Baker Communications Closes Costa Mesa News

The Costa Mesa News, a 25,000-circulation weekly, was closed Friday by its publisher, Baker Communications.

The controlled-circulation paper, delivered free to area residents, was unable to generate enough advertising to cover publishing costs, Executive Editor Roger Bloom said.

Bloom, who headed the Costa Mesa News for 2 years and formerly was editor of the Huntington Beach Independent, said he and advertising director Marcus Dietz--the paper’s only permanent staff members--were told of the closure Friday morning.

Publisher Seth Baker could not be reached for comment.

Baker Communications, headquartered in Los Angeles, also publishes the Newport Ensign weekly and the Newport (714) magazine in Orange County, the Palos Verde Peninsula News and Agoura Acorn weeklies, and the Beverly Hills (213) magazine in Los Angeles County.

Baker acquired the Newport Ensign, Costa Mesa News and Irvine News Today from Coast Media Group of Culver City in 1985. The Irvine paper, which then had a circulation of only 2,000, folded about 2 years ago.

The three papers once were part of a thriving publishing group operated by Pennysaver publishing magnate Herbert Sutton, who poured hundreds of thousands into the weeklies--introducing color photography and a number of typographical innovations and winning several publishing industry awards.

Coast Media bought the weeklies in 1981, and by mid-1982 the papers were caught in the recession that depressed advertising revenues.

By the time Baker acquired the Newport Ensign, Costa Mesa News and Irvine News Today in 1985, the papers had a combined staff of about 10--down from 50 when Sutton owned them.

The surviving Newport Ensign has two writers, two photographers, a part-time sports editor and “three or four” advertising people, Bloom said.