Creative Loafing is the name of four alternative weeklynewspapers published in four different cities by Tampa, Florida-based Creative Loafing, Inc. All four papers share some columns and articles, but each city's edition focuses on local reporting of news, culture, and entertainment. Before September 2006, the Tampa and Sarasota editions were published under the name Weekly Planet. The company also acquired the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper in 2007. The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on September 29, 2008.
The home page of Creative Loafing. Note the links to each of its six branches, as well as the central logo. The publication's motto "Shelter from the mainstream" features the bomb shelter symbol used during the Cold War.
First published in 1972, the flagship Creative Loafing Atlanta () is the oldest of the four papers, and currently has the largest circulation at around 130,000. This makes it one of the top twenty alternative weeklies in the United States, as indexed by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Founders Deborah and Elton "Chick" Eason established Creative Loafing Charlotte () in 1987, and Creative Loafing Tampa () in 1988. The company once owned another Loafing paper, Creative Loafing Savannah (), which later became Connect Savannah.
Weekly Planet
Ben Eason, son of Deborah and Elton, purchased the Tampa paper from his parents in 1994 and changed its name to the Weekly Planet. In 1998 he expanded the paper and launched a second Weekly Planet in Sarasota, Florida. Two years later, in September 2000, he led a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest in the entire Creative Loafing chain, and subsequently brought the Planet papers into the fold. After a false start during which the May 31, 2006 edition of Tampa's Planet was prematurely published with a Creative Loafing banner, the Tampa paper officially reverted to its former name and the Sarasota paper became Creative Loafing Sarasota.[1][2]
Partnership with Cox Enterprises
To help finance the 2000 deal transferring ownership to Ben Eason's group, media conglomerate Cox Enterprises purchased a 25% minority share of the company for approximately US$5 million. In the process, Cox executives filled two seats on Creative Loafing's eight-member board.[3] An uneasy four-year relationship between the two companies followed, as Cox also owns Atlanta's only daily, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as television and radio outlets in the Atlanta area. After the Journal-Constitution in April 2003 quietly launched its own free entertainment weekly named Access Atlanta, in direct competition with Creative Loafing, the Easons and Creative Loafing board members voted to censure the two Cox executives for unethical conduct, and by June 2004 both companies agreed to allow the chain to repurchase its shares from Cox.[4][5]
Recent acquisitions
On July 24, 2007, Creative Loafing announced the purchase of the Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader,[6] along with the Reader's properties The Straight Dope and the SDMB, the associated message board. According to CL executives, the papers will receive neither name changes nor major content adjustments.[7]
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