Natural State Media Launches from Talk Business, City Wire

A recent screencapture of TheCityWire.com.

The City Wire, the online news organization based in Fort Smith with a focus on northwest Arkansas, is merging with Talk Business & Politics to form Natural State Media.

The two media entities had been sharing content and recently announced the merger, which they said would be effective by early November. The new company will be based in Fort Smith but operate under the Talk Business & Politics brand once a new website “reflecting the combined company” launches early next month.

TBP founder Roby Brock is joining Patricia Brown, Chester Koprovic, Michael Tilley and Bennie Westphal, co-owners of City Wire parent company TCW Media, as owners of Natural State Media.

“The two companies have been moving toward this, and with leadership from Brock and Tilley we are excited about the synergies possible with a combined operation,” Koprovic said in a news release.

The new organization plans to drop the City Wire’s previous coverage of social events to focus more on business and politics. The “Talk Business & Politics” TV show will continue to air on Little Rock’s KATV, Channel 7, on Sunday mornings.

Et cetera

• Greg Shepperd, news director for KHBS/KHOG-TV, the ABC and CW affiliate in northwest Arkansas owned by the Hearst Corp., has been named news director for KOAT-TV, Hearst’s ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 
• New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance novelist Cynthia D’Alba of Hot Springs has been elected to the board of directors of the Romance Writers of America. D’Alba, a retired nurse, is founder and president of Diamond State Romance Authors, which serves as the Arkansas chapter of RWA. She’s the author of the Texas Montgomery Mavericks series.
• PediSand, a central Arkansas startup that developed what it bills as the world’s best hands-free foot file, was a part of the Next Big Thing pitch competition in New York, part of NBC’s “The Today Show” and cable shopping network QVC. PediSand is a client of Little Rock digital marketing firm Sparkible.