 The cover of the March 15, 2013, Boston edition ofThe Phoenix, the newspaper's last issue | |
| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid (Portland and Providence editions) Magazine (Boston edition) |
| Owner | New Portland Publishing |
| Publisher | Karen R. Wood |
| Editor | Marian McCue |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Ceased publication | 2013 (Boston Phoenix) 2014 (Providence Phoenix) 2023 (Portland Phoenix) |
| Headquarters | Falmouth, Maine |
| ISSN | 0163-3015 |
| Website | thephoenix.com (Boston) |
The Phoenix (stylized asThe Phœnix) was the name of severalalternative weekly periodicals published in the United States byPhoenix Media/Communications Group ofBoston, Massachusetts, including the now defunctBoston Phoenix,Providence Phoenix,Portland Phoenix, andWorcester Phoenix. These publications emphasized local arts and entertainment coverage as well as lifestyle and political coverage. ThePortland Phoenix, which folded in 2019, was revived a few months later by another company, New Portland Publishing. The newspaper closed in 2023.[1]
The papers, like most alternative weeklies, are somewhat similar in format and editorial content toThe Village Voice.[2]
The Phoenix was founded in 1965 by Joe Hanlon, a former editor at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology's student newspaper,The Tech. Since manyBoston-area college newspapers were printed at the same printing firm, Hanlon's idea was to do a four-page single-sheet insert with arts coverage and ads. He began with theHarvard Business School's newspaper,The Harbus News. A student there, James T. Lewis, became Hanlon's advertising manager.
Boston After Dark began March 2, 1966. Theater enthusiastLarry Stark began contributing theater reviews with the second issue. When the insert idea did not pan out, the trio continuedBoston After Dark as a weekly free paper.
A year after the launch, Hanlon sold off his half to Lewis. For three years,Boston After Dark kept the four-page format, with Lewis as publisher, Jane Steidemann as editor, Stephen M. Mindich as ad salesman and Stark as full-time theater critic and copy editor, plus film reviews by Deac Rossell, who later went on to become head of programming atLondon'sNational Film Theatre.
Arnie Reisman was appointed executive editor beginning in November 1968 and ending in November 1971. During Reisman's term of office, what began asBoston After Dark, a 16-page entertainment weekly was turned into a 156-page news weekly on the order ofThe Village Voice.[3]
As the paper expanded, Mindich acquired a half interest. Stark quit in 1972 and began reviewing for the rivalCambridge Phoenix, which had begun October 9, 1969, started by Jeffrey Tarter. The first managing editor of theCambridge Phoenix wasApril Smith, who later became a novelist (Good Morning, Killer) and TV writer-producer (Cagney & Lacey,Lou Grant,Nightmares & Dreamscapes).[4]
Following a two-week writers' strike in August 1972, theCambridge Phoenix was sold toBoston After Dark. Mindich's merger then became known asThe Boston Phoenix, withBoston After Dark used as the name for the paper's arts and entertainment section, as well as the nameplate for a free edition of thePhoenix distributed on college campuses in Boston. In the conflicts between writers and management, ousted writers immediately started another weekly,The Real Paper (which began August 2, 1972, and continued until 1981), while management continued theBoston Phoenix.
In 1988, the company that owned thePhoenix,Phoenix Media/Communications Group, bought a similar publication in neighboringProvidence, Rhode Island, calledThe NewPaper, which had been founded in 1978 byProvidence Journal columnist Ty Davis.[5][6] It continued under theNewPaper name until 1993, when it became theProvidence Phoenix.[5] In 1999, PM/CG branched out intoPortland, Maine, by creating thePortland Phoenix. That same year thenameplate changed fromPhoenix B.A.D. toThe Boston Phoenix. From 1992 through 2000, there was also aWorcester Phoenix, but it folded due to Worcester's dwindling arts market.
In 2005, thePhoenix underwent a major redesign, switching from abroadsheet/Berliner format to atabloid format and introduced a new logo in order to increase its appeal to younger readers.[7]
Towards the end of its existence, ThePhoenix had a weekly circulation of 253,000, and its website featured 90% of the paper's content, as well as extra content not included in the paper.[8]
On August 1, 2012, it was announced thatStuff Magazine and theBoston Phoenix newspaper would merge and the result would be a weekly magazine to be calledThe Phoenix, to debut in the fall of 2012.[9] The first issue of the new, glossy-paperPhoenix had a cover date of September 21, 2012.[10] On March 14, 2013, the publisher announced that theBoston Phoenix would fold effective as of the March 15, 2013, print edition, though the Portland and Providence papers would be unaffected.[11] In October 2014,The Phoenix announced that their Providence paper would also cease publication, with last issue being the October 17 issue.[12]
TheBoston Phoenix published its last issue on March 14, 2013. A statement from publisher Mindich in that issue blamed the2008 financial crisis and changes in the media business, particularly the downturn in print advertising revenue, as the reasons for the closing.[13]
In November 2014, Mindich sold thePortland Phoenix to thePortland News Club LLC, publishers ofThe Portland Daily Sun.[14] Although theDaily Sun would cease publication one month later, thePortland Phoenix continues to be published weekly by new owners.
In January 2019, the owner of the since-renamed Country News Club, Mark Guerringe, announced that thePortland Phoenix would move from once weekly to bi-weekly. In February, the paper ceased publication altogether, with an announcement that the paper had folded coming in April. In an interview with thePortland Press Herald, Guerringue said he may try to relaunch thePortland Phoenix on a membership basis or as a non-profit, funded by ads forMaine's legal marijuana industry.
In August 2019, New Portland Publishing purchased the Portland Phoenix relaunching it as a weekly publication on November 13, 2019. Partners of New Portland Publishing Karen Wood (former long-time Publisher ofThe Forecaster) assumed the role of Publisher, and Marian McCue (former owner ofThe Forecaster and member of the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame) became the editor.
On July 23, 2023, thePortland Phoenix published its final issue, citing a decline in advertising revenue related to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[15]
After the closing of theBoston Phoenix and theProvidence Phoenix, Mindich reassured the public that the websites would be maintained, and the online and print archives would be preserved.
In November 2015,The Boston Globe announced that Mindich, with the help of formerPhoenix columnist and currentNortheastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy,[16] had donated thePhoenix's archives to Northeastern University's Snell Library Archives and Special Collections.[17][18] The gift also included other publications associated with thePhoenix, includingBoston After Dark, the Portland, Providence and WorcesterPhoenix editions;El Planeta,Stuff andStuff at Night magazines, and early issues ofThe Real Paper. Hard copies of the publications are currently available to the public at Snell Library.[17][19] Northeastern's goal was to digitize the collection and make it available online, but the cost was found to be prohibitive.[20] In 2021, it learned that theInternet Archive already had ownership of the complete microfilm collection of thePhoenix from 1973 to 2013. Northeastern then allowed the Internet Archive to make the collection available for download by the public without limits.[20]
Records from the BostonWFNX radio station were donated to Northeastern University's Snell Library Archives and Special Collections.[21][17][18]
In 2020, the online citizen science websiteZooniverse started archiving the 1974 card file index, with the help of site users.[22] After the finishing of the 1974 archives, Zooniverse moved to the 1980 index.
Over the years, PMCG acquired radio stations in Boston, Portland and Providence, notably the Bostonalternative rock radio stationWFNX. The company owned stations serving Metro Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine. The radio stations covered the samemusic, arts and political scene as the paper and sold to many of the same advertisers. The Maine station,WPHX-FM, was sold to the owner ofWXEX in 2011, while on May 16, 2012, the over-the-air signal and broadcast tower for the Boston station WFNX was sold toClear Channel Communications and New Hampshire stationWFEX was sold to Blount Communications. Following FCC approval of the sale, WFNX stopped broadcasting on Tuesday, July 24, 2012; the webcast ended in May 2013. Former WFNX DJs and personalities Julie Kramer, Adam 12, Henry Santoro, and Paul Driscoll joined Boston.com and formed Radio BDC, another internet radio station.
Records from WFNX were also donated to Northeastern University's Snell Library Archives and Special Collections.[23][18]
The Phoenix received many awards for excellence injournalism, including honors from the New England Press Association, thePenny-Missouri Newspaper Awards, theAmerican Bar Association Gavel Awards, Michael J. Metcalfe Diversity in Media Awards and theASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards.
In 1994,Phoenixclassical music writerLloyd Schwartz was awarded aPulitzer Prize for Criticism.[24]
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