KERA, Denton Record-Chronicle announce plan for KERA to acquire newspaper in 2023

The Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton County’s primary local newspaper, and KERA, North Texas’ source for PBS and NPR programming, announced they are moving toward KERA’s acquisition of the newspaper.
According to a Record-Chronicle announcement published Sept. 28, the two organizations are currently in a discovery phase, with plans to close the acquisition in 2023.
“This arrangement gives us the opportunity and the ability to preserve local journalism for the people of Denton County,” said Bill Patterson, owner and publisher of the Record-Chronicle. “As our population continues to grow, it’s imperative that we grow as well. With KERA’s commitment and expertise, our organization will be able to serve our audiences well into the future.”
The planned acquisition represents a new model of community journalism, the National Trust for Local News said in a release. The trust, which is facilitating the transaction on behalf of KERA and the Record-Chronicle, is a nonprofit organization that works to keep local news in local hands.
“Communities across the country are clamoring to ensure the long-term sustainability of their local and community news. 
This expected acquisition of a beloved and storied community newspaper by a strong public media station shows another way forward,” Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, co-founder and CEO of the National Trust for Local News, said.
The Record-Chronicle is one of hundreds of news organizations around the nation that have reached out to the Trust seeking a new path forward.
While KERA and the Record-Chronicle are in a discovery and planning phase, a guarantee of the acquisition will be that the Record-Chronicle remains local and hyper-focused on the issues and people of Denton County.
By combining the resources and regional knowledge of the two media companies, KERA and the Record-Chronicle will better serve the people of Denton County and, more broadly, the people of North Texas, with trusted, fact-based reporting, said Patterson and Nico Leone, president and CEO of KERA.
“Our audiences and customers can expect to see even more local coverage with more relevance to their daily lives,” Patterson said. “KERA’s history and knowledge of our communities will only help us bring more context and clarity to the issues that matter in North Texas.”
Plans for KERA’s acquisition of the Record-Chronicle come at  a time of growth for the public media organization, Leone noted. In June, the Dallas City Council approved KERA’s management of the North Texas classical music station WRR-FM (101.1). With the acquisition of the Record-Chronicle, KERA will be the only major-market public broadcasting station to serve its community through a Public Broadcasting Service station, three radio stations and a newspaper.
In a column published Sept. 28, Patterson said he intends to remain as publisher of the newspaper for the foreseeable future and work with KERA to build a framework for local news that serves local readers and inspires news companies in other markets.
“My family has owned the Denton Record-Chronicle for 77 of its 119 years, and despite the downward trajectory of the printed newspaper as a business model nationwide, I’m more optimistic than ever about the future of the news business,” he said.
The Record-Chronicle is Denton County’s primary local newspaper, available via digital and print editions. The newspaper also prints and distributes a semi-monthly magazine. The paper was founded in 1903. The Cross-Patterson family acquired the newspaper in 1945. Bill Patterson succeeded his father as publisher in 1999. The same year, his parents, the late Fred William and Patsy Cross Patterson, sold the newspaper to A.H. Belo Corp. In 2017, Bill Patterson bought the newspaper back from the corporation.