In an interview with Nashville Scene Editor Liz Garrigan, Albie Del Favero (pictured) reveals that he still owns a "miniscule" portion of Village Voice Media, despite accepting a position as publisher of the free daily City Paper 18 months after he left the Scene. "I think I've done a really good job of getting everybody over [at the Scene] to think of The City Paper as competition," Del Favero says, "but the reality is I don't think we're that much competition with you guys. ... [The Scene is] very much a niche-oriented product with a more defined target audience." He says the City Paper will probably take a "moderately right" slant, based on its ownership and other factors. Del Favero and his partner Bruce Dobie are also still the Scene's landlords.
The indictment accuses Nels Noseworthy of promoting prostitution by coordinating the placement of adult ads for the Nashville Scene, reports the Tennessean. The investigation leading to a grand jury's indictment lasted more than a year, and included undercover officers placing ads in the paper that, police contend, Noseworthy knew to be for prostitution. Scene Publisher Albie Del Favero calls the arrest retaliation for a story the paper recently ran about a DUI received by the police chief's son. A police spokesman brands that accusation "ridiculous."
Effective Jan. 1, Chris Ferrell will take over as publisher of Nashville Scene, replacing founding publisher Albie Del Favero, who announced his retirement in July. "I hoped we could find [a successor] who was passionate not only about this paper but also about this community," says Del Favero, calling Ferrell "the ideal person for the job." Ferrell is a Nashville businessman and former Metro Council member. His hire comes on the heels of Pacific Sun's announcement regarding the appointment of another former politician, Sam Chapman, as that paper's new publisher. Chapman was chief of staff to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and a former member of the Napa County Board of Supervisors. He succeeds Steve McNamara, who recently sold the Sun after owning and operating the paper since 1966. "[Chapman] has an extraordinary varied background in journalism, law and politics, plus a longtime attachment to Marin County," says McNamara.
"No one knows what Nashville Scene publisher Albie Del Favero's announced resignation will mean for the city's alternative newsweekly," the Scene's Matt Pulle reports, "and that's as much a testament to the man as it is to the hazards of chain ownership." In 1999, Scene co-founders Del Favero and Bruce Dobie entered a complex business agreement that resulted in the formation of Village Voice Media, which owns a half-dozen alternative weeklies around the country. The Scene's next publisher will be named by the publishing group's CEO in New York, David Schneiderman.
Alternative newsweeklies are feeling the one-two punch of war and recession. National advertising is down across the board, but classifieds are providing a cushion. While several papers have had to lay off employees, others are taking the opportunity to add sales staff.
