Earlier this year, Alaska Newspapers purchased DC Design & Consulting Inc., an advertising agency in Anchorage that specializes in Web site design. Heidi Bohi, publisher and president of Alaska Newspapers, declined to say how much the business paid for the agency.

DC Design will continue to specialize in Web site design as it expands to a full-service ad agency, offering marketing, public relations, and print, radio and broadcast advertising among other services, said creative director Dawn Gerety. She added that the ad agency is scheduled to change its name to Solstice Advertising.

Gerety, who has more than 10 years of experience in the fields of graphic design and advertising, joined DC Design when it was purchased by Alaska Newspapers.

Along with new ownership and management, DC Design has acquired Alaska Newspapers' 8(a) certification, enabling it to bid on federal contracts restricted to 8(a)-certified small businesses. The Small Business Administration's 8(a) program helps minority and other small, disadvantaged firms grow by gaining access to federal contracts.

Calista's board has authorized the subsidiary to create a new name to reflect its family of three businesses. The name representing Alaska Newspapers, Camai Printing and DC Design has yet to be selected, Bohi said.

With the addition of DC Design, the subsidiary has the ability to offer its clients a full range of media services without having to subcontract aspects of its projects, Bohi said. "Prior to purchasing the agency we had the publishing and printing capabilities, so purchasing the ad agency was the perfect synergy."

Bohi noted that in addition to better serving clients, each of the subsidiary's businesses stand to benefit by gaining new work as the sales staff of each operation refers clients among themselves.

Since Bohi joined Alaska Newspapers last October, the business has made strides toward becoming profitable, in part by ceasing to publish the Anchorage Chronicle, she said. "One of the first things we have done to go in that direction is to focus on what we have done best, which is our rural publications."

Bohi said Alaska Newspapers' first quarter revenues increased about $30,000 over the same period last year, though the anticipated gains from its downsizing efforts have not yet been realized.

While Alaska Newspapers continues to lose money, turning a profit has not always been a priority. Calista has recognized that some of the benefits of owning a chain of rural newspapers don't have a dollar value, Bohi said.

The business's newspapers - including the Bristol Bay Times, Dutch Harbor Fisherman and Tundra Times - have drawn attention to rural residents' health, sanitation and transportation needs, as well as to subsistence and fisheries issues impacting the areas they cover, she said.

"A lot of those accomplishments for Calista have been realized as a result of owning the newspapers," she said. "So now we're celebrating its success and working toward a new success of being profitable."

Claire Chandler can be reached at claire.chandler@alaska