About Us - History
Silicon Valley Community Newspapers publishes 11 weekly community newspapers in Santa Clara County. At one time, the company was a part of Metro Newspapers, but became a completely independent company in December 2001 when David Cohen, who co-founded Metro in 1985, bought out his business partners and became publisher/CEO of the Community Newspapers. In the summer of 2006, Silicon Valley Community Newspapers became a part of MediaNews.
Our 11 weekly newspapers reach more than 197,625 homes in specific geographic areas of the valley with news specific to that area. Our coverage includes local schools, youth sports, business, law enforcement, features and community profiles as well as the impact of local government on the community. In each of our weekly newspapers, our opinion pages serve as a forum for community dialogue about local issues.
Each of our newspapers is committed to local coverage within each circulation area. Our 11 community newspapers are: the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Los Gatos Weekender, Saratoga News, Cupertino Courier, Sunnyvale Sun, Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident, Rose Garden Resident, Almaden Resident, West San Jose Resident and Cambrian Resident. Each has its own history:
Los Gatos Weekly-Times
With a heritage dating back to 1881, the Weekly-Times is a key player in the business, cultural and political life of this active community. Our association with the paper dates back to 1982, when Metro co-founder Dan Pulcrano founded the Los Gatos Weekly.
Meanwhile, another news weekly in Los Gatos, the Times Observer, was sold to the Meredith Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa, which transferred ownership to Meredith executive Terrence Donnelly of Los Angeles in 1986. In May 1988, Peninsula Community Newspapers, a subsidiary of the Tribune Company of Chicago, purchased the newspaper group.
In 1988, looking to focus on the booming market in San Jose, Metro sold the Weekly to Los Gatos businessmen Joe White and Joseph Shulman. Two years later, the owners of both papers were looking to sell. Metro Newspapers bought the Weekly back from the local businessmen, and purchased the Los Gatos Times Observer from the Peninsula group. The Los Gatos Weekly-Times was launched in March 1990.
The Weekly-Times has since become a local resource treasured by its community of readers. It has won numerous awards, including two highly coveted General Excellence awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Saratoga News
Saratoga-one of the Santa Clara Valley's oldest cities-is tucked against the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, a short drive from the redwoods and a shorter drive from the heart of the high-tech industry.
The Saratoga News is a vital part of the local civic and business community. The newspaper was founded in 1955 by Sherman Miller, who operated the paper for 18 years, until its 1973 sale to the Cupertino-based Sun Newspaper group. The Sun chain was acquired in 1978 by the Meredith Corporation, and along with the Los Gatos Times Observer, changed hands again when the Peninsula group acquired the chain. Metro bought the Saratoga News from Peninsula in 1990.
In 2000, the Saratoga News was recognized by the California Newspaper Publishers Association as a "newspaper of general excellence.
Willow Glen Resident
Joseph Guerra founded the Willow Glen Resident in this San Jose neighborhood in 1987, and it immediately became an important part of the local community. The Resident was published monthly for four years, until it was acquired by Metro Newspapers in December 1991. It was converted to a weekly in 1992.
Like our other community newspapers, the Willow Glen Resident is "fiercely local," and its coverage of citywide news takes a local perspective for residents and those who do business in the Willow Glen neighborhood.
Sunnyvale Sun
When the Valley Journal, Sunnyvale's longtime weekly newspaper, was closed on March 12, 1993, by the Tribune Company of Chicago, Metro acted quickly-announcing the launch of the Sunnyvale Sun less than two weeks later. The then-city manager and president of the Chamber of Commerce welcomed us, saying they wanted a paper like the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.
In late 2003, we doubled the circulation of The Sun to 36,600, ensuring wide coverage of this diverse community with a publication that has become a "must-read" newspaper whose Letters to the Editor section has become a lively forum for local issues.
Cupertino Courier
The Cupertino Courier was founded in 1947 and published until 1978 by Cupertino resident Mort Levine, who sold it to the Meredith Corporation. The Courier was acquired in 1986 by Meredith executive Terrence Donnelly, who sold it to the Tribune Co. in 1988.
Meanwhile, armed with the lessons it had learned from the successes of its three other community weeklies, Metro founded the Cupertino Neighbor in 1993. Metro purchased the Courier in 1995 and merged it with the Neighbor.
In recent years, the Courier has become respected for its role in helping bring together this highly diverse community to better communicate concerns brought about by the dramatic demographic changes that have seen the city's Asian population jump to nearly 50 percent of the community in just a short time.
In the summer of 2003, the Courier sponsored a community forum called "A Time to Talk," specifically to bring residents together to discuss issues related to race.
The Campbell Reporter
In March 1999, we added our sixth weekly community newspaper, the Campbell Reporter.
We arrived on the scene in Campbell in the midst of that city's ambitious redevelopment plan, and we have been both cheerleader and, when appropriate, critic of that process. When the city's new Heritage Theatre-the renovated Campbell High School auditorium-opened on Valentine's Day 2004, the Campbell Reporter hailed the opening with a big, themed section that looked at every aspect of the project from the school alumni who were its biggest supporters, to the performance schedule. This kind of special attention to things that matter to our readers has made the Campbell Reporter a trusted source of local news in Campbell.
Rose Garden Resident
On May 8, 2003, we launched our second "Resident," this time serving the greater Rose Garden area of San Jose, an area bordered roughly by Highway 880 and W. San Carlos Street and Stockton and Winchester. The Rose Garden debuted to an enthusiastic readership. From the start, we heard from our readers that they were excited to finally have their own community newspaper.
Residents of the greater Rose Garden area are proud of their heritage and their diversity, and they were eager to share their stories with us. By August of that year, we were able to add a sports section to our coverage of school, community and neighborhood news.
Almaden Resident
We launched our third "Resident," covering the Almaden Valley area of San Jose on Oct. 16, 2003. Like our other newspapers, the Almaden Resident focuses on the issues and concerns of the neighborhood.
We cover news about the city of San Jose with particular emphasis on how city decisions will affect our Almaden Valley readers, and because schools and youth sports are important to Almaden residents, we pay particular attention to these areas.
West San Jose Resident
On Aug. 3, 2006, the first West San Jose Resident was published, bringing the number of San Jose Resident papers to four. The circulation area fills a pocket surrounded by several of our other papers—the Saratoga News, the Campbell Reporter and the Cupertino Courier which allows us to improve our coverage of schools which, in that part of the Silicon Valley, cross over many city boundaries.
The paper essentially covers San Jose's District 1. This is a community of active neighborhood associations, and the paper has been warmly received by residents who view it as a way to enhance the area's sense of community.
Cambrian Resident
With great community response to our growing family of Resident newspapers, we looked to another San Jose City Council district that made sense for us in terms of overlapping coverage, particularly with school district boundaries which are often out of sync with city and neighborhood borders.
District 9 seemed a natural, and the Cambrian area made sense, at the crossroads of Los Gatos, Campbell, Willow Glen and Almaden Valley. Like its sister publications, the Cambrian Resident offers city and school news and also focuses on the community’s active neighborhood groups.
