Chicago Reader

Note: If you are trying to send us info about a show or event, please e-mail it to mail[at]chicagoreader.com, not to our MySpace mailbox.The Reader is Chicago's alternative weekly, the city's primary resource on music, art, politics, culture, and nightlife. It's the place where most Chicagoans find their apartments , many find their jobs , and a few even find their soul mates . Whatever you're looking for-- restaurants , theater , movies , music --we've probably already found it.Here’s a bit of history for those who are interested:The Reader was started in 1971 by a small group of friends from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. They are still the principal owners. When they published their first issue--12 pages, black and white--there were only a few “alternative weeklies” in the U.S. These papers were different from the underground press of the 60s--less political, more commercial, published by and for people who were then coming out of college. Most relied heavily on listings and coverage of rock music, movies, and other pop arts that the daily newspapers of the day didn’t seem to understand; when they grew large enough to afford it, most also tried to offer a journalistic alternative to the local mainstream press. In Chicago, which then had four daily newspapers, the Reader chose to ignore the “news” and concentrate instead on the texture of life in the city: there was already plenty of politics, crime, and celebrities in the papers, so we offered features about everyday life and ordinary people. We also stood out from the crowd by giving free classified ads to individual readers--like Craigslist on newsprint--and most important by distributing the paper for free, in stores and clubs rather than on newsstands. For papers that had serious intentions, free circulation was unheard of back then. Some alternative weeklies distributed some of their copies free, but they didn’t like to admit it. The Reader was the first to be unabashedly free. As it prospered, and our founders proselytized, free circulation slowly lost its stigma. Today, of course, it’s standard practice for alternative weeklies, and metropolitan dailies have begun to experiment with it as well.In 1978, hoping to duplicate our success in a new market, we started the Los Angeles Reader; though it was not as successful as we hoped it would be, it continued publishing until 1996, when it was bought and folded into another publication. Other Reader-related ventures include the Washington City Paper, which is owned by the Reader’s owners (but is technically a separate company); and a minority interest in Index Publishing, which publishes the Stranger in Seattle and the Mercury in Portland, Oregon. Today the Reader, unlike most of its peers in major markets, remains under independent ownership, and it is one of the acknowledged leaders of the alternative press.