How this LION in Alaska bought the hometown legacy paper in just three weeks

Late last month, LION member Mat-Su Sentinel, operating in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Valley region of Alaska, announced some seriously exciting news: the digital newsroom, less than two years old and winner of our New Business of the Year Award just last year, had acquired the 80-year-old local legacy newspaper, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

It’s not every day a LION pulls something like this off — and our News Entrepreneur Community Slack was simply buzzing after Mat-Su’s founder and editor, Amy Bushatz, shared the details.

It’s a big deal — and we know our members want to know more. How’d it happen? How long did it take? What was the plan? And what was it really like? 

We sat down with Amy, who graciously revealed how it all went down — from finding out the paper was for sale to signing the final paperwork — and what she learned along the way. 

Her core message is clear: Mat-Su’s proven success and sustainable operations made it all possible. Let’s dive in.

Hayley Milloy, LION Publishers: Walk us through how this happened, please.

Amy Bushatz, Mat-Su Sentinel: The short answer is that we saw an opportunity to preserve local journalism in our community and decided to see if we could make it happen. 

Arizona-based Wick Communications announced plans to sell the Frontiersman last year, and as time went on, it became increasingly clear that there was a real possibility Mat-Su could lose a longstanding local news institution. I founded the Sentinel to provide news on subjects Frontiersman was not consistently covering, and our consistent growth was proving, day by day, that a nonprofit, community-supported model could work here.

Rather than viewing the Frontiersman as a competitor, I saw it as an important community asset. The question became: could we bring that legacy into a sustainable local nonprofit model and create something stronger than either organization could be on its own? We worked to find funding, sent in an offer, and the rest is history. 

Hayley: You mentioned in our NEC Slack that you ‘diligently chased finding a funder’ — what was that process like?

Amy: This effort didn’t fit nicely into a grant request, because it was aspirational, and I needed funding on hand before I could make a purchase offer. While I did apply for grants, and some grantors liked my idea, I heard a lot of reasons why they couldn’t help me. 

So instead, I turned to networking. No one ever raised money by keeping efforts a secret, so I told everyone I met what I was hoping to do and emailed every possible connection or funder whose program I found in one of the many industry newsletters I receive, including LION. 

One of those people knew some people who might be able to help, all of whom I talked to, and one of those connections stepped in and became a major part of the effort in using their network to connect with funding. That funding ultimately came from a one-time grant from national journalism funders. (They’ve requested anonymity, which, as a journalist, isn’t my favorite.)

What helped was that we had already demonstrated traction. Even though the purchase itself was hypothetical, the Sentinel and our proof of concept was not. We had an audience, demonstrated revenue, and community trust. Funders could see that the Sentinel wasn’t trying to become something — we already were something.

Hayley: Once you found that funder, what was your pitch?

Amy: The core pitch was simple: this was an opportunity to preserve local journalism while strengthening it.

The Frontiersman had nearly 80 years of history, name recognition, and deep roots in the community. The Sentinel has an increasingly sustainable nonprofit model, audience growth, and strong community engagement. Together, we could preserve the best parts of the Frontiersman’s legacy while building a stronger future for local news in Mat-Su.

This wasn’t about saving a newspaper for nostalgia’s sake. It was about ensuring our community continues to have strong local reporting for years to come by leveraging their strongest assets — audience and subscriptions — and combining it with our ongoing success.

Hayley: What was the timeline from the first conversation to the final contract?

Amy: We put an initial offer last year, but the company was not ready to sell to us at the time, and those conversations were put on hold. The actual acquisition moved very, very quickly. From our most recent offer to closing was just over three weeks. 

Yes, it was as exhausting as it sounds.

Hayley: Mat-Su won our New LION Business of the Year Award just last year — and now you’re the proud owner of a nearly 80-year-old publication — why now? What were the top three things you had to do internally to prepare?

Amy: The timing wasn’t something we created — it was something we had to respond to.

If we wanted this opportunity, we needed to be ready when it appeared.

The three biggest things that helped prepare us were:

1. Building diverse revenue streams early. I started thinking about what it would take to build a newsroom that could be ready to assume the legacy of the Frontiersman if it ever closed long before launch. I wanted to build something that could be ready when the time came. We aren’t dependent on a single grant or funding source, which gave us credibility and stability.
2. Investing in systems and operations. It isn’t glamorous, but having solid financial controls, audience systems, donor management, and business processes mattered. It’s the only thing that helped my sanity in the last three weeks.
3. Building community trust. By the time this opportunity emerged, readers, donors, and local leaders already understood who we were and why we existed. The audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

Hayley: Can you tell me a bit more about the community’s response so far?

Amy: The community reaction was much better than I expected. I was worried they would see me as gobbling up a legacy brand, which is not at all what happened. I haven’t seen any reaction like that.

People have expressed relief that local ownership and local journalism are continuing. Many readers understand the challenges facing community news and recognize that maintaining strong local reporting requires adapting to new realities.

What has been especially meaningful is hearing from longtime readers who care deeply about the Frontiersman’s history and are excited to see that history remain rooted in Mat-Su. They’re also very worried about the archives and history of our region held by the Frontiersman, and I am proud to tell them that saving that and making it accessible to everyone is really, really important to me.

Hayley: What’s a piece of advice you’d give a fellow indie newsroom interested in pursuing an acquisition like this?

Amy: Don’t start with the acquisition.

Start by building a healthy organization.

An acquisition doesn’t solve underlying business problems. If your newsroom isn’t sustainable before the acquisition, adding another organization probably won’t make it sustainable afterward.

Focus on revenue diversity, audience trust, operational discipline, and community relationships first. Those are the things that ultimately make opportunities like this possible. 

Hayley: And finally, what’s the most exciting part of all this as you move forward?

Amy: The most exciting part is what it means for the future of news coverage and civic connection in our community.

For nearly 80 years, the Frontiersman was viewed as the go-to source for local information. I created the Sentinel because I believe local journalism is essential to civic life. Bringing that legacy into a modern nonprofit news framework is such an exciting opportunity. 

At the end of the day, that’s what matters most — not the transaction itself, but the possibility of stronger local journalism for the people who call Mat-Su home.