The Detroit Metro Times is an alternative weekly located in Ferndale, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area.
| File:MetroTimesFeb1Cover.jpg Inner cover of the February 1–7, 2006 Metro Times - The outer cover also has this image but with a Budweiser advertisement covering the lower right corner. | |
| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Weekly |
| Owner(s) | Euclid Media Group |
| Publisher | Chris Keating |
| Editor | Lee DeVito |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | 30 E. Canfield St., Detroit MI 48201 |
| Circulation | 50,000 |
| ISSN | 0746-4045 |
| OCLC number | 10024235 |
| Website | metrotimes.com |
History and content
Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs. Compared to the two dailies, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, the Metro Times has a leftist orientation, Like it's later competitor Real Detroit Weekly. Average circulation for the Metro Times is 50,000 weekly. Average readership is just over 700,000 weekly.[1]
Its columnists include Larry Gabriel and journalism professor Jack Lessenberry.
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).[2]
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 issue, the Metro Times had its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary Wordplay. The crossword was cut in May 2008, to save space.
The Metro Times consistently wins awards from the Michigan Press Association, the Detroit Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Media Awards, and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Altweekly Awards.[citation needed]
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.[3]
In April 2014, Valerie Vande Panne, former editor of High Times, was named editor-in-chief.[4] In May 2014, the Metro Times merged with Real Detroit Weekly, which had been a Detroit-area alternative weekly paper since 1999.[5] Dustin Blitchok took over as editor-in-chief in February 2016,[6] 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.[7]
The Metro Times was an official sponsor of the now-defunct Detroit Festival of the Arts and had one of the stages named after it.
The newspaper had a very hard time keeping an editor for a long period of time. Music editor and journalist Brian Smith was only there for a short period of time but excelled at putting his musical knowledge in to print, something that was very lacking in metro times. Their competitor, we are the trait weekly, focus mainly on Music and it wasn't until Smith came in that they had some competition with each other
Offices
The headquarters are located in Ferndale.[8] It was previously headquartered in the Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building in Downtown Detroit.[9] The Metro Times moved to the Cornice and Slate building in the 1990s and a wraparound expansion was installed there to give the newspaper additional room.[10] In 2013 Blue Cross Blue Shield purchased the Cornice and Slate building, forcing the Metro Times to move. The Metro Times currently leases space in a facility in Ferndale.[11]
References
- ^ "Metro Times". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
- ^ "Best of Detroit 2012". Metro Times.
- ^ "Metro Times Announces New Editor-in-Chief". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. 6 March 2013.
- ^ Neavling, Steve (22 April 2014). "Former High Times editor takes helm of revamped Metro Times in Detroit". Motor City Muckraker.
- ^ "Detroit Metro Times Announces Merger With Real Detroit Weekly". Metro Times. 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Metro Times names Dustin Blitchok editor-in-chief". Metro Times. February 15, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ^ Walsh, Dustin (November 16, 2016). "Metro Times hires 4th editor in 3 years". Crain Communications. Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ^ "Home." Metro Times. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "1200 Woodward Heights Blvd Ferndale, MI 48220"
- ^ "FAQs." Metro Times. March 19, 2011. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Metro Times 733 St. Antoine Detroit, MI 48226"
- ^ Look Up: Top 10 Downtown Buildings, (Archive) AIA Detroit, ModelD, November 8, 2005.
- ^ McGraw, Bill. "Adieu, Downtown: Metro Times Moving To Ferndale After 33 Years In Detroit." (Archive) Deadline Detroit Media. Deadline Detroit, Inc. September 26, 2013. Retrieved on January 1, 2014.
