Houston Press
| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Voice Media Group |
| Publisher | Stuart Folb |
| Editor | Margaret Downing |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | Midtown Houston, TX |
| Circulation | 57,512 (December 2013)[1] |
| Website |
houstonpress |
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Midtown Houston.
The paper is supported entirely by advertising revenue and is free to readers. The newspaper draws a weekly readership of more than 300,000, verified by an independent media audit and referenced on its website.[2] The Press can be found in restaurants, coffee houses, and local retail stores. New weekly editions are distributed on Thursdays.
The Houston Press is not to be confused with the newspaper of the same name that closed in 1964.
The weekly Houston Press was founded locally in 1989. Chris Hearne (founder of Austin's Third Coast Magazine) and Kirk Cypel (a Vice President of a Houston-based investment group) conceived of this news and entertainment weekly after rejecting a business plan to relaunch Texas Business Magazine. Hearne was the paper's first publisher and Cypel served as the organization's business advisor. Although the paper faced early challenges, the landscape changed when Hearne and Cypel engineered a buyout of 713 Magazine, a key competitor. Once in control of 713, they stopped its publication and converted advertisers to the Houston Press. Thereafter, the Houston Press's advertising and circulation grew dramatically.
For the newspaper's first five years, Niel Morgan served as the investor.[3] It was bought out by New Times Media in 1993.[4] In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media.[5] In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Meda's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed Voice Media Group.[6]
- Editor Margaret Downing
- Managing Editor Michael Barajas
- Music Editor Chris Gray
- Web Editor Cory Garcia
The paper includes sections devoted to
- News: Includes local, regional and sometimes statewide short and long news stories
- Arts and Entertainment: Includes a weekly calendar, city events listings, a music section with a weekly music column, several music features, show previews, and CD reviews. Also includes a food column, DVD reviews, theater reviews, and the nightlife column Nightfly.
- Online Offerings: The Press launched four blogs from 2006 to 2008: the news blog Hair Balls, the music blog Rocks Off, the food/dining blog Eating Our Words and the sports blog Ballz, which folded in 2009; all sports-related blog items now appear in Hair Balls. In July 2010, the website launched a new fourth blog called Art Attack, which concentrates on the local theater, symphony, museum, and art gallery scenes and events in the greater Houston area as well as offering blog items on more national fare, such as film and television.
Headquarters
The headquarters of the Houston Press are located in Midtown Houston on LaBranch Street.[7]
Prior to 1998,[8] the Houston Press was located in Suite 1900 of the 2000 West Loop South building in Uptown Houston,[9][10] off of the 610 Loop West Loop. In 1998,[8] it moved to a new location in Downtown Houston,[11] which became the Houston Press building and was originally built in 1927.[8] That building is in close proximity to the ExxonMobil Building.[12]
Shelor Motor Company was the first occupant of the Downtown Houston building. Beginning in the 1960s,[8] it served as the Gillman Pontiac dealership building.[13] In 1994 Suzanne Sellers painted a 50-foot (15 m) by 240-foot (73 m) trompe-l'œil mural that is located around two of the building's sides. This mural is visible from Leeland, Milam, and Travis streets.[8] In 2008 the Houston Press building received damage from Hurricane Ike since the hurricane caused water to go through the parking area on the building's roof into the offices. In 2010 the Houston Press installed new energy efficient windows in place of the original glass windows on the facility's second and third floors.[7] On the weekend after Friday October 25, 2013 the Houston Press was scheduled to move to its new offices in Midtown.[8]
Awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
2007
- First Place, Feature Story;[14] Third Place, Investigative Reporting[15] Todd Spivak
- First Place, Music Criticism; Second Place, Arts Feature John Nova Lomax
- Second Place, News Story/Long Form, Craig Malisow
2005
- Honorable Mention, Column above 50,000: "Downing" by Margaret Downing
- 3rd Place, Education: Above 50,000: "HCCS's Gift Basket Bonanza" by Josh Harkinson
- 2nd Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: "The Cow Says Oink" by Robb Walsh
- 3rd Place, News Story (1500 words or less): "Firing Line" by Josh Harkinson
2004
- 2nd Place, Column-Political: Above 50,000: Tim Fleck
- 1st Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: Robb Walsh
- 3rd Place, Religion Reporting: Above 50,000: "Doing Time" by Scott Nowell
2003
- 1st Place, Media Reporting: Above 50,000: "Reality TV Bites" by Jennifer Mathieu
2001
- 2nd Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Paying the Price" by Bob Burtman
2000
- 1st Place, Column: Above 54,000: Margaret Downing
- 1st Place, Corrections Reporting: Above 54,000: "Trouble in Mind" by Steve McVicker
1999
- 1st Place, Online
1998
- 1st Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Easy Street" by Bob Burtman
- 1st Place, Web Site: "Webb Page Confidential"
Other recent awards of note include Todd Spivak's 2006 first place win [16] in the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association under 100,000 circulation weekly category, and Rich Connelly's first place in the humor category of the under 100,000 circulation bracket of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
References
- ↑ "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. December 31, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- ↑ "Houston Press: About Us". Houston Press. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ↑ Tyer, Brad. "Mama Ninfa and her Comeback Kids." Houston Press. Thursday August 6, 1998. 1. Retrieved on February 4, 2012.
- ↑ Vane, Sharyn (November 1998). "Consider the Alternative". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
- ↑ Richard Siklos (October 24, 2005). "The Village Voice, Pushing 50, Prepares to Be Sold to a Chain of Weeklies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
- ↑ "Village Voice Media Execs Acquire The Company's Famed Alt Weeklies, Form New Holding Company". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- 1 2 Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The Houston Press Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." Houston Press. October 25, 2013. p. 2 (Archive). Retrieved on October 25, 2013. "Our new address will be 2603 La Branch Street, Houston TX 77004"
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The Houston Press Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." Houston Press. October 25, 2013. p. 1 (Archive). Retrieved on October 25, 2013.
- ↑ "Houston Press Staff." (Archive) Houston Press. January 29, 1998. Retrieved on October 26, 2013. "Houston Press mailing address: 2000 West Loop South Suite 1900 Houston Texas 77027"
- ↑ "TIRZ%20and%20District-13(1).jpg." (Archive) Uptown Houston. Retrieved on October 26, 2013.
- ↑ "About Us" (Archive) Houston Press. Retrieved on August 7, 2009. "1621 Milam Ste. 100, Houston, TX 77002 "
- ↑ Connelly, Richard. "ExxonMobil Making Big Move To North Houston." Houston Press. Tuesday June 7, 2011. Retrieved on March 4, 2012.
- ↑ Garza, Abrahán. "Old Houston Photos Mashed with Modern Houston, Part 2." Houston Press. Monday May 7, 2012. 1. Retrieved on May 7, 2012.
- ↑ "Awards: Feature Story 2007". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
- ↑ "AltWeeklies.com". Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ↑ "http://www.ire.org/contest/06winners.html". Retrieved 7 June 2016. External link in
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