The Recycler was first published in July, 1973, under the name E-Z Buy E-Z Sell by Canadians Gunter and Nancy Schaldach after they moved to Los Angeles. They modeled their paper after a similar publication in Vancouver. The Recycler changed the economics model of private party classified ads: Instead of charging the advertisers to place ads, the Recycler ran the bulk of its classified ads for free, and charged buyers of the newspaper. It started off as a bi-weekly mimeographed 16-page publication. The intention was to sell the paper for 25 cents, but most of the initial 15,000 copies were given away for free. "At the beginning it was kind of a chicken-egg thing," recalled John Dorman, who joined the operation in 1974. "People would buy it to get access to advertising, but there weren't very many ads. But we had to sell papers to get ads." The name was changed to the Recycler to capitalize on the popularity of recycling in the early 1970s. By 1975 the paper became profitable, and started being published weekly. The sale of display ads became an important source of revenue, and the company was able to hire its first full-time salesperson. By the 1980s the Recycler was published in seven editions covering L.A., the San Fernando Valley, the South Bay, the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire. In 1988 the paper was sold from over 6,000 stores, and had a weekly readership of more than 540,000. By then, the company had more than 200 employees, plus another 120 who worked for McDuck Distribution, the distribution arm run by John Dorman. Single copies of the paper retailed for 55 cents to $1.25, depending on the edition. The Recycler brought in around $500,000 a week in circulation revenue, or $26 million a year, not including display ad sales. A sister publication, Photo Buys Weekly, which featured ads accompanied by a photograph, was started in 1982. ''The Recycler'' classified newspaper helped to launch the careers of many Los Angeles bands including

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

, and

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

. The company was sold by the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

to Target Media Partners in 2007 is now located in North Hollywood, California. The Recycler was relaunched in 2010 as a website.

Influence on music

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

responded to an advertisement in the magazine written by

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician best known as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his ...

, founding

Mick Mars Robert Alan Deal (born May 4, 1951), known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician and the retired lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He is known for his aggressive, melodic solos and bluesy riffs ...

entered

after

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a me ...

responded to an advertisement Mick placed in the magazine that read, "Loud, rude, and aggressive guitarist available."

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

answered an ad in The Recycler to join

from

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he ...

Eric Erlandson Eric Theodore Erlandson (born January 9, 1963) is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002. He has also had several musical si ...

responded to an advertisement created by

frontwoman

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as t ...

in 1989: "I want to start a band. My influences are

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Nake ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

, and

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Recycler Defunct newspapers published in California