The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') is a free progressive

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, that consists of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

s and photo galleries on its website. As of June 2008, the ''Riverfront Times'' has an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

-audited weekly circulation of 81,276 copies.

History

The paper was founded in 1977 by Ray HartmannUnderground
''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'', May 20, 1980 (noting "Ray Hartmann's fledgling Riverfront Times ...")WELL ESTABLISHED: RAY HARTMANN HAS TURNED AN ALTERNATIVE PAPER INTO A 20-YEAR-OLD COMMUNITY FIXTURE
''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...

'', November 16, 1997 who, along with co-owner Mark Vittert, sold the newspaper in 1998 to New Times MediaRiverfront Times being sold to chain
''

St. Louis Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'', September 24, 1998PHOENIX CHAIN BUYS RIVERFRONT TIMES PRICE IS ESTIMATED AT $6-10 MILLION
''

'', September 25, 1998 (later known, following a 2006 merger, as

Village Voice Media Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the public ...

).Riverfront Times turns 30
''St. Louis Journalism Review'' (October 2007)
''

'', October 24, 2005 In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars agreed to purchase Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed

Voice Media Group Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing. VMG's current pr ...

. In 2015,

Euclid Media Group Euclid Media Group (EMG) is a media company in the United States formed in 2013. Its headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio and it owns the ''Orlando Weekly'', '' Cincinnati CityBeat, Cleveland Scene'', ''Creative Loafing'' (Tampa), '' Detroit Metro Ti ...

acquired the ''Times'' from Voice Media Group. The paper has received more than three dozen awards from the Missouri Press Association, along with the group's Gold Cup. The paper and website also currently feature a weekly syndicated column by relationship and sex advice writer

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes ''Savage Love'', an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husba ...

. In the past, the paper carried Chuck Sheppard's

News of the Weird News of the Weird is a syndicated newspaper column once edited by Chuck Shepherd that collects bizarre news stories. It was created in 1988. , it is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and published in more than 250 newspapers in the United S ...

column. In June 2019, editor-in-chief Sarah Fenske announced her departure after being selected to host ''St. Louis on the Air'' on St. Louis Public Radio. News editor Doyle Murphy was selected as interim editor-in-chief. Murphy served as editor-in-chief until he announced in the February 9, 2022, edition that he would be leaving the paper to work for St. Louis Public Radio. Ben Westhoff, the executive editor of Euclid Media Group, served as interim editor-in-chief following Murphy's resignation, but announced on February 24, 2022, that Rosalind Early, who was then serving as deputy managing editor for ''Washington Magazine'' at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, would be the paper's next editor in chief, starting in March.

References

External links

RFT website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riverfront Times, The 1998 mergers and acquisitions 2012 mergers and acquisitions 2015 mergers and acquisitions 1977 establishments in Missouri Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Newspapers published in St. Louis Newspapers established in 1977

History

See also

References

External links