Rappahannock Media buys InsideNoVa

Published January 4, 2018 by Robert Powell, III

Rappahannock Media LLC has bought InsideNoVa.com, two affiliated community newspapers and the rights to publish two military-base papers from Northern Virginia Media Services.

Terms were not disclosed. The sale closed Jan. 1.

InsideNoVa.com, a website covering Northern Virginia, has 2 million page views and 500,000 unique visitors a month.

The community newspapers included in the sale are InsideNoVa/Prince William and InsideNoVa/North Stafford, which together reach more than 40,000 households a week.

Rappahannock Media, based in Washington, Va., also has assumed Department of Defense contracts to publish the Belvoir Eagle, a weekly paper serving Fort Belvoir, and the Quantico Sentry, a bi-weekly paper at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Rappahannock Media publishes two other weekly newspapers — the Rappahannock News and the Culpeper Times. It also publishes Lifestyle magazines serving Warrenton, Haymarket and Gainesville, and the Piedmont Virginian magazine.

“We believe that strong, vibrant local media plays an essential role in communities,” Dennis Brack, the president of Rappahannock Media, said in a statement. “The team at InsideNoVa shares this commitment, and we’re delighted that together our group will be able to better serve readers and advertisers.”

Leesburg-based Northern Virginia Media Services, which is owned by HPR-Hemlock LLC, will continue to publish the Sun Gazette newspapers in Fairfax and Arlington counties.

Under a separate agreement, content from the Sun Gazette will continue to appear on the InsideNoVa website.

Bruce Potter, previously chief operating officer of Northern Virginia Media Services, has joined Rappahannock Media as COO and publisher of InsideNoVa, which will continue to operate out of its Woodbridge office.

Potter and Brack will be co-managing partners of Rappahannock Media. Brack is also publisher of the Rappahannock News. Tom Spargur will continue as publisher of the Culpeper Times.

InsideNoVa/Prince William, formerly known as Prince William Today, was started by Northern Virginia Media Services in January 2013, when the company also bought InsideNoVa.com.

InsideNoVa/North Stafford, formerly the Stafford County Sun, began publication in 1987 and was bought by Northern Virginia Media Services in 2015.