Beverly Hills Company Expands in Orange County : Baker Buys 4 Small Publications

Baker Communications, the Beverly Hills-based publisher of two newspapers geared to the rich and famous--Beverly Hills 213 and Newport Beach 714--has purchased four small Orange County publications from privately held Coast Media News Group for an undisclosed amount of cash and notes.

Baker’s chairman, former Los Angeles Magazine owner Seth H. Baker, would not reveal the purchase price for the three weeklies--the Newport Ensign, Irvine Today and Costa Mesa News--and the Orange County Entertainer, a 30,000-circulation monthly that focuses on Orange County entertainment and night life. Total circulation of the four publications is 80,000. All but the 1,000-circulation Irvine Today are delivered free.

Baker, 52, said Tuesday that he plans to change the 20-page Orange County publications to a tabloid format, “beef up� the Newport Ensign’s editorial staff and provide more local news coverage and columnists. Baker said he plans to add five or six employees to the existing staff of 10 at the four publications.

In 1972, Baker bought Los Angeles Magazine for $500,000 and sold it five years later for $10.3 million. He later was president of ABC Publishing, the magazine publishing arm of American Broadcasting Cos., and then was president of Reeves Communications before starting his own firm in 1983.

Coast Media News Group is owned by Steve Hadland, Richard Bronner and Bob Payson. Bronner and Payson also own Coast Media, a Culver City company that publishes six controlled-circulation weeklies in Los Angeles County. Those newspapers have a total circulation of 70,000 and include the Culver City News, the Rancho Park-Cheviot Hills News and the Inglewood News.

The sale allows Publisher Bronner to focus on those profitable papers, said Hadland, who also was co-publisher and chief operating officer of the newly sold papers.

“It’s difficult for a small business like ours to be in two places at once,� he said.

Hadland will remain with the Orange County publications as vice president and general manager.

Baker said he believes that the Orange County publications will mesh well with his existing publications. “With the ability to own both Newport Beach 714 and the Ensign, I feel we will be able to do very well in a very short period of time,� Baker said. “The main thing is that this area is one of the fastest growing in the U.S. and one of the most affluent.�

Baker said that a recent demographic survey of his Newport Beach 714 readers--residents from Huntington Beach to North Laguna--showed that 55% of the households there have a net worth of at least $1 million and that 46% have an income of more than $100,000 a year.

“We can go to an advertiser and say we literally have the richest audience in California,� Baker said.

A 1982 survey count shows Orange County with 41 papers--including 34 weeklies. The Orange County Register also publishes a series of free local weekly newspapers that are distributed countywide.

Kenneth Berents, a newspaper analyst at Legg Mason, a Baltimore securities firm, said: “There is no question that, demographically, Orange County is probably the area to be in. Some of these shoppers are gold mines for companies.�

For 1984, Baker Communications posted a loss of $965,711, compared to a loss of $331,528 in the previous year, when the company began operations. Revenue increased to $1.4 million from $185,481.

The company started publishing Beverly Hills 213 in October, 1983, and Newport Beach 714 in June, 1984. Both publications are distributed to about 50,000 residences and businesses in their respective areas.