CENTRAL JERSEY: Packet Media parent company ownership changes hands

Richard Donnelly, president of Donnelly Distribution of Pennsauken, has acquired Broad Street Media and its affiliates, including a majority interest in Packet Media LLC.
The community newspaper and magazine group, with publications in the Princeton area, South Jersey and the Philadelphia region, publishes more than a dozen separate publications, including The Princeton Packet, Hopewell Valley News, Hillsborough Beacon, Windsor-Hights Herald and Cranbury Press and the website centraljersey.com.
In April Packet Media newspapers and website centraljersey.com merged with Broad Street Media. James Kilgore, a partner in Packet Media, continues as publisher, with Michele Nesbihal as general manager, Aubrey Huston as editor and Dee Scarpati as advertising manager.
“We look forward to working closely with Rich Donnelly to serve our readers and advertisers in central New Jersey,” said Mr. Kilgore. “I admire Rich for his business skills, his desire to grow the business, and the passion and dedication he brings to the newspaper business.”
Broad Street Media, with headquarters in Cherry Hill, includes the Philadelphia Weekly alternative weekly and the longstanding Northeast Times and South Philly Review. Together, the publications have a weekly distribution of more than one-half million. Mr. Donnelly, who was a minority owner of Broad Street Media, purchased the company from former CEO Darwin Oordt and others who had operated the company since 2010.
“I’m a true believer in the value of community newspapers, and it’s my aim to support journalistic excellence at all of these publications,” said Mr. Donnelly, who founded his advertising distribution company in 1976. “We have already developed exciting plans for their future.”
Mr. Donnelly announced immediate plans to expand distribution of Philadelphia Weekly to sections beyond the weekly’s traditional Center City turf, including Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls in the northwest, and the burgeoning neighborhoods of Northern Liberties and Fishtown in the north.
Additionally, Mr. Donnelly named veteran Philadelphia newspaperman Don Russell to lead the publications’ editorial growth as editor in chief of Broad Street Media.
“Philadelphia needs an alternative, community-based journalistic voice more than ever,” Mr. Russell said. “I’m excited to work with Rich to build all of Broad Street Media’s publications, and to give the city’s neighborhoods and suburbs the newspapers they deserve.”
In addition to Mr. Russell, Broad Street Media will be led by a management team, including publisher Perry Corsetti, who has been in advertising and finance positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer; Bob Jacobs, former publisher of The Guide in Philadelphia and an advertising executive at Donnelly Distribution; John Gallo, the longtime chief operating officer of South Philly Review; and general manager Brandon Chamberlain, who has held advertising management, production and IT positions at the Village Voice in New York and Broad Street Media.
Broad Street Media also publishes the Midweek Wire in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Montgomery County Living magazine in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; the Wire newspaper, and Gloucester County Living and Burlington County Living magazines in southern New Jersey; Employment Weekly in Philadelphia and New Jersey; and Football Stories magazine in New Jersey. The company has about 100 employees. 