In a swap of properties, the Casper Star-Tribune will acquire its local print media competitor, the Casper Journal, and the Journal's holding company will acquire the customers of the Star-Tribune's Internet services operation, Nathan Bekke, publisher of the Star-Tribune, announced Friday.

The change becomes effective Monday.

"We saw this as a great opportunity to serve our readers and advertising customers better," Bekke said. "This was a terrific opportunity to exchange something that's really not at the core of our business for something that is."

The weekly Journal serves more than 30,000 homes in Natrona County and is delivered every Wednesday. The Casper Star-Tribune is distributed statewide. It has an audited circulation of 30,759 daily and 33,431 Sunday.

General terms of the deal call for the Star-Tribune to acquire the Journal, while Wyoming Financial Group and its holding company, Wyoming Employee Resource Capital and Service (WERCS), will get the customers of trib.com, excluding Newcastle and Buffalo.

Bekke said the move was not an effort to eliminate local competition. "Whether you own one product or two in a marketplace, that does not diminish your responsibility to readers and advertisers," he said.

Dale Bohren will remain as publisher of the Journal. "We started our paper based on a niche we felt was left open by the Casper Star-Tribune," he said. But in conversations with Bekke and others in Lee Enterprises, it became apparent that an association with the Star-Tribune would have benefits for the Journal in such areas as software support, press capabilities and use of color.

In the exchange, Bohren said his printing business will be eliminated, along with one full-time and three part-time positions. The 13-member Journal staff itself will remain intact.

"But the thing that isn't going to change is the integrity that we put into it," Bohren said.

Bohren technically will report to Bekke, but will continue to control day-to-day operations of the Journal, Bekke said.

Currently, the Journal has a combination of paid and free circulation, and that mix will not change, Bekke added.

The transaction was strictly a swap, and no cash was involved.

While the Star-Tribune will acquire an asset that is in line with its print emphasis, WERCS has made significant investments in cutting-edge technology, Bohren said, which will benefit trib.com subscribers.

WERCS does not acquire rights to the trib.com name. The new owner will be given 18 months to move customers from the trib.com subdomain for their e-mail to a new subdomain, Bekke said, and will be allowed to use trib.com over the next six months in a marketing effort to help ease the transition.

The deal germinated about six months ago when the chief operating officer of WERCS approached the Star-Tribune about a possible swap, Bekke added.

Bekke said he has met with Journal staff and is heartened by the commitment they have to their work and to Casper. "In any acquisition scenario, that's also terrific to have wonderful people join the organization," he said.

Business Editor Tom Mast can be reached at (307) 266-0574 or Tom.Mast@casperstartribune.net.