The Blog

M. Miner, Reading your blog is having deleterious effects on my mental health. -- SCAM

Good to see that TOC is failing so miserably. Once it goes under, hopefully the Reader will be able to start bouncing back a little.

TOC is a far better resource than the Reader or Red Eye when it comes to telling readers interesting and different things to do, and the ease of finding the information in print and online is far superior. The 2 mainstream dailies don't even try. Let's hope this is the worst of it at the mag. Condolences to the departing.

TOC is f*cking convenient and easy to use. Their frivolous up-front stories notwithstanding, they do have a handy way of seeing what is happening on a particular day, divided by section, day of the week, even indicating what the prices and what events are free. Sorry, Reader, but it's cumbersome to slog through your listings are are pretty vague ("Music" is pretty generic). Other than that, though, there's no reason to read Time Out.

This makes me so sad. TOC used to be a family... I know because I was part of it for almost a year. I hate to see how many people have left or been asked to leave... good creative people who really cared about what the brand of Time Out stands for, or used to stand for. I can only hope that the magazine is lucky enough to find new talent that will be as dedicated as some of the very special individuals that have been shown the door over the last few months. After leaving TOC, I moved out of state, and for a while I still subscribed by mail and checked in each week online... but without all those familiar names on the masthead, it is starting to feel to me like an entirely different magazine. I hope that changes, because I believe in Time Out, and I want the very best for the proud few of my original family that are still giving their all in each issue each week. Take Care, and hang in there.

I don't know much about TOC, but I know a suburban media group dropping long time employees in an attempt to further sabotage a once-relevant paper.

I've always liked reading James Porter's writing in particular -- hopefully we'll still be seeing work under his byline somewhere

Creative Loafing is a suburban media group?

Two years ago, a staff member interviewed me twice for over one hour about one of my books, Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago. He called back again because his editor wanted him to check his facts before going to press, another fifteen minutes of me dishing out facts. When the article came out, there was no mention of me or my book, just all my facts with the writer's byline above the article. I hope the whole magazine goes under.

Bob, that would be TOC writer Jake Malooley and he did mention your book which you can see here: http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/restaurants-bars/17465/tip-jar - Scott Smith, TOC Web Editor

Think central Kane County.

I used to freelance for Newcity, Nicole Radja was a designer there for about 2 or 3 years, not a freelancer.

TOC is nice

Nicole Radja joined the staff of New City after Frank Sennett left. By the way, someone who knew her at TOC tells me she was a "good manager...with an amazing sense of style."

I think the whole thing is rather interesting! I was the webmaster for TOC from 2005-2007. From the very start there were problems; mostly with Time Out NYC staff always wanting to do things there way and micro managing the Chicago office from NYC. I’d be very surprised if they last the five years the investors are hopping they’ll last; if they make it through the summer I’ll be amazed...but I hope I’m proved wrong. They have a great product!

You gotta love bitter ex-employees who identify themselves and then trash the company. Way to move up the career ladder dudes.

Sennett's Hard 7 blog on the Spokesman-Review website was the best thing progressive Spokane had seen for years. And he handled it brilliantly. Perhaps his most important accomplishment was to keep alive the hope that justice would be served in the case of Otto Zehm, an unarmed disabled man brutally killed by seven Spokane cops. As to staff cuts at newspapers, back in October/November 2007, the Spokesman Review went through a major axing of staff (some 50 staff and a million dollars in newsroom payroll). The way the reductions were announced and discussed and dissected and criticized on the various S-R blogs was fascinating reading. Another fascinating detail of Frank's departure from Spokane is that 7 days after his last posting on his Hard 7 blog, a Spokesman-Review editor, Ken Paulman, removed all the postings made by readers to the blog over its few years of existence. Frank's postings are still there to read but the public forum that is a blog -- including substantive discussions by the public of topics of great importance to the community -- were summarily removed. In the process of remaking the newspaper in era of the internet, the question of the role of the newspaper and its related electronic manifestations as "the newspaper of record" for a town or region or country is one of serious importance for the future of free speech. (To see my further comments on that topic in particular, see my latest posting at http://spokanepoliceabuses.wordpress.com

I just heard news of these lay-offs today, as I'd been out of town for the past week. James Porter's dismissal is especially disturbing. He has a wonderfully imaginative---often hilarious---writing style and knows more about vast segments of Chicago's musical history (especially blues, soul and rockabilly) than just about any other locally based writer I can think of (including myself). His voice was what made TOC's music coverage unique. Not to mention that he's a hard-working guy who was with TOC since before it got off the ground.

As a subscriber and regular reader of TOC, I am hard pressed to see how the remote axing of James Porter from editorial offices of New York might be taken as anything other than a masterstroke of poor judgment. Porter brought to the magazine something it often sorely lacks: a lively, unique voice that keeps his readership entertained and informed, both in good measure. With his droll turns of phrase and disarming one liners, Porter often seemed to be fooling you when in fact he was schooling you--giving you a guided tour of R&B, country and traditional roots rock by way of a knowledge base that runs as wide and deep as the mighty Mississip. So why did they serve Porter his walking papers? I mean, sure, budget cuts, blah blah blah, but the real question is: why Porter, when there are plenty of uninspired, mediocre, and even downright bad contributing writers to choose from (has anyone read that godawful "Television" section, with the TV reviews? It reads like something an eighth grader would text message to her friends during study hall). Of course it's hard to say what's behind the decision without knowing more particulars, but it looks suspiciously similar to what's been happening in newsrooms for the last couple of decades: look at the readership demos, figure out what people care about the least, and then hand it over to a skeleton crew of hacks. I mean, is it possible that they would actually try to replace James Porter and put someone else on the 'roots music' beat? It seems far more likely that they'll farm that beat out to somebody who's more in sync with their 20-30-something young, white and single demographic. The thought of some Village-dwelling New Yorker pulling the plug on Chicago blues coverage is more than enough to give me the blues, I don't mind telling you. Or maybe TOC removed Porter from his beat simply because he steps to the beat of a different drummer. Either way, the beat of Chicago blues goes on, regardless. It remains to be seen if TOC will stumble over itself trying to keep up.

Thanks Kellen Jones for speaking up about an issue you nothing at all about. If you do work at TOC or have worked there you would know what I’m talking about. BTW I have moved up the ladder much higher just let you know so voice your opinion on a subject you know a little more about. Don’t just be another blogger with something to say just to see your words in print. Think before you speak!

You're welcome Eric Halvorsen. I never worked there but I read the mag so I am familiar with its quality which is actually very good, and it appears to be growing. So somebody is doing something right. I just don't get the public whining because it didn't work out for a few people. Let it go and move on already!

Mr. Smith, That was a different story, done by a freelancer who assured me that the book and my name would be used in the story. And because I swore I'd have my lawyer sending love notes and a bill for a work-for-hire assignment if the source for the info received proper attribution, I got what I wanted. The freelancer, by the way, was extremely professional about the whole thing, including understanding how to handle a local author who had been screwed by this publication. No, the person who stuck it to me was a paid staffer who had a "musings" sort of column that was found in the first few pages of the magazine. I know his name and it was always included in the masthead. When I finally got ahold of an editor, he asked me to write a "Letter To The Editor" and it would be published. As I noted to this moron, no only did I write an article without a single mention of its source, be now, because they were too lazy to admit it, they wanted me to fill some more space for them. Talk about lazy. Steal a story a then NOT apologize but give me a chance to rant and have that published. Of course, I would have had to write the rant too. I explained to this nitwit where and how he could stick the next issue of his publication.

Wow. That is some intense griping over a book blurb in a weekly publication. Were you under the impression you were getting the cover? Was this incident what prevented your book on Chicago breweries from topping the NYT bestseller list and you moving into your rightful place among the Chrictons, Kings and Grishams of the world? Fact checking is standard. Articles get killed all the time. Grow up.

You missed the point, big time. I was interviewed about the book, with a follow-up for accuracy. The least that could have happened was a mention of the author and the book. When the Sun-Times or Trib interviews me, they don't pretend that they wrote the book. When I make appearances on WTTW, Phil Ponce doesn't pretend that the info from the book just fell into his lap. When I appear on WGN radio, they mention my name and the book. When I was a guest on "The View," the Fox News Channel and ESPN, they mentioned me an my book. When I did some work-for-hire for the Smithsonian and the Chicago History Museum, they didn't pretend the info was simply pulled out of the asses -- they credited me. I've done well more than 100 radio interviews throughout the world...guess what? They mention my books and my name. There was no article killed; it was stolen. Two years out of college and you know all about the publishing world? I've been doing this for ten years. I know when I'm getting screwed. You don't know squat.