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Kompas-Gramedia Group is the largest media conglomerate in Indonesia.[citation needed]
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History
In 1965, after the success of their magazine, Intisari, Mr. P K Ojong and Jakob Oetama launched a national newspaper called Kompas.
Their aim was to breach the huge gap in daily news and information that that was lacking at that time. Kompas has since become a large circulation newspaper with an audited circulation in 2005 of 600,000 copies a day. The KGG also operates the largest printing plants in Indonesia.
Regional newspapers
PT Indopersda Primamedia, one of KGG other business units, has been publishing regional newspapers since 1988. At present, the company publishes 12 regional newspapers.
Bookshops
1970 saw the opening of the first Gramedia Bookstore in Jakarta. Gramedia Bookstores is owned and managed by PT Gramedia Asri Media (GAM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of KGG. GAM is the retail distribution channel for KGG which also handles foreign publishers and partners.
KGG went on to set up PT Gramedia, a printing plant in Jakarta in 1972 in order to meet the ever increasing needs of the newspapers and magazines. Today, the group has 6 printing plants in Indonesia. They are located in Palembang (South Sumatera), Makasar (South Sulawesi), Surabaya (East Java), Medan (North Sumatera), Cikarang (West Java) and Semarang (Central Java).
Publishing
In 1973 KGG formed PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama (GPU) and began publishing its first titles. This company enjoyed outstanding success and today, publishes more than 600 titles a year.
Beside its own original titles, GPU has foreign (USA, Europe, Japan and others) copyrights licenses and arrangements for Indonesia. GPU has 60% of foreign books translated and published in Indonesia. Collectively, GPU handles around 4,000 active titles, distributed through Gramedia Bookstores as well as others.[citation needed]
Handbooks
The Group has met soaring demands for technological as well as educational publications. PT Elex Media Komputindo (EMK), founded in 1985, publishes books on computers and electronics. Due to increased diverse new demands, EMK also publishes technology related business and management books, other comics, educational and computer software. Annually EMK publishes about 1500 new titles, 51% of which are translations from foreign works. PT Prima Info Sarana Media issues computer magazine Infokomputer and tabloid PC Plus as well as home and interior design tabloid Rumah.
Educational publishing
In 1990 PT Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia, popularly known as Grasindo, was started to concentrate on school textbooks and other educational materials for kindergarten, primary and secondary schools. It now publishes around 300 new titles a year.
Radio
1973 saw the inception of PT Radio Sonora (RS) which broadcasted mainly into Metropolitan Jakarta. Now RS has 5 other radio stations in cities like Surabaya (East Java), Yogyakarta (Central Java), Pangkalpinang (Bangka), Pontianak (West Kalimantan) and Palembang (South Sumatera).
Magazines
Intisari Magazine, the first publication by Gramedia Magazine in 1963 is still in circulation today. This business unit also handles 43 tabloids and magazines titles (30 originals and 13 licensed) as well as successful comic series and other books titles such as Hai, Kawanku, Nova, Star Nova, Otomotif, Citra, Nakita, Bola, Bobo. Licenced magazine titles include National Geographic, TopGear, Autobild, Jip, Disney Junior and more.
Television
To complete its core business alignment, KGG founded Duta Visual Nusantara, popularly known as TV7 in 2001. TV7 provides family entertainment programs (news, children programs, sports, movie films, etc) and reaches a 125-million audience viewership throughout Indonesia.[citation needed]
Current operations
KGG's core business enterprises remain in the information, communication and education business. The Group also has diversified interests including hotels (the Santika premium nationwide chain of hotels), development of real estate (PT Permata Media Land), tissue paper production (PT Graha Kerindo Utama), and travel bureau (PT Ina Media Wisatamas).
In addition to all of the above, KGG also operates quality computer schools under LPKT. LPKT holds the master license for Futurekids for Indonesia. Beside computer education KGG also operates ELTI (English Language Training International) schools.
The group also has two cultural centres in Jakarta and Yogyakarta under the name of Bentara Budaya. These places are used to keep the company's antique collections, and the hall are often used for discussions on culture and also serve as an art gallery.
Its products range from – books (local and imported) and accessories (stationery, digital/IT and multimedia, sports and music).
Currently, 80% of Gramedia's book stock is local works produced in Indonesia or foreign materials that have being translated into Indonesian. These include books on various subjects and themes, study materials, assessment books, road directory, magazines and comics.
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