CN Group

The CN Group Limited is an independent local media business based in Carlisle which operates in three different media fields.

The company was formerly known as the Cumbrian Newspapers Group Ltd but changed its name to reflect the fact that is no longer primarily a newspaper publisher. One of its principal subsidiaries is still known as Cumbrian Newspapers Ltd though.

The company can trace its origins to the founding of the Carlisle Patriot newspaper in 1815 which eventually became the Cumberland News. Historical copies of the Carlisle Patriot, dating back to 1817, are available to search and view in digitised form at The British Newspaper Archive.^[1]

Radio

The CN Group owns three radio stations:

• The Bay
• Belfast CityBeat (until 2015 when sold to Q Network)
• Lakeland Radio

The company formerly owned the Touch Radio Network stations in the Midlands outright until selling them to Quidem in June 2009. The two exceptions to this were the Loughborough licence, Oak FM which was sold to the Lincs FM Group and the Banbury Touch FM license, which was sold to a private consortium and relaunched as Banbury Sound. It quickly became apparent that operating these licenses outside of the regional network was not a commercially sensible move. As a result, Quidem acquired Banbury Sound in 2010 and Oak FM in 2012, effectively reforming the original CN Midlands network.

It also previously owned Mid FM in Northern Ireland, relaunched as Six FM by its new owners.

They also had a shareholding in Carlisle-based CFM Radio, holding a further stake in neighbouring Border Television.

Publishing

CN Group publishes daily and weekly newspapers and magazines for Cumbria, Northumberland, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

List of CN Group Publications

Newspapers

• News and Star - daily evening paper circulated with separate East (except Friday and Sunday) and West (except Sunday) editions.
• North-West Evening Mail - daily evening paper circulated in Furness and other parts of south Cumbria.
• The Cumberland News - Weekly (Fridays) covering East Cumbria. Separate Main and Late Final editions
• Cumbrian Gazette - weekly freesheet. Separate editions for East and West Cumbria
• Whitehaven News - weekly (Thursdays)
• Times & Star - weekly (Fridays) separate Workington, Maryport and Cockermouth editions
• Hexham Courant - weekly
• Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser - weekly (Thursdays)
• Advertiser - weekly freesheet covering South Cumbria

Magazines

• Cumbria Life - monthly
• Carlisle Living - monthly
• Dumfries & Galloway Life - monthly (covering Dumfries & Galloway and Scottish Borders); formerly DGB Life
• In Cumbria - quarterly

Printing

CN Group prints items such as newspapers (Local & National) and magazines.

References

External links

• How a Whitehaven newspaper led the world's media for a day, The Independent, 6 June 2010