The Stranger, Seattle’s only newspaper and a former Capitol Hill landmark, is now an Oregon concern.

The alternative weekly turned new media survivor has been sold to Portland-registered media company Noisy Creek in a deal reported widely by multiple outlets.

Seattle politician turned publisher Brady Walkinshaw and Rob Crocker, the one-time Portland Mercury publisher who eventually rose to lead the company after the Stranger launched its southern alt-weekly cousin in 2000, formed Noisy Creek in June according to state records. Bend, Oregon-resident Crocker has served as president of Index Newspapers, the Stranger and Mercury’s parent company.

Index and its ownership including Stranger founder Tim Keck and Chicago Reader founder Bob Roth will continue to hold a reported 20% stake in the new Noisy Creek venture and will hold onto the Hump! film festival and Dan Savage’s sex advice media business.

The Stranger once called the neighborhood home and many still associate it with Capitol Hill despite its pre-pandemic exit from dilapidated offices above 11th Ave.

Business registrations show that Noisy Creek is now operating out of the Stranger’s new Maynard Ave S headquarters as it takes over the media outlets, plus the Bold Type Tickets service, the Everout calendar listing business, and Stranger Studios.

But Walkinshaw’s Capitol Hill connections run deep.

Walkinshaw was appointed in 2013 to represent the 43rd District including Capitol Hill in Olympia to replace Ed Murray in the state Senate as the then-mayor elect prepared to take over at Seattle City Hall. Walkinshaw’s political work also connected to the Hill. His Joel’s Law strengthened involuntarily commitment guidelines for people suffering from mental illness. The bill was inspired by Joel Reuter who was shot and killed by police during an armed standoff on Capitol Hill in 2013. Another Walkinshaw bill expanded access to naloxone.

(Image: Brady Piñero Walkinshaw for Congress)

Walkinshaw was a popular figure in CHS political coverage — we even covered his 2015 wedding but he ruffled political establishment feathers when he announced he would challenge U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott for 7th Congressional District seat in D.C. McDermott decided to retire but Walkinshaw ultimately lost the race to Pramila Jayapal.

By 2020, Walkinshaw was leading Grist, the Seattle-born media nonprofit dedicated to environmental news and commentary, bringing the organization to new offices in the ultra-green Bullitt Center above E Madison.

While it seems unlikely the Stranger will be returning to Capitol Hill in the Bullitt Center, Walkinshaw and Crocker are reportedly planning to increase investment in the media company and news coverage with the New York Times reporting possible plans for expansion to new cities.

The union representing the small handful of Stranger editorial staff says its members are skeptical but ready to work with the new owners.

“Our workers still have many questions, as the vast majority of Index Newspapers employees have not yet had a chance to hear Walkinshaw’s plans in his own words,” a statement from the group reads. “Regardless of what we learn at tomorrow’s all-staff meeting, we remain committed to the editorial independence of our publications — both in day-to-day reporting and in the candidates we endorse.”

Former Rolling Stone editor Hannah Murphy Winter has been named the new editor in chief of the Stranger.

CORRECTION: CHS incorrectly identified the founder of Chicago Reader and a stakeholder in Index Media. His name is Bob Roth — not Rob. Sorry for the error.

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