Gay News and Communication in Albuquerque

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Permalink Reply by Shawne on August 27, 2008 at 8:45pm

The Voice was around for a good, long run, and before I jump to any conclusions, I'd like to know why they folded. Was it a matter of a declining readership, revenue, etc.? Were the deciding factors purely financial (papers of every ilk are downsizing or downright closing shop on a daily basis), or is this reflective of an evolving local demographic? Perhaps it's neither; perhaps the publisher(s) decided it was time to move on to something else. Maybe it's internally political -- who knows?

It's also interesting to me that the city's gay paper disappeared around the same time as the closings of our longtime, iconic gay bars: AMC, Pulse and Foxes.

Any insight as to the perceived decline in gay-centered local stuff would be appreciated; I've wondered about this phenomenon for some time.

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Permalink Reply by Jim M on August 28, 2008 at 1:44am

It's the internet.

The internet is killing off lots of GLBT newspapers and bars and it's not just here. It's happening in lots of places. It's probably stands out more here since there were so few options to begin with, but it's happening in big cities as well.

Lots of gay men use the net to hook up rather than going to the bars these days. There was an interesting piece in Out Magazine about how Manhunt.com has changed gay life in lots of places. No need to go out when you can order in.

With all this happening, we're seeing the bars close and nothing replacing them when they do. There has never been a whole lot of gay specific businesses that can provide for a steady advertising base for a local gay paper here, at least not what I've seen since moving here a few years ago. We have no gay neighborhood, no gay specific shops, no gay bookstore no restaurants that have mostly gay customers etc. like in many cities. While most studies I've heard about say that gay folks are more apt to buy from companies that advertise in the gay media I don't remember a whole lot of advertising in the Voice. I often wondered how they stayed around.

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Permalink Reply by Samantha Anne Scott on August 28, 2008 at 4:44am

It appears that the Voice halted publication due to a lack of funds.

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Permalink Reply by Shawne on August 28, 2008 at 5:51am

How interesting... Thanks for the explanation.

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Permalink Reply by James/T[api]a on August 28, 2008 at 7:09am

Even so, I think there should be more options available to gays and lesbians. Sure, if you can hook up on the net, but you should also be able to go to a place to meet friends for a drink, dinner etc. Even with internet hookups, there still needs to be options for social outlets for gays in a community as large as ABQ.

Like here in Chicago they have several shows at the local gay bars, it's Gay Idol, and it's like American Idol, but mostly (alll) gay talent. It's really fun to meet friends, have a drink and watch the show.

Although, even with all the options available here - I still really miss ABQ.

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Permalink Reply by newmexicovoice on August 28, 2008 at 8:50am

My name is Ryan Carbon and I am the former publisher of New Mexico Voice. The newspaper went on hiatus on March 25 due to publisher burnout and during this hiatus I made the very difficult decision to cease publication entirely.

There were several factors that led to this decision, but in a desire to avoid any additional gay drama, I will try to limit the explanation to issues mentioned in the thread.

The Internet did not kill the newspaper. In fact, when we ceased publication we had grown to be the second largest "alternative newspaper in the state with very low returns (most of the papers were picked up). Because of this we became the target of other "alternative" publications who began targeting and poaching our advertisers touting their "larger" gay readership and in some cases actually telling GLBT advertisers that they were wasting their money because there was "no need for a gay newspaper when 'The *****' provides everything the gay community needs." In fact while all of the other “alternative” publications love to throw around gay demographic information to attract advertisers, the minimal coverage they provide for GLBT issues and events in no way represents the breadth and depth of the GLBT community.

As far as advertisers, we had several loyal advertisers who's did quite well from their advertising. As one will find when they look at GLBT publications in other markets, the bulk of the advertising is often by straight businesses who value their gay customers or who are trying to attract gay business. While there was never one instance of an advertiser having a negative reaction from someone opposed to their ad in New Mexico Voice, several advertisers declined advertising for fear of this and/or because they "already have gay customers." And even though I offered the lowest cost/1000 of any alternative publication in the market, past GLBT publishing predecessors and other GLBT organizations discounted their rates and the community so drastically that most businesses were unwilling to pay the fair rates in our rate card.

The newspaper's largest problem was distribution, which happens to be a problem for many independent publications in this state. There are two men in the ABQ/SF market that have started [what they call] leasing locations and require publications to either pay them to distribute there or hire one of them to be the publication's distribution company and pay the other person for use of his locations. Making a long story short this is by definition racketeering and there were no other publisher's in town willing to confront the issue because of the environment of fear these two men have created (stolen publications, stolen racks, etc).

When it came down to getting back to business I realized that regardless of how much the newspaper and readership had grown over the last four and a half years and how much it was needed, I was tired of the battles; I was tired of the headaches; I was tired of being vilified for anything and everything having to do with the gay community; I was burned out. I alienated most of my friends with constant bitterness and was constantly and unfairly venting my frustrations on my partner and other loved ones. I decided it wasn't worth it.

The theory that everything is on the web and that everyone goes to the web to get their information in false. I personally hate having to sift through everything online to find what is of concern to me - and there were almost 80,000 readers that agreed with me. New Mexico has a huge gay population (the ABQ/SF market is the 7th most highly concentrated in the country) and is in desperate need of a gay publication. I hope that the next person who has the courage to start something has a stronger will than I.

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Permalink Reply by CB on August 28, 2008 at 9:35am

Ryan,

As much as I hate to see the paper fold, I absolutely don't blame you. Your quality of life was suffering and that is the most important thing. It would have been nice if there were others to take some of the stress on themselves but that rarely happens.

I hope, after you are able to destress, you will begin another project important to you. I am sure "fighting the fight" is a little bit of who you are and hopefully you can find something that doesn't take as much out of you.

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