Real Cities Network Welcomes Mario Tota as VP, National Sales

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, the Real Cities Network (http://www.realcities.com/) announced the appointment of Mario Tota to VP of National Sales. Tota will oversee the national sales team, as well as multi-media advertising and marketing for Real Cities, the largest national network of local news sites.

A leader in Interactive sales, Mario Tota comes to Real Cities with more than 20 years of sales management experience. As vice president of sales for Citysearch.com, Tota oversaw a team of 100+ salespeople with an annual budget exceeding $25MM. Tota later served as vice president, North American Sales for Travelocity, where he launched a new division, Travelocity Business. There he recruited and managed a national sales force of 25 and generated first year revenues of $45MM.

"As we start 2006, we're delighted to have Mario on the team," said Lem Lloyd, who oversees Real Cities and Classifieds for Knight Ridder. "He brings a winning combination of local media expertise and national advertiser relationships, as well as a proven track record of directing sales organizations."

The Real Cities Network experienced significant growth in 2005: revenues were up by over 50% and monthly unique visitors to the network topped 29 million, a 25% increase over the previous year (Nielsen//NetRatings, November 2005). The Real Cities Network is larger than Yahoo! News, MSNBC, and CNN, and reaches nearly 20% of the online universe. A powerful network of more than 120 local newspaper sites offering national advertisers unparalleled reach to quality local audiences, the Real Cities Network includes Advance Internet, McClatchy, Media General, Media News Group, Scripps, and more.

About Real Cities:

Knight Ridder Digital is the founder and operator of the Real Cities Network, the largest national network of local news sites. A leader in local news, information and marketplace services on the Web, Knight Ridder Digital develops and manages the Internet properties of Knight Ridder , the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher. For more on Knight Ridder Digital visit (http://www.kri.com/digital) or for more on Real Cities visit (http://www.realcities.com/). (KRD)