side Journal, had merged with the Bellevue American to form the Journal American.

With the addition of the Courier, Pacific Media claims a circulation of 94,000 on the Eastside, all free except for the Issaquah Press, which has a paid circulation of 7,600 in addition to 10,400 free shoppers. Other publications are the monthly Mercer Islander with 9,000 copies sent by mail; and the Eastside Review, founded last fall, which mails once a month to 50,000 homes in Redmond, Kirkland, Carnation and Duvall.

Pacific Media was established in 1990, when Houston media executive Tom Haley bought out John Murray and John Flaherty, both owners of local nondaily newspaper chains. In addition to the four Eastside periodicals, the group also owns the weekly Argus Weekend, Capitol Hill Times, University Herald, North Central Outlook, Beacon Hill News, South District Journal, Queen Anne News, Magnolia News, Ballard Independent, Seattle Police Beat and the monthly Madison Park Times. All are voluntary-pay or free.