''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, and sponsored the SF Weekly Music Awards.

History

''SF Weekly'' was founded locally in the late 1970s by Christopher Hildreth and Edward Bachman and originally named ''San Francisco Music Calendar, the Magazine or Poster Art''. Hildreth saw a need for local artists to have a place to advertise performances and articles. The key feature was the centerfold calendar listings for local art events. The paper was bought by Village Voice Media (then New Times Media) in 1995. In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed

Voice Media Group Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing. VMG's current pr ...

. Four months later, ''SF Weekly'' was sold to the San Francisco Media Company, owners of ''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'' and the ''Weekly''s long-time rival '' San Francisco Bay Guardian''. The publishers then had control of three of the four major English-language newspapers in San Francisco. In 2014, San Francisco Media Co. became fully owned by

Black Press Black Press Group Ltd. is a Canadian publisher of prominent daily newspapers in Hawaii and Alaska and numerous non-daily newspapers in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and (via Sound Publishing) the U.S. state of Washington. Black Press M ...

. The ''Bay Guardian'' was closed in 2014, leaving the ''Weekly'' as the only print alternative weekly in San Francisco. In December 2020, Clint Reilly Communications bought ''SF Weekly'' together with the ''Examiner''. In September 2021 it announced that, at the end of that month it would cease publication "for the foreseeable future". It had been adversely affected by the loss of classified ads after the rise of

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. The online version of the recently closed ''SFWeekly'', hardcopy periodical of the same name in San Francisco, appears to be back online as of October 15, 2022.

Sections

* ''SF Weekly'' also publishes ', a cannabis publication, both online and in print. * News: includes local, regional and sometimes statewide short and longform, in-depth news stories. * Arts and Entertainment: includes a weekly calendar, city events listings, a music section with a weekly music column, several music features, show reviews. The section also includes a food column, film reviews, theater reviews, as well as

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes ''Savage Love'', an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husba ...

's syndicated sex advice column Savage Love and

Rob Brezsny Rob Brezsny is an American astrologer, author, and musician. His weekly horoscope column "Free Will Astrology" – formerly "Real Astrology" – has been published since 1980, and by 2010 was syndicated in around 120 periodicals. Caree ...

's Free Will Astrology.

SF Weekly Music Awards

The annual SF Weekly Music Awards were based on a popular vote for nominees and were announced in October at the Warfield Theatre.

Controversies

Ethics

''SF Weekly'' was the subject of ethical controversy in January 2006, when a column about the AVN porn awards misidentified the event's location and honorees. The paper's editor had apparently altered a column about a different event from years before. In July 2015, after Matt Saincome wrote ''Counting Cards at Graton Casino'', the casino notified ''SF Weekly'' of its intention to pull tens of thousands of dollars in ad buys, the publisher of ''SF Weekly'', Glenn Zuehls, reportedly demanded that SF Weekly staff remedy the advertiser with a favorable cover story, by directly assigning the story to a reporter.

''Bay Guardian Company, Inc. v SF Weekly, et al.''

'' The San Francisco Bay Guardian'', another free alternative weekly newspaper in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, sued ''SF Weekly'' in civil court, alleging that it tried to put the ''Bay Guardian'' out of business by selling ads below cost. The ''Guardian'' won the suit in March, 2008, and was granted $6.2 million in damages, a figure that swelled to $21 million with antitrust penalties and interest by June 2010. After the verdict, the ''Guardian'' obtained court orders allowing it to seize and sell the ''Weekly''s two delivery trucks and collect half of the ''Weekly''s ad revenue.

Headquarters

The offices of ''SF Weekly'' are on

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

. Previous locations have included: 225 Bush Street, 55 Francisco Street, Suite 3800 of 185 Berry Street (China Basin Landing), and 425 Brannan Street.

Awards

; ;California News Publishers Association * 2018: Digital writing, 1st place: "The Biggest Loss in Paradise: Its Elders" by Nuala Sawyer ; Association of Alternative Newsweeklies * 2002: Investigative Reporting: (Above 54,000) 1st Place: "Fallout" by Lisa Davis and John Mecklin, ''SF Weekly'' * 2004: Investigative Reporting: (Above 50,000) 1st Place (tie): "Death, Maiming, Money, and Muni" by Peter Byrne * 2004: News Story: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: Lisa Davis * 2008: Cover Design: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: Darrick Rainey, "Wheelchairs of Fortune" July 25, 2007; "Just Say No" May 23, 2007, "Future Games" April 27, 2007 * 2009: News Story: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: "Snitch" by Ashley Harrell ;Long Island University George Polk Awards * 2002: Environmental Reporting: Lisa Davis for "Fallout", coverage of mishandling of nuclear waste at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard ;National Society of Newspaper Columnists * 2009: Humor: 1st Place: Katy St. Clair, Bouncer