LEWISTON – The Sun Journal purchased a Portland-area weekly newspaper in an agreement described as a win-win for both publications.

Marian McCue, owner of The Forecaster, and Jim Costello Sr., president and publisher of the Sun Journal, announced Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to sell The Forecaster to the Sun Journal. The deal is expected to be sealed Oct. 1. No purchase price was disclosed.

“This sale will enable The Forecaster to continue serving the local communities around Portland with in-depth news and information as we have for more than 17 years,” said McCue. “The additional resources the Sun Journal offers The Forecaster will provide us with a platform to expand our operations and allow us to continue for years to come.”

In particular, McCue said the sale allows The Forecaster to tap into the Sun Journal’s editorial and financial resources, and enhances benefits for its 19 employees, all of whom are expected to be retained.

The Forecaster was founded in Falmouth in 1986 by a group of residents who met in a church hall to discuss the lack of local news coverage in their daily newspaper. McCue purchased the business in October 1990, and has served as editor since that time, a position she will retain.

The Forecaster expanded its coverage area to include Yarmouth, Cumberland, North Yarmouth and Freeport. In the fall of 2001, a separate southern edition was added that covers South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough. The papers are distributed free from nearly 100 locations throughout Cumberland County.

In announcing the agreement, Costello said, “This purchase will be a great fit for us because these newspapers reflect the communities they serve just as the Sun Journal has done for over 100 years. We’re very excited about this opportunity to continue the papers’ missions of serving their local communities.”

The purchase expands the Sun Journal’s advertising market into the Portland area. The paper currently serves more than 100,000 readers daily, primarily in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties.

Discussions between the two papers have been ongoing for two years. For more than a year, the Sun Journal has printed the northern and southern editions of The Forecaster.

“I am delighted to have this affiliation with the Costello family,” McCue said, “a family who has shown its commitment to local news coverage and community service in the central Maine area for so many years. I am looking forward to the opportunities that will be made available to The Forecaster through this continuing relationship.”

The Sun Journal was named Newspaper of the Year at last weekend’s meeting of the Maine Press Association. The Sun Journal is a family-owned newspaper, managed by both the third and fourth generations.

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