TRYON, N.C.—Betty Ramsey, general manager of Tidewater Publications LLC and its advertising director since 2006, has been promoted to president and publisher of Tryon Newsmedia, LLC, a new North Carolina company owned in part by the publisher of The Tidewater News.

Tryon Newsmedia on Thursday completed its purchase of the Tryon Daily Bulletin, Appointments Magazine and related products from the Byrd family. Tryon is located southeast of Asheville and west of Charlotte.

“We are sad to lose Betty, but she has earned this opportunity to lead her own newspaper,” said Steve Stewart, publisher of The Tidewater News and part-owner of the newly formed North Carolina company. “Betty has been instrumental in The Tidewater News’ growth and development over the past four years and will be missed. I am excited about the future of Tryon Newsmedia under her leadership.”

Agreement in general for the sale was announced this summer, and final details were worked out in recent weeks.

The sale ends more than two decades of operation by the Byrd family. Helen and Jeff Byrd purchased The Bulletin in 1989 from Seth M. Vining, Jr., son of the newspaper’s founder, at the time of Vining’s retirement.

Byrd is succeeded as publisher by Ramsey, who has an ownership interest in Tryon Newsmedia, LLC, and will be responsible for the company’s operations, consisting of the Tryon Daily Bulletin, Appointments Magazine and the operation’s online products.

Owners of the newly formed company are Boone Newspapers Inc. (BNI), BNI’s president and chief operating officer, Todd H. Carpenter of Natchez, Miss., Tim Prince of Columbiana, Ala., publisher of two BNI-owned Alabama newspapers, Stewart, Ramsey and other BNI key personnel.

Boone Newspapers owns and manages 38 newspapers in similar-sized communities in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, Ohio and Michigan.