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Go Agency Sells Smith Mountain Laker Magazine To Times World Corp. |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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05/31/07 - Go Agency Sells Smith Mountain Laker Magazine To Times World Corp.
Newspaper's parent buys lake magazine The new owners plan to preserve the content and distribution of The Smith Mountain Laker.com. The parent company of The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com has bought The Smith Mountain Laker.com magazine and Web site about lake living. With the purchase, which closed Wednesday, Times-World Corp. is pursuing what it views as a valuable business niche, said Mark Vosskamp, who was named Laker general manager and publisher. "We look forward to embracing the celebration of life at the lake that Laker magazine represents," Vosskamp said. The publication, which calls itself "Virginia's Luxury Lake Lifestyle Magazine," runs about 160 pages and comes out every two months, with the next scheduled to appear July 1. The new owners plan to preserve the magazine's content and continue to distribute the magazine free in racks. Mailed subscriptions are available for $25 a year. Some 25,000 copies are circulated regionally and nationally. The seller, Micah Gaudio, president of the GO Agency in Hardy, launched the magazine six years ago. The GO Agency offers graphic design, Web development and video production and will continue to provide office space for the now-independent magazine, Vosskamp said. Gaudio said research he did last year showed that the Laker was the largest, independently owned (nonchain), bimonthly lake-lifestyle magazine in the United States by number of pages, with the next closest being a 148-page publication circulated at Flathead Lake in Montana. Gaudio, 33, with a background in marketing and publishing, started the magazine in his garage after moving to the lake from a corporate job in Tampa, Fla. He said he wakeboards -- being pulled by a boat -- and wakesurfs -- using the wake behind a moving boat -- daily at 7 a.m. Times-World will maintain the Smith Mountain Laker.com Web site and publish an annual Laker map. Terms of the purchase weren't disclosed. The Roanoke Times increased its focus on Smith Mountain Lake two years ago with the newspaper's launch of a weekly news and entertainment tabloid, The Lake. That publication will continue, with the staff relocating from the Roanoke newsroom to the Hardy Laker office. -- Jeff Sturgeon
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Last Updated ( Friday, 07 September 2007 )
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