Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick Beacon

Type	Weekly newspaper (Thursdays)
Format	broadsheet
Publisher	Angela Sutton, General Manager
Managing editors	Jackie Torok, Managing Editor
Managing editor, design	Dyquan Gore, Page Designer
Sports editor	Sam Hickman,Sports Editor
Staff writers	Laura Lewis, Brian Slattery, Lindsay Kriz, Staff Writers
Founded	1962
Language	English
Headquarters	208 Smith Avenue, Shallotte, North Carolina  United States
Circulation	15,000[1]
ISSN	1528-6169
Website	Official website

With a circulation of about 15,000, the Brunswick Beacon serves Shallotte, the islands of Holden Beach, Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, as well as a number of other coastal communities in southern Brunswick County including Carolina Shores, Calabash, Supply, Bolivia, Belville, Leland and Navassa. Because of the area's allure to tourists and retirees insistent on keeping up with Brunswick County's burgeoning real estate market, the Beacon boasts paid circulation in 49 states.

The Brunswick Beacon was founded by Brunswick County native Robert B. Stanley, Sr. in 1962, following a series of ill-fated publications that served the area dating back to the 1930s. The first publication of what would become The Brunswick Beacon was called Shallotte Press and was dated November 1, 1962. A contest held to name the paper was won by Shallotte businesswoman, JoAnn Simmons.

With the islands nearly vacant in the early 1960s and small pockets of population in the fishing-dominated surrounding communities, front page news from that period included a local man being stung by a bee, a raid on a local still, and a jailbreak in a neighboring town.

The Beacon was purchased in 1970 by Edward Sweatt, then a partner in Community Newspapers Inc. out of Spartanburg, S.C. Sweatt and his wife, Carolyn, staved off competition from several groups intent on starting a second newspaper in the market and skillfully guided the Beacon through the area's population explosion in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, real estate and service industry advertising allowed the Beacon to expand from printing 28 to 32 pages to 70-plus pages each week.

In early 2001, the Beacon moved from its location on Main Street to a 21,000-square-foot office center and printing plant on Smith Avenue. The Beacon was purchased in June 2003 by Landmark Community Newspapers Inc. of Shelbyville, Ky. LCNI is a division of Landmark Media Enterprises, a privately held media company in Norfolk, Va., with interests in newspapers and special publications, TV broadcasting, cable programming, outdoor advertising and education.

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