Contact:
Albie Del Favero: 244-7989, ext. 500
Bruce Dobie: 244-7989, ext. 200
Nashville, Tenn. – July 15, 2004 — Albie Del Favero, publisher of the Nashville Scene, announced today that he will depart the weekly newspaper when his employment contract expires in December 2004.
Del Favero, who bought the newspaper with partner Bruce Dobie and a local investor group in 1989, announced his pending departure to the Scene staff in an e-mail today. “I’ve been associated with this newspaper for over 15 years, either as publisher or group publisher, and it’s time for me to move on. These days, fifteen years is a long time for anyone to remain in one job, but for someone like me, who thrives on new challenges, it’s too long.”
When Del Favero and Dobie bought the Scene, it was a struggling, home-delivered shopper. The two scrapped home delivery in favor of rack distribution, redesigned the paper and repositioned it editorially, creating one of the most successful papers of its type in the country. In 1996, Del Favero and Dobie bought out their local investor group, which included local venture capital company Nelson Capital and Franklin banking executive and former Scene co-owner Gordon Inman. Then in 1999 the two teamed up with the private equity firm of Weiss, Peck and Greer in New York and David Schneiderman, publisher of the Village Voice, and purchased Stern Publishing, owner of the Village Voice and LA Weekly. Stern Publishing, now known as Village Voice Media, is one of the two largest alternative weekly groups in the country and owns the Scene and alternative weeklies in Seattle, Minneapolis and Orange County, California, in addition to the Village Voice and LA Weekly. Del Favero and Dobie are both investors in Village Voice Media and Del Favero serves as an executive vice-president of the corporate parent and is a former director.
Del Favero will play an active role in determining who takes the reins of the weekly paper. “I have strong emotional, as well as a significant financial, investment in this paper, and I want to make sure it continues to be a positive journalistic force in the Nashville community. That won’t happen unless the paper remains financially successful, and in my view, ensuring financial success is a publisher’s primary role,” Del Favero said.
Del Favero gave no indication as to his future plans. “At this point I haven’t put enough thought into what I might do next,” said Del Favero, “but rest assured I have no intention of going to work for another print medium in this market. For right now I’m focused on this place until my successor is named. After that I’ll take some time to figure out what I want to do with the next stage of my life.”
