Kim Ware retires from Hyde Media Group, Tri-County Reporter

AZLE – Longtime newspaper publisher and Hyde Media President Kim Ware has retired.

Ware served as publisher for the Axle News and Springtown Epigraph, and their successor the Tri-County Reporter, for more than a decade. In all, she has worked for the newspapers for more than 25 years.

Ware has long been known for her work in the local community and her fund raising abilities impressed former Axle News and Springtown Epigraph Publisher Bob Buckel, who contacted her to see if she would be interested in selling newspaper ads. She began working at the Springtown Epigraph in 1999 and soon began selling ads for the Azle News as well, eventually becoming advertising director for both newspapers.

After Buckel’s retirement from the newspaper business, Ware was named publisher of both newspapers in 2012. Under former owner Roberts Publishing, Ware traveled and lived between Azle, Springtown and Hereford, managing the newspapers in those towns.

The Azle News and Springtown Epigraph were purchased by Hyde Media Group in 2021. Ware oversaw the merger and consolidation of the Springtown Epigraph and Azle News into the Tri-County Reporter in 2023 while also acting as Hyde Media president.

In addition to her newspaper work, she has served on the Lakeside City Council, has been board president for the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce and Springtown Area Chamber of Commerce, Azle Economic Development Board and served as president of the North & East Texas Press Association, as well as a director of the Texas Press Association. She currently serves on the board for the Azle Area Ministerial Alliance. She has received numerous commendations, including The Texas Press Association’s Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Leadership and the AAMA’s Lew and Sandy Shaffer Award. She was named Azle Area Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year in 2024.

In nominating Ware for the Mayborn Award, Hood County News Publisher Sam Houston, CEO of Hyde Media Group, said Ware is “a newspaper professional who does her job with skill and expertise but understands that community service is the ‘rent which is paid’ by citizens for living in a community. I assure you this woman has ‘paid her account forward’ many, many times over.” In a column published Dec. 19, the day of her retirement, he reflected on their time working together, praised her abilities and congratulated her on her retirement.

In retirement, Ware looks forward to traveling, checking some items off her and her husband Mark Ware’s bucket list and spending more time with family, including her children, sister and granddaughter.