3033 North G St. Merced, CA 95340 209-722-1511 www.MercedSun-Star.com The Paper The Community

The Paper

Founded: The Merced Sun-Star was founded in 1869 as the San Joaquin Valley Argus. The paper moved to Merced a year later and, after a series of acquisitions and name changes, became the Merced Sun-Star in 1926. Dean Lesher bought the paper in the 1930s and ushered in the newspaper’s modern era. In 1971, the Sun-Star moved from its downtown location to the current G Street site. The paper was sold to U.S. Media in 1985 and was acquired by The McClatchy Company in January of 2004.

Key Executives:
Debbie Kuykendall, President and Publisher
Michael Tharp, Executive Editor
Laurie Dugo, Vice President, Finance
Michael Rocci, Vice President, Operations
Gene Lieb, Weeklies Publisher
Patty Mandrell, Chowchilla Editor

General Hiring Contact: Human Resources Director Christy Chess, cchess@mercedsun-star.com, 209-385-2442.

Market: Merced is one of the country's fastest-growing communities. Real estate has exploded in recent years, with thousands of new homes added to the market. The economy is based on agriculture but is diversifying. The community hopes to become an educational hub as the University of California, Merced, grows.

Circulation Area: Circulation Area: Merced/Mariposa Counties and Chowchilla in northern Madera County.

Site: The Merced Sun-Star building is in the heart of the Olive Avenue retail corridor, with grocery stores, big box retailers and apartment complexes nearby. The building is about two miles from downtown Merced and U.S. Highway 99, the main north-south link that runs the length of the San Joaquin Valley.

Readership: 38,284 daily and 50,473 Saturday

Circulation: 15,952 daily and 20,189 Saturday

Size: 34 pages daily and 76 pages Saturday

Single-Copy Sales: 2,297 daily and 3,463 Saturday

Production: Goss Urbanite press with nine units. 1472 Inserter with related equipment.

Color: Daily: 12 pages; Saturday: 46 pages

Newspaper Website: www.MercedSun-Star.com

Average Monthly Page Views/Unique Visitors: 626,092 page views with 57,741 unique visitors

Employees: 128 full time and 22 part time

Newsroom Staff: 29 full-time staff members

Weekly Newspapers: Atwater Signal, Chowchilla News, Livingston Chronicle and Los Banos Enterprise.

Major Awards: The Sun-Star was awarded first place in the state for general excellence among papers of its size in the 2005 California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers contest. Individual staff members also took home awards for reporting and photography.

Major Advertisers: London Properties, Save Mart, Coldwell Banker Gonella, Century 21 Salvadori, Albertsons, Rite Aid & Gottschalks

Creative Ventures: Monthly Home Search glossy magazine is inserted in the Sun-Star and distributed throughout the region. It has grown into the community’s real estate listing source.

Special Publications: The Atwater Signal and Livingston Chronicle weeklies are operated out of the Sun-Star newsroom. Los Banos Enterprise and Chowchilla News are paid weeklies and part of Merced Operations.

Community Involvement: Yearly Helping Hand at Christmas fund-raising drive along with the Salvation Army has raised more than $60,000 each year for needy families; proceeds from street sales of a special Helping Hand edition are donated to the program.

The Community

Market: Merced is America’s newest university town. The city of nearly 70,000 ethnically diverse residents is home to the 10th campus of the prestigious University of California system. UC Merced’s construction has spawned economic development and a boom in housing as the community grows to accommodate researchers and scholars from around the world.

The university isn’t the only attraction. New residents are drawn by the area’s central location, affordable cost of living, expanding employment base and a growing list of amenities. Merced is within a two-hour drive of Yosemite National Park and the urban centers of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Modesto and Fresno. Merced County's population of 240,000 has a median age of 28, making it the second-youngest county in the United States. The population is expected to grow 33 percent faster than the national average over the next decade.

Agriculture accounts for 29% of the local economy and generates an estimated $1.5 billion in gross receipts annually. The UC campus, which opened in September of 2005, is expected to help diversify the economy, with technology spinoff businesses expected to locate near the university. Housing costs have increased dramatically since 2003 but remain low compared with the rest of California. During the past five years, Merced County’s retail base has expanded rapidly as major national and regional retailers have opened stores.

Location: Located in the heart of the California Central Valley, 115 miles south of Sacramento and east of San Francisco.

Transportation: Merced Municipal Airport offers daily airline service to Las Vegas. Amtrak’s San Joaquin service makes a number of stops at the Merced station each day.

City Population: 74,000

City Households: 37,269

Household Growth Rate: 3.1%

Education: Percentage of high school education 63.8%, some college 22%, college 14.5%, post college 3.4%

Ethnic Makeup: Hispanic 45.3%, Caucasian 40.6%, African American 4.5%, Asian 8.0%, Other 1.6%

Median Age: 29

Average Income: $35,532

Median Home Value: $365,000

Average Rent: $650 for two-bedroom apartment.

Climate: Summers are very warm and dry, and winters are cool and sometimes foggy. Spring and fall often don’t make much of an appearance, although the city’s many trees put on a beautiful fall foliage show each October.

Major Employers/Industries: Agriculture and related businesses dominate the private sector. Foster Farms, the larges producer of fresh chicken in the western United States, employs more than 3,000 at its Livingston plant, which is the largest single-site chicken processing plant in the world. Quebecor World, located near U.S. Highway 99 in Merced, is the largest printing plant in California and prints TV Guide, Time and Sports Illustrated, among other major publications. Government remains the area’s largest employer.

Major Retailers: Gottschalks, Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, Mervyns, JC Penny, Best Buy, Linens N Things, Pier One Imports

Higher Learning: University of California, Merced (10th campus of the prestigious University of California system; opened September 2005); Merced College (junior college)

Culture: Castle Air Museum, Merced Multicultural Arts Center

Sports: High school football rules fall Friday nights. Merced and Golden Valley high schools usually field competitive teams. Outdoors lovers thoroughly enjoy the area’s wealth of sporting opportunities.

Major Annual Events: Merced County Fair is the area’s top annual event. The fair begins its weeklong run in early July. The West Coast Antique Fly-In brings more than 300 planes in late May or early June. The McLane Pacific annual bike race brings some of cycling’s best to town in early March.

Tourist Attractions: Merced is know as the “Gateway to Yosemite.” The park is a 90-minute drive up Highway 140 from Merced. Thousands of tourists headed for the national park spend their nights in Merced.

Recreation: Applegate Park near downtown Merced is home to Laura Fountain, Kiddieland amusement rides and the Applegate Park Zoo. Public golf courses are nearby in Atwater and Stevinson. While treacherous, fishing on San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County can be rewarding.

Claim to Fame: Merced County is one of the top agriculture-producing counties in the United States. Some farms are in production year-round. The county is at or near the top producer in the state for almonds, dairy products and chickens. The world’s largest cheese plant is in Hilmar, and the world’s largest chicken processing plant is in Livingston.

Famous Citizens: Noted Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. grew up in Merced.

Area Information: http://www.yosemite-gateway.org/

Recent Issues of the Newspaper: www.mercedsun-star.com

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