Metro Times

Detroit Metro Times
AAN award winning cover of the Aug. 8-14, 2018 Metro Times, by Eric Millikin.
TypeAlternative weekly
Owner(s)Big Lou Holdings LLC
PublisherChris Keating
EditorLee DeVito
Founded1980
Headquarters30 E. Canfield St., Detroit, Michigan 48201
Circulation50,000
ISSN0746-4045
OCLC number10024235
Websitemetrotimes.com

The Detroit Metro Times is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area.

The Metro Times was an official sponsor of the now-defunct Detroit Festival of the Arts, where one of the stages is named after it.

History and content

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Founded in 1980, the Metro Times since its inception has been supported entirely by advertising and distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands, businesses, and libraries around the city of Detroit and its suburbs. Compared to the two dailies, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, the Metro Times has a liberal orientation, like its later competitor Real Detroit Weekly. As of 2014, average circulation for the Metro Times was 50,000 weekly and it was available at more than 1,200 locations.[1] Average readership is just over 700,000 weekly.[2]

Its annual "Best of Detroit" survey awards local businesses. The categories include "Public Square" (city life); "Spend the Night" (nightlife and bars); "Nutritional Value" (restaurants and food); and "Real Deal" (retail and other stores).[3]

Syndicated alternative comics run by the Metro Times have in the past included Perry Bible Fellowship, This Modern World, Eric Monster Millikin and Red Meat. The Metro Times also prints Dan Savage's Savage Love sex advice column (which replaced Isadora Alman's Ask Isadora sex advice column) and Cal Garrison's Horoscopes (which replaced Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology). Starting with the January 19–25 [year needed] issue, the Metro Times had its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary Wordplay. Editors cut the crossword in May 2008 to save space.

The paper was founded in 1980 by co-publishers Ron Williams and Laura Markham, with Williams as editor and Markham as business manager.[4][5] In December 2012, Metro Times Editor W. Kim Heron announced his departure. Heron had previously been the paper's managing editor. In March 2013, after three months during which Michael Jackman was interim editor, the publisher named Bryan Gottlieb as Editor-in-Chief.[6]

In 2013, Times-Shamrock Communications sold the newspaper to Euclid Media Group.[7] The company dissolved in August 2023 and the sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC.[8]

In April 2014, Valerie Vande Panne, former editor of High Times, was named editor-in-chief.[9] In May 2014, the Metro Times merged with Real Detroit Weekly, which had been a Detroit-area alternative weekly paper since 1999.[10] Dustin Blitchok took over as editor-in-chief in February 2016,[11] before resigning from the position in November of the same year. Former Metro Times staff writer and associate editor for Hour Detroit Lee DeVito was named editor-in-chief following Blitchok's departure.[12]

Euclid Media Group dissolved in August 2023 and the newspaper was sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC.[8]

Offices

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The headquarters are located in Midtown Detroit.[13] It was previously headquartered in the Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building in Downtown Detroit.[14] The Metro Times moved to the Cornice and Slate building in the 1990s and building owners constructed a wraparound expansion to give the newspaper additional room.[15] In 2013 Blue Cross Blue Shield purchased the Cornice and Slate building, forcing the Metro Times to move to a leased space in Ferndale.[16][17] According to editor-in-chief Lee DeVito, the newspaper intended to eventually return to Detroit.[18] In 2018, the Metro Times returned to Detroit, moving into the Arnold E. Frank Building in Midtown.[19]

Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building, former headquarters

References

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  1. ^ "Metro Times deletes competition in deal with rival alt-weekly". Crain's Detroit Business. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  2. ^ "Metro Times". Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  3. ^ "Best of Detroit 2012". Metro Times.
  4. ^ Brody, Lisa (2019-09-24). "Underground papers: through an alternative lens". downtownpublications. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  5. ^ Lessenberry, Jack. "...Now for the news". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  6. ^ "Metro Times Announces New Editor-in-Chief". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. 6 March 2013.
  7. ^ DeVito, Lee (December 23, 2013). "Metro Times Sold to New Euclid Media Group". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  8. ^ a b "The RFT Has a New Owner, and He's Based in St. Louis". Riverfront Times. August 10, 2023. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  9. ^ Neavling, Steve (22 April 2014). "Former High Times editor takes helm of revamped Metro Times in Detroit". Motor City Muckraker.
  10. ^ "Detroit Metro Times Announces Merger With Real Detroit Weekly". Metro Times. 5 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Metro Times names Dustin Blitchok editor-in-chief". Metro Times. February 15, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Walsh, Dustin (November 16, 2016). "Metro Times hires 4th editor in 3 years". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  13. ^ "Contact MT". Metro Times. Retrieved on July 26, 2018. "Address - 30 E. Canfield St., Detroit, MI, 48201"
  14. ^ "FAQs." Metro Times. March 19, 2011. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Metro Times 733 St. Antoine Detroit, MI 48226"
  15. ^ Look Up: Top 10 Downtown Buildings (Archive) AIA Detroit, ModelD, November 8, 2005.
  16. ^ McGraw, Bill (September 26, 2013). "Adieu, Downtown: Metro Times Moving To Ferndale After 33 Years In Detroit." (Archive) Deadline Detroit Media. . Retrieved on January 1, 2014.
  17. ^ "Home." Metro Times. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "1200 Woodward Heights Blvd, Ferndale, MI 48220".
  18. ^ Rahal, Sarah (24 October 2017). "Detroit Metro Times to move back to Detroit". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  19. ^ DeVito, Lee. "Metro Times is returning to Detroit with new Midtown office". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
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