Sample News Group

American publisher of newspapers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sample News Group, LLC is an American publisher of newspapers serving suburban and rural markets in the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as in Vermont. The company is family owned and structured as a limited liability company. According to their website, their address is in State College, Pennsylvania.[1]

History

Sample News Group was founded by George Raymond Sample, Jr. (1924–2008).[2][3] Sample was married to a woman named Janet.[4] As of October 2022, George "Scoop" Sample (né George Raymond Sample III; born 1952),[citation needed] one of eight children of George Sample Jr.,[5] is the CEO.[6] Scoop's hometown is Corry, Pennsylvania.[7] The group is also actively managed by Scoop's wife, Marlene Sample (aka "Sissie" Kane; née Marlene Sue Kane; born 1951).[citation needed]

The family of Joseph Franklin Biddle sold the Joseph F. Biddle Publishing Company to Sample in October 1991; the deal included Huntingdon's Daily News, as well as three other publications.[8]

In 2018, Sample purchased The Times Record and the Journal Tribune from Reade Brower.[9] That same year, Sample acquired two dailies in Vermont, sister papers Rutland Herald and The Times Argus,[10] purchasing them from Vermont Community Media, a company partially owned by Brower.[11] Two other weeklies and some websites were also included in the sale.[12] Brower's company had acquired the two dailies as well as the Rutland Reader and the Central Vermont Reader in 2016;[13] they are now both owned by Sample.[14] Also in 2018, Sample sold its Chester, Vermont paper The Message for the Week to KMA Publishing, who ended its publication.[15]

In early 2022, the group announced they had introduced a new publisher and a new VP of digital development to serve its holdings in southwestern Pennsylvania.[16][17] later in 2022, the Titusville News-Journal was started by Sample.[18]

The Batavia Daily News and Livingston County News of Livingston County, New York and Genesee County, New York were purchased in 2023,[19][20] from the Watertown, New York–based Johnson Newspaper Corporation.[21]

In November 2024, the company acquired Bee Group Newspapers from the Measer family.[22]

In May 2025, the company acquired the assets of the defunct Cortland Standard and announced plans to relaunch the paper.[23] In July 2025, Sample purchased Eagle News Group,[24] and The Fulton County News in September 2025.[25]

Publications

The group, as listed on their website in October 2023, owns the following:

Dailies

New York

Pennsylvania

Vermont

Weeklies

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Vermont

Business

Pennsylvania

Lifestyle

Pennsylvania

  • Centered: Life in Balance (State College)
  • State College Magazine (State College)

Shopping

New York

Pennsylvania

References

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