Newspapers find new home in an old familiar place
By dick metzgar
Charles P. Kaempffer (r), president of the Juniper Plaza Ltd. office complex, Route 9, Freehold Township, welcomes Mayor David Segal to the newly renovated facility.
Staff Writer
I
t’s almost as if a giant magnet lured the News Transcript back to a site that was once a large potato farm on Route 9 in Freehold Township.
As a matter of fact, the newspaper’s new customized 16,000-square-foot quarters in the Juniper Plaza office complex on Route 9 north at Three Brooks Road is only a stone’s throw from its former home, a building which is now a branch of the Community Bank of New Jersey.
And it is within shouting distance of two buildings on the southbound side of Route 9 from which the newspaper operated more than 20 years ago after it moved from its original home on South Street in Freehold Borough.
News Transcript managing editor Mark Rosman works on an upcoming issue from his new desk in the brand new newsroom.
When the newspaper moved into Juniper Plaza, it brought along its sister weeklies from Greater Media Newspapers which had been operating out of a facility in East Brunswick.
The East Brunswick publications that moved to the Freehold Township facility are the Sentinel newspapers and the Suburban which cover Middlesex County, the Independent, whose coverage area is in northern Monmouth County and the monthly Monroe Living.
The Examiner, which covers Millstone Township, Roosevelt, Allentown and Upper Freehold Township in Western Monmouth County, moved with the News Transcript from offices in Marlboro.
Another newspaper group publication, the Hub, still operates out of Red Bank, and covers that general area.
The Juniper Plaza location is home to about 115 employees in the newspaper group’s editorial, display advertising, classified advertising, finance, production and systems departments. Two large conference rooms provide group meeting space, a storage room or "morgue" holds bound volumes of all editions, and there is also an employee lunchroom and lounge.
Greater Media moved the News Transcript from the facility that is now a Freehold Township bank in April 1991 to an office complex on Union Hill Road at Route 9 in the Morganville section of Marlboro.
The News Transcript is the oldest of the weeklies owned by Greater Media Newspapers. Called the Freehold Transcript when it was first published on Sept. 7, 1888, by the Moreau brothers, Alexander Low and John B., of Freehold, the paper stated from the outset that its goal was to support the Freehold area.
In the editorial of the first edition, the publishers wrote, "First, and above all else, the Transcript will be devoted to the best interests of Freehold, giving local matters the preference, and will advocate all proper measures for the advancement and upbuilding of the town both by public and private enterprise."
The News Transcript has been doing that ever since, although its current coverage area is more accurately referred to as Western Monmouth County.
The Transcript was published continually from its 1888 start by the paper’s founders and their descendants until Aug. 30, 1972, when Arthur S. Schreiber of Freehold, publisher of the Colonial News, bought the paper.
Schreiber’s weekly Colonial News was first published in 1963 and mailed to 10,000 homes. Schreiber moved the Freehold Transcript from its original home at 27 South St., Freehold Borough, to the facility where he published the Colonial News on the southbound side of Route 9 near Three Brooks Road, not far from Greater Media Newspapers’ new home in Juniper Plaza.
In January 1974, the Bergen Evening Record Corp. of Hackensack purchased the Colonial News and the Freehold Transcript. In October 1978, the two papers were merged to form the News Transcript and the new paper adopted its current tabloid form. The Freehold Transcript had been a full-size broad sheet.
Greater Media entered the Monmouth County market when it bought the News Transcript in February 1981, and eventually moved the operation across Route 9 into the facility that is now a bank.
Kevin Wittman, publisher of Greater Media Newspapers, said it was decided about two years ago to seek a new home into which the East Brunswick and Morganville operations could be combined.
"We decided to seek and develop a facility where we could have our key people working together," Wittman said. "We wanted to create a facility in which communications between our various departments and employees would be improved, and, at the same time, be able to accommodate changes in the future. We wanted an open space-type of facility such as we have, and that has obviously improved communications among our employees and will allow us to expand in the future."
It was less than one year ago that Juniper Plaza was selected as the new home of Greater Media’s newspaper operations, Wittman said, adding that the firm has signed a seven-year lease for its new quarters.
"Frankly, this location was not our first choice," Wittman said. "We looked up and down Route 9 for the ideal site. We considered buying property and building our own facility. We considered having a property owner build a facility for us. And we considered moving into an existing facility, where a newspaper office could be built to our specifications. Logistically, we thought the ideal location would be more to the north around Route 9 and Route 18, which would be more geographically centralized within our market area."
Wittman said the final outcome will serve the purpose of the media chain.
"We are very satisfied with the outcome," he said. "We have created a foundation for the future, giving our employees an upgrade in facilities, while combining two dynamics, private workspace for them, while at the same time making it easier for them to communicate with each other."
Greater Media Newspapers Executive Editor Greg Bean said he also thought the new facility is a major improvement over anything Greater Media has had.
"We looked at a lot of different options," Bean said. "This was great for me because I always wanted to be involved in the designing of a newsroom. I always wanted a facility where all of our people and departments could relate with each other. I think this facility will be very good for us. I feel honored in taking part in the selection of a home for our newspapers and helping design it."
Charles P. Kaempffer, president of Juniper Plaza Ltd., said Greater Media Newspapers is a welcome addition to the tenants in his building.
"I thing a newspaper business is an excellent use for the building," Kaempffer said, "and Greater Media is a company with a very good reputation."
Freehold Township Mayor David Segal said he is pleased with the businesses the renovated Juniper Plaza has attracted.
"They are a nice addition to Route 9," Segal said, "and we are pleased to see Greater Media back in the township."

