Northwest Alabamian

What Northwest Alabamian does

Northwest Alabamian is a privately-held community newspaper serving Winston and Marion counties in rural northwest Alabama, owned and operated by Mid-South Newspapers, Inc. from its headquarters in Haleyville. Tracing its lineage to publications first established in 1903–1906 (with the Northwest Alabamian name formalized in 1965), the paper publishes weekly on Wednesdays in both print and digital e-edition formats, covering local news, sports, obituaries, community events, classifieds, and legally required public notices. Sister publication Journal Record, also under Mid-South Newspapers, extends coverage into Marion County from a Hamilton office, with combined print circulation of approximately 16,000 copies.

The underlying publishing operation uses a standard offset press with computer-to-plate composition at a centralized Haleyville printing facility, complemented by a third-party e-edition platform (publisher.etype.services) for digital distribution. Revenue is generated through a multi-stream model: local and national display advertising (priced at $6.20–$11.30 per column inch), pre-printed inserts ($50–$80 per thousand copies), classified advertising ($0.32 per word), print and digital subscriptions, and statutory legal notice publication. National advertising is handled through American Newspapers Representatives as an external sales partner.

The go-to-market is a traditional sales-led print and digital advertising model targeting local small and medium businesses (banks, grocery chains, schools), government entities, and individual subscribers in a two-county footprint. Customer logos include BankFirst, Piggly Wiggly, Foodland, Winston County government, and Haleyville City Schools. The company's competitive position rests on its century-plus community presence, authorized legal notice status, and physical distribution network rather than on technology differentiation, scale, or capital intensity.

Name

Northwest Alabamian

Legal name

Mid-South Newspapers, Inc.

Website

https://mynwapaper.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1906

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community, Ethnic & Multilingual News Publishers (MPAJADAG)

Keywords

• Local newspaper publishing
• Community news media
• Weekly print journalism
• Classified advertising services
• Legal notice publication

Headquarters

HQ city

Haleyville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Print and Digital Advertising: Primary revenue stream from retail display advertising, classified advertising, legal notices, and pre-printed inserts placed by local businesses and organizations. Rates are volume-based with discounts for larger placements.
2. Subscriptions: Revenue from print and e-edition subscriptions for both the Northwest Alabamian and sister publication Journal Record.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Northwest Alabamian publishes a weekly local newspaper (Wednesdays) covering community news, sports, obituaries, events, classifieds, and legal notices for Winston and Marion counties in Alabama. It operates a traditional print edition with a circulation of 7,500, a digital e-edition subscription, and an online news site, and is the authorized publisher of legal and public notices under Alabama law. Advertising services (display, classified, pre-printed inserts) sold to local businesses, retailers, banks, and government entities provide the primary revenue stream alongside consumer subscriptions.

Product overview

Northwest Alabamian operates as a traditional local newspaper with a single unified print and digital product offering. The core product is the Northwest Alabamian newspaper (established 1906), complemented by its sister publication Journal Record, both published by Mid-South Newspapers, Inc. from Haleyville, Alabama. The newspaper's main sections include news/editorials, sports coverage, obituaries, community events calendar, classifieds, and legal notices. A digital e-edition subscription service provides online access to the newspaper's content. The publication serves Winston and Marion counties with local news coverage including city council meetings, school board news, community events, high school sports, and obituaries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Northwest Alabamian (Weekly Print Newspaper) Weekly (Wednesday) print newspaper serving Winston and Marion counties in Alabama with local news, sports, obituaries, community events, classifieds, and legal notices; print circulation of 7,500.
• Northwest Alabamian E-Edition

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mid-South Newspapers, Inc.coreOthers · 1 January 1960Parent company that owns and operates the Northwest Alabamian and Journal Record. Both newspapers are printed at one central location in Haleyville, Alabama. Mid-South Newspapers is a regional newspaper publishing company.
• Alabama Press AssociationminorOthersIndustry association for Alabama newspapers. Northwest Alabamian maintains membership and displays APA logo as part of partnership.
• American Newspapers RepresentativesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational advertising representation firm located in Minneapolis, MN. Handles national advertising sales for the newspaper. Located at 84 S. 6th ST #601, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 1-800-341-7959.
• Journal RecordminorOthersSister newspaper published by Mid-South Newspapers, Inc. Serves Marion County, Alabama with separate office in Hamilton, AL. Circulation of 8,500. Published since early 1970s.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Florence TimesDaily: Daily newspaper serving the Shoals region in northwest Alabama. Comparable geographic adjacency (northwest Alabama) and similar legal-notice and local advertising business model, though operating at a larger scale and cadence.
• The Anniston Star: Regional newspaper serving Anniston and Calhoun County in east Alabama. Operates a print + e-edition + classified + legal notice model targeting a similar mix of local SMB advertisers, government notices, and community subscribers.
• The Decatur Daily: Regional daily newspaper serving Decatur and Morgan County in north Alabama. Comparable in serving adjacent north-Alabama communities with a print + digital + classifieds model, though larger in scale and scope than the Northwest Alabamian.
• Tuscaloosa News: Regional daily newspaper serving Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County in west Alabama. Comparable as an established Alabama community newspaper with full print + digital + classified + legal notice operations and a deep SMB advertiser base.
• The Gadsden Times: Regional daily newspaper serving Gadsden and Etowah County in northeast Alabama. Comparable as an Alabama regional newsbrand running the traditional print + digital + classified + legal notice stack with strong SMB advertiser relationships.
• Opelika-Auburn News: Regional daily serving the Opelika-Auburn area in east Alabama. Comparable in its reliance on local advertising, classifieds, and legal notices across print and digital, though more urban in market and broader in scope.

Direct peers

• The Hartselle Enquirer: Weekly community newspaper serving Hartselle and Morgan County in Alabama with local news, sports, classifieds, and legal notices — a tight comparable on product cadence, county-level coverage, and SMB-driven revenue model.
• The Cullman Times: Regional newspaper serving Cullman County, Alabama, covering local government, schools, sports, obituaries, legal notices and community news across print and digital — directly analogous to Northwest Alabamian's product-market fit for a rural Alabama county.
• The Moulton Advertiser: Weekly community newspaper serving Moulton and Lawrence County in north Alabama. Highly analogous on product cadence, scale, and mission — hyperlocal news, sports, classifieds, and legal notices for a small rural county.

Regional players

• The Jackson County Sentinel: Weekly newspaper serving Scottsboro and Jackson County in northeast Alabama. Comparable as a small rural Alabama weekly covering schools, government, sports, and community news across print and digital.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/mynwapaper
• Facebookfacebook.com/NorthwestAlabamian
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/winston-county-road-department

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Northwest Alabamian