Santa Clarita Signal Has New Owners

The Santa Clarita Valley Signal announced June 8 that the newspaper has new owners in former Signal publishers Chris and Richard Budman. The Valencia residents purchased the paper’s Santa Clarita-based parent company Paladin Multimedia Group for an undisclosed price. “We see this as an opportunity for the Signal to grow,” Budman told the Business Journal. “Chris and I have owned many publications together over the years and her strengths are different than mine, so we complement each other. Chris focuses more on production and design, I focus on sales and editorial.” “It’s a good thing for the Signal,” added Jason Schaff, the newspaper’s editor. “Richard understands community newspapers and knows Santa Clarita.” The reason the Budmans felt compelled to purchase the newspaper in 2018 coincides with what can only be described as the valley’s boom. “Santa Clarita is a growing community,” Richard Budman said. “There are more and more families moving in. The Signal keeps the community informed with (all aspects of) what residents need.” Budman had resigned as publisher and part owner of the Signal in May 2007 after operating the paper since September 2004. He had acquired his financial stake from Georgia-based Morris Newspaper Group, which had bought the Signal in 1978 from the late Scott Newhall. Budman, who also founded the defunct Santa Clarita Living magazine in 2001 and Santa Clarita This Week newspaper, wants to expand publication of the Signal from five to six days a week. He also promises to increase news coverage and human-interest features. For distribution, he plans to deliver the Sunday product for free to up to 90 percent of Santa Clarita Valley homes, or 75,000 households. “He believes we need more resources to put out our products and says he will provide them,” Schaff said. “We’ll be able to put out a larger, more compelling newspaper full of local information for readers and more people in the community will read our product. This will be true for our digital products, too.” Editorially, Budman will implement a hands-on management style. “I am involved in every aspect – circulation, sales and editorial,” he said. “The paper is mine now, so the editorial voice will be mine.” As the Signal is poised to celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2019, Budman doesn’t accept the 21st-century cliché that newspapers are an endangered species. “Large metro papers may be dying because there are so many platforms to receive the news and the internet can provide it faster,” Budman said. “(However,) local community papers will survive because of the (depth of the) local content and the quality of the content. Where else will you be able to find out what happened at your local school board or council meeting, what restaurant or play is opening, or if the local high school team won?” – Michael Aushenker