For many years it was under the ownership and editorship of John Millar. In 2003, the Arran Banner was purchased by the
Oban Times Group, who continue to publish the newspaper today. Soon after its sale, the newspaper converted to a tabloid, colour format, from the previous A4 format. It is also now printed off the island, being printed on Thursday afternoons before arriving on the island each Friday morning. Former editor John Millar continued to write weekly Banner leader columns until 2008. The newspaper is written by Colin Smeeton who joined the team in July 2015. Colin Smeeton is the only reporter working at the paper after news editor Hugh Boag retired in January 2024 after 47 in the industry. The retail price of the newspaper increased to £1 on Friday 4 February 2022 (edition 2270) after being at 85p for the previous three years. Since 16 December 2022 the retail price has increased to £1.10. As well as continuing to produce the weekly edition of the newspaper the company are also responsible for a popular hand-drawn tourist map of the island and the annual Holiday Arran magazine. The Arran Banner also has a website where some news is displayed for free but there is also a paid for section (Paywall). In January 2024 all four websites belonging to Wyvex Media Ltd (The Arran Banner,
Oban Times,
Campbeltown Courier and
Argyllshire Advertiser) were combined into one site called West Coast Today allowing paid for subscribers to have one subscription to access all the news content (website and digital e-editions) produced on the West Coast of Scotland . == References ==