Newcity is publishing biweekly this summer, starting in June. We expect tor resume our weekly schedule in September. Meanwhile, we plan to use this summer to work on a major rethinking, a “reboot,” of our publications.

Why now? Newcity’s marking its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Big birthdays always instigate some measure of contemplation, of one’s past, of one’s future, but the world is in a time of such profound change that looking back is far less compelling than trying to scrape that thick ice off our windshield and peer into tomorrow.

When Jan and I look around, we see a media world that looks nothing like 1986, when we started. We’re overdue for some major changes. One obvious need is a redesign of the print edition, which  has not undergone such since our infamous Segura Inc.-led retooling back in, gulp, 1998. And too, our more-recent-vintage  network of web sites needs some refreshing. But these are times that beg for more than simple window dressing: the media business has been and is profoundly evolving, and we need some time to really explore our role in that future. Unlike our deep-pocketed competitors, we’re a small team of lifelong Chicagoans; the crush of weekly deadlines leaves little time for the research, analysis and brainstorming we need. Read the rest of this entry »

Print readers of Newcity will notice some changes this week. As promised in an editor’s note, here’s a more detailed explanation of those changes.

Clubs has merged with Music: Over the last decade, Newcity has dedicated more space and resources, proportionately, to clubs and electronic music than any other publication in town. Unfortunately, we never developed a commensurate ad base in that realm to match our commitment, and the shrinking page counts brought about by this economy made the depth of our commitment unsustainable. The recent demise of some of Chicago’s most music-oriented clubs, notably Sonotheque and Lava, meant that our coverage has been increasingly limited to a smaller range of venues. Our commitment to dance music is not reduced in any way; it remains a personal favorite, and we’ll run as many good stories about it that we can find. But since our current coverage is so much about the music, and not about the “room,” we thought it Read the rest of this entry »

Operating a media business today is a bit like trying to put together a puzzle made out of Jell-O. Which is one way of saying that we’re thinking about a lot of the contours of our operations these days, and adjusting one thing while another jiggles around a bit. Which is a really long-winded way of saying that these new guidelines for contributors—writers, photographers, illustrators, cartoonists—will likely evolve on a more frequent basis over these next few months. One thing that won’t change is our commitment to literary journalism and the highest levels of artistic creativity.  Constructive feedback is welcome.

We’re pleased to announce our newest web site, Newcity Lit. You can access it at lit.newcity.com. Let us know what you think!

EURO RSCG CHICAGO LAUNCHES ONE-OF-A-KIND CAMPAIGN FOR NEWCITY MAGAZINE

CHICAGO, April 6, 2009 – Newcity magazine, the free Chicago weekly that focuses on arts and entertainment, has launched a new print and outdoor campaign via Euro RSCG Chicago. The striking “Unassimilate” campaign plays up Newcity’s reputation as a free-thinking alternative press outlet, and encourages readership for this unique paper amidst a sea of homogeneous media sources. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re launching our ninth content-specific web site today, Newcity Resto (resto.newcity.com) to coincide with the publication of Resto 100: Chicago’s Essential Restaurants in print. An exploration of Chicago’s dining and food culture, we’ll hope it will whet your appetite in more ways than one. Your feedback is appreciated.

We’ve just implemented a comprehensive overhaul of the way in which we hope publicists will interact with our editors and writers. The purpose of this transition is twofold: one, our writers and editors are almost exclusively virtual nowadays, meaning physical mail is no longer an effective way of communication with us; and two, we’re doing our best to contribute to the green cause, and reducing/eliminating the enormous amount of paper we recycle each year in this regard is a major initiative for us. For publicists, these changes should save you money, and increase your effectiveness in reaching the correct writers and editors most efficiently. Click here to read about the process for proposing stories and submitting listings. And feel free to email me with your thoughts and suggestions about how this will work. (Brian Hieggelke)

We’re trying something new with this site, and we hope you like it. Conceived as something of a hub for “all things Newcity,” we hope to make it deeply informative, as well as provocative, as we do our best to sort out the future of media. It’s something of an experiment in transparency, so you’ll notice within the blog section here, a range of freewheeling posts about us and our competitors. Feel free to chime in with comments. Across the top, you’ll find links to the “meat” of the site, arranged by general subject matter. We’ve loaded up quite a bit of information regarding advertising across the full range of print and digital options we offer, but very little so far for those of you connecting to the creative side of Newcity, editorial and art. That will come soon. Also coming soon will be a more extended articulation of our support of the Local First movement, a cause especially dear to our heart and pocketbook, since we’re the last remaining locally owned and operated arts and culture weekly

Here’s a quick overview of some of the brand new things you’ll find on this site:

• An interactive distribution map that allows you to get the big picture, or drill down to your very block. Find a place to pick up the latest issue, or evaluate our coverage of your business’ primary trading area. If we are found wanting in either regard, please let us know.
• The ability to pay for advertising through a secure Web server, using a credit card or Paypal.
• How you can buy Web advertising on our hugely popular category-specific Web sites for as little as $25 per week
• An editorial calendar of special issues, suitable for planning your ad purchases or your story pitches
• A gallery of more than a year’s worth of Newcity covers
• Information pages and downloads

Please give us your feedback on how this site works for you. Is it easy to navigate? Is there something else you’d like to see? Hit me with an email at brian@newcity.com. Thanks.