Oldest U.S. gay weekly, felled by finances, to be revived by staff

Posted by Lisette García on November 17, 2009 at 9:26 AM

The Washington (D.C.) Blade closed its doors by noon yesterday, another casualty of the insolvency of its Atlanta-based parent publisher Windows Media, The Washington Times reported today. The weekly tabloid was reputedly the longest-running gay newspaper in the United States.

Undaunted by the abrupt closure, though, staffers intend to carry on with a public social event scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the District of Columbia's Hard Rock Cafe restaurant, The Washington Examiner reported yesterday. The publication confirmed the event yesterday via Twitter.

Former Blade Editor Kevin Naff told Politico yesterday that the staff welcomes community input at today's coffeehouse klatch aimed at reviving the paper, though no location for the latter gathering was announced. Naff told The Sexist yesterday that the idea to restart the 40-year-old publication was as sudden as the paper's closure was abrupt: "We're going to take a day off to pack, and then dust ourselves off and get back to work," he said.

According to Agence France-Presse, Washington Blade's parent Windows Media - which also published Southern Voice, Houston Voice, David Atlanta, South Florida Blade, 411 Magazine - claimed 400,000 readers nationwide before closing. Washington Blade alone boasts more than 4,000 Twitter followers at this time. Blade's Web site enjoyed 250,000 visitors per month before going dark yesterday, The Washington Post yesterday reported.

The sudden liquidiation of Windows Media this week was prompted by the failure of Windows Media's controlling shareholder, Avalon Equity Fund, to timely reach receivership goals set by the Small Business Administration last year, The New York Times reported yesterday.