Chicago Reader

The Chicago Reader, published since October 1971, has long been one of America’s preeminent alternative newspapers, having helped define the alt weekly format with its free cover price and thoughtful, often long-form, writing and literary journalism, as well as in-depth coverage of arts and culture, film, music, and food and drink supported by local advertising.

There have been electronic and digital companion products to the print Chicago Reader since 1995, beginning with the SpaceFinder faxback apartment classified ads, voice telephone Matches personal ads, and early website.

The Chicago Reader has been part of the nonprofit news organization the Reader Institute for Community Journalism since January 2023.

I worked at the Chicago Reader from October 1996 to early 2023, as Director of Digital from 2014.

Website: chicagoreader.com

Related tags: Chicago, newspapers, journalism websites, journalism, business models, John Dunlevy, Association of Alternative Newsmedia

by

chicago-reader:

In the introduction to Locally Brewed: Portraits of Craft Brewing from America’s Heartland, Anna Blessing writes, “In part this is a book about beer, but mostly it is a book about people: the craftspeople and artisans who brew the beer.” And—spoiler alert—that’s exactly what it is. Blessing has deftly pinpointed what’s most interesting about each brewer’s story and spends several pages, illustrated with photos of the brewers, beers, and breweries (taken by Blessing herself), telling it.

Julia Thiel reviews a new book about midwestern craft brewers.

by

A lot of my beers sound like food just because that’s my background, but they can be enjoyed on their own, and usually are. I just happen to think about food when I think about beer. For me, beer is food. We use our hands and take raw ingredients and create something that people consume. The only difference is, brewers intoxicate people.

Former Goose Island brewmaster Jared Rouben talks about his new brewery Moody Tongue. (via chicago-reader)

Time Out Chicago goes strictly digital. And the Reader…?

by

Time Out Chicago goes strictly digital. And the Reader…? Readership of the print Reader during the period September through November of 2012 was recently compared by the firm Media Audit to the same periods of 2010 and 2011. Though the press run remained 90,000 copies, the cumulative number of print readers rose from 526,168 in … Read more