Houston Press

For the Scripps Howard newspaper, published 1911–64,, see Houston Press (Scripps Howard).
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.com

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]

The paper includes sections devoted to

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

Former Houston Press headquarters in Downtown Houston

2007

2005

2004

2003

2001

2000

1999

1998

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.

See also

References

  1. "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. December 31, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  2. "Houston Press: About Us". Houston Press. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  3. Tyer, Brad. "Mama Ninfa and her Comeback Kids." Houston Press. Thursday August 6, 1998. 1. Retrieved on February 4, 2012.
  4. Vane, Sharyn (November 1998). "Consider the Alternative". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  5. 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.
  6. "Village Voice Media Execs Acquire The Company’s Famed Alt Weeklies, Form New Holding Company". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  7. 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"
  8. 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.
  9. "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"
  10. "TIRZ%20and%20District-13(1).jpg." (Archive) Uptown Houston. Retrieved on October 26, 2013.
  11. "About Us" (Archive) Houston Press. Retrieved on August 7, 2009. "1621 Milam Ste. 100, Houston, TX 77002 "
  12. Connelly, Richard. "ExxonMobil Making Big Move To North Houston." Houston Press. Tuesday June 7, 2011. Retrieved on March 4, 2012.
  13. Garza, Abrahán. "Old Houston Photos Mashed with Modern Houston, Part 2." Houston Press. Monday May 7, 2012. 1. Retrieved on May 7, 2012.
  14. "Awards: Feature Story 2007". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2010.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.