The Western Wayne News is Wayne County’s local newspaper. With an award-winning staff that includes professional journalists, we report on community news, events, sports, government affairs, arts, education, healthcare, business and more.

We publish online throughout the week and in print once per week, delivered by mail or available at various retail locations. We reach thousands of subscribers in Cambridge City, Centerville, Richmond, Hagerstown, Milton, Dublin, Pershing, Fountain City, Economy, Greens Fork and other locations around the country.

You can read more about our team, our print publication schedule, how to submit items for publication, advertising with us, how to subscribe, how the newspaper is made and how to contact us.

The Western Wayne News is a publication of Civic Spark Media LLC. Read our regular reports to the community about our finances, operations and future plans.

History

Western Wayne News was started in 1991 out of the home of Ed and Janis Buhl, in Milton, Indiana, after they tried to purchase a local paper that had stopped publishing, but found it to be cost-prohibitive. Without any experience, Janis assumed responsibility for starting this paper from the ground up – selling ads, and even taking papers to every door in the coverage area, in order to begin gathering subscribers.

In 1996, Janis expanded into the Centerville area. In 1997, the same year Ed passed away, she opened a Centerville office and combined it with a photo shop. Unfortunately, emergence of the digital camera was quick to follow and the photo shop closed in 2002, as did the Centerville office. The Centerville News then became a pull out section of the WWN, and the work was absorbed into the Cambridge City operation.

Nettle Creek Gazette was started in 2005, when another Hagerstown paper ceased publication and Janis saw a hole that needed to be filled.

On August 1, 2017, Brenda McLane (daughter of Ed and Janis) along with her husband Jim McLane purchased the two newspapers under the name of Hometown Media Group. They developed the papers in many ways, expanding their reach and influence in the community, hiring additional staff and providing even more news, events, information and more to readers. The Nettle Creek Gazette was produced until 2020 when it was merged with the Western Wayne News.

On October 1, 2022, Jim and Brenda sold the Western Wayne News to Richmond resident Chris Hardie and his newly formed Civic Spark Media. Chris and the entire Western Wayne News team now continue the work of informing and inspiring our readers and the wider community.