Paper moves to historic address
Patrick Arden, a Chicago native, has been named editor of Illinois Times.
Arden, who was managing editor of the Chicago Reader for seven years until January 2002, assumed his new post Sept. 12, and will be joined in Springfield, Ill., shortly by his wife, Esther, a software developer.
“Springfield is a great news town – in addition to being the state capital, it has a lot of good local stories,” says Arden, who has also been a freelance writer and editor of a syndicated news service for daily papers such as the Chicago Sun-Times and New York Post. “Illinois Times has a wonderful history, and I’m looking forward to making my contribution to it.”
Dusty Rhodes also joined the editorial staff from Dallas in late August. Rhodes’ 10 years of journalism experience has included writing for the Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, and the Anchorage Daily News.
Pete Sherman, editor of the paper over the past 17 months, is staying with the paper as a staff writer, along with Traci Moyer, who joined Illinois Times in April 2002.
Just eight weeks ago, Fletcher Farrar regained ownership of Illinois Times from Yesse! Communications, which had owned and operated the weekly from 1997 until July 22.
Since then, Illinois Times has moved to new quarters at 1320 South State St., a restored building with an elegant courtyard where the Times plans to hold community events and parties.
Associate Publisher Sharon Whalen, who served as general manager from 1979-90 under Farrar’s former ownership, is managing the new Illinois Times organization.
“Along with a new address and image for our office, we have also begun to revitalize the paper itself,” Whalen says. Those changes include a new cover design and a change of tag line, which is now, “The capital city’s newsweekly.” In addition, the newsweekly has “consolidated its live music and calendar listings, tidied up A & E in general and … plans to expand our pool of freelance talent, add a restaurant section and more cartoons and other entertainment features,” Whalen says.
“Although we are still searching for a couple of new display advertising sales reps, the weekly numbers are up significantly and the fourth quarter promises to be quite strong,” she says.
The paper is online at www.illinoistimes.com.
