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A local alt-weekly is reembracing the "alt" part of the genre, as a group of writers and editors at the East Bay Express buy the paper out from the Village Voice Weekly conglomerate. The team of purchasers includes the current editor, Stephen Buel; co-founder and calendar editor Kelly Vance (the EBX really does have a kick-ass calendar section); and Hal Brody, another person active in the alt-weekly scene.
It all seems very amicable, and no one's saying anything about this formally, but it hasn't been a secret that a lot of people have been unhappy with the Village Voice Media's franchising of alt-weekly culture and spirit -- so it'll be interesting to see how the EBX goes forward with this.
We're sure the Guardian's Bruce Brugmann is alternating between thrilled for indie media, and freaking out about the competition. Watch out, other local weeklies -- the new EBX promises to continue its strong run for the money in the prestigious SFist Weekly of the Week awards! Also something to watch out for: how's this going to shake out at the other Village Voice Media outlets? (ahem -- SFWeekly -- ahem).
Thanks to the reader who sent this tip in! Send your tips to editor-at-sfist.com too.
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The EBX has always been a really good local news resourace, pre VVM and even during the New Times / VVM era. Hopefully it will continue to flourish, and expand now that it does not have the low-rent chain mentality VVM has been imposing on its new aquisitions. Yay free markets, competition, and stuff.
True. I was always a fan of EBX. It was a little LONG WINDED in the pre-VVM era, and some of its editorial and classifieds policies were overly PC. But it was a great read. But it also wasn't entirely independent either. It was at least partially (and may have always been) owned by the Chicago Reader. The original format of two sections folded in half (like the BAR) was modeled after the Reader's layout. The lengthy articles too. The Reader continues to own the Washington City Paper. The Reader itself is still the best of the bunch -- great full color underground comics issue. Fantastic classified section (which is also one of City Paper's strengths.)
I wish the EBX the best of luck. I think they can create their own niche and bring back some of the experimentation that defined the Chicago Reader years.
Finally, a bit of good news in the Bay Area's troubled media market! Best of luck to Buel and Vance, and all of the staff over there. I suspect it will only get better now that it is independent.