• by Sara Guaglione , December 11, 2015

Adams Publishing Group has purchased the Ohio-based Defiance Publishing Company, publisher of The Crescent-News, from Dix Communications.

Steve VanDemark, a 44-year employee of the company, will continue to serve as publisher.

“I am confident that [APG’s] involvement will be beneficial to our advertisers, subscribers and the Defiance and Defiance area communities,” VanDemark stated.

Defiance Publishing will become part of APG Media of Ohio, headquartered in Athens, Ohio.

Dix Communications has owned and operated the newspaper and related products for the past 64 years, purchasing it from Lee Tustison in 1951.

Dix Communications president, G. Charles (Chuck) Dix II, stated it was "a privilege and a pleasure" to serve the Defiance community, both past and present, lauding VanDenmark "and all The Crescent-News associates who do their best to offer quality products, news coverage and support the community.”

Dix added that he believes APG will retain and hire talented people.

The Crescent-News is a six-day a week daily newspaper with a distribution of 14,000 on weekdays and 15,300 on Sundays. The company also publishes the Northwest Ohio Homes Magazine and Northwest Ohio Auto Book.

Its Web site has about 76,00 unique visitors each month.

APG is a family-owned media company headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minn., and produces community newspapers, events, digital products and specialty magazines serving communities in Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, Idaho, Michigan and Ohio.