American Public Media Group Announces Sale of Greenspring Media Group to Hour Media LLC in Strategic Move to Focus on Radio and Digital Content

Minnesota Monthly and other Greenspring publications to remain based in Twin Cities

SAINT PAUL, Minn.--()--As American Public Media Group (APMG), parent of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, aligns its resources around public media audiences, it announced today that it has completed the sale of the publishing arm of its business – Greenspring Media Group (Greenspring) – to Hour Media LLC, a full-service publishing company focused on city magazines and online content headquartered in metropolitan Detroit.

“In this increasingly dynamic media landscape, it’s crucial for our organization to keep our focus on what we do best – and that is creating indispensable content for our audiences,” said APMG president, Jon McTaggart. “This sale allows us to channel our energies toward finding the best ways to serve our current audiences, while reaching out to new and diverse audiences.”

Hour Media has acquired all assets of Greenspring, and plans to continue to produce the award-winning titles, such as Minnesota Monthly, Midwest Home, Drinks, RealFood and WHERE Twin Cities, and all its event properties such as Midwest Home’s Home Show and Luxury Home Tour and Minnesota Monthly’s Food & Wine Experience and GrillFest. Minnesota Monthly has long been associated with Minnesota Public Radio and the magazine will continue to contain its program guide and be made available to MPR members in addition to other subscribers.

Greenspring headquarters will remain in Minneapolis and the team will be led by Jamie Flaws, who has been with Greenspring since February 2011, most recently as vice president of sales and associate publisher. Flaws succeeds retiring president and publisher, Steve Fox, who has led Greenspring for 25 years. John Balardo is president of the new LLC, Greenspring Media. The acquisition price and additional terms are not disclosed.

“We believe that Greenspring Media Group is best served by a publisher with expertise and interests in local and regional publications, and which can help magazines such as Minnesota Monthly continue to thrive,” McTaggart said. “We are pleased that Greenspring and its strong portfolio of publications and events will now be a part of Hour Media – an organization dedicated to city and regional lifestyle, tourism and business content.”

Hour Media currently publishes numerous local titles such as such as Hour Detroit, Detroit Home and DBusiness, among others, in both online and print formats, as well as a host of ongoing custom publishing programs for a range of clients through its Hour Custom Publishing Division.

“We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to acquire such a robust platform of high quality magazines, websites and events,” Balardo said. “The Twin Cities is a great magazine market and we couldn’t be more excited about becoming a significant part of it. The Greenspring platform of award-winning titles, robust websites and extremely popular events mimics what we have built in Detroit and is a very synergistic fit for our organization. We are excited to leverage those synergies and best practices to create an even stronger combined organization.”

Regional Media Advisors, LLC represented American Public Media Group in this transaction.

About American Public Media Group
American Public Media Group (APMG) is the parent of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, one of the nation’s largest producers and distributors of public radio programming. Minnesota Public Radio provides three broadcast program services – News, Classical and The Current – to an audience of one million in the Minnesota region. American Public Media has a portfolio reaching 17 million listeners on more than 900 radio stations nationwide each week. Programs include A Prairie Home Companion®, BBC World Service, Marketplace®, Performance Today®, The Splendid Table®, The Dinner Party Download®, American RadioWorks® and many others. Audiences can also listen to APM’s content across a range of digital and mobile platforms. American Public Media’s 180,000 member-strong Public Insight Network promotes deep connections between journalists across the country and the communities they serve. The APM Group also includes Southern California Public Radio and Classical South Florida. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be found at americanpublicmedia.org. Source: Data are copyright Arbitron, Inc. Arbitron data are estimates only.

About Hour Media LLC
Hour Media is a diverse, full-service publishing company serving business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets. It is best known as the publisher of Hour Detroit, metro Detroit’s award-winning city magazine, which was ranked the number one city magazine in its class by the City & Regional Magazine Association. Hour Media publishes DBusiness magazine, which similarly was named the top regional business journal in the U.S. by the Association of Area Business Publications. Hour Media’s portfolio also includes Detroit Bride, Detroit Home, The Metropolitan Detroit Guest Guide, The Metropolitan Detroit Menu Guide and Hour Detroit’s Health Guide. Additionally, its custom publishing division serves numerous associations and companies in the golf, wine, beer, manufacturing, banking, insurance, retail and tourism industries across the country. Its event division conducts more than a dozen successful consumer and business to business events annually and its web division continues to grow rapidly with triple digit year over year growth.

Contacts

American Public Media Group
Angie Andresen, 651-290-1373
aandresen@americanpublicmedia.org

Release Summary

American Public Media Group (APMG), parent of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, announced today that it has completed the sale Greenspring Media Group.

Contacts

American Public Media Group
Angie Andresen, 651-290-1373
aandresen@americanpublicmedia.org