This Sunday, September 15, 1996: The Austin Chronicle‘s 15th anniversary party will take place
on the grounds of the Austin Art Museum at Laguna Gloria. This event is a
benefit for the museum, $5 for adults, children under 12 free with an adult. It
is also the Chronicle staff’s annual birthday party to which the public
is invited — great bands, great music, great food available and lots of
friendly folk. The Jubilettes, Kelly Willis, Guy Forsyth, Roy Heinrich, 8 1/2
Souvenirs, and Wayne “The Train” Hancock are playing as well as a children’s
tent from 2-6pm featuring Joe McDermott, Hand to Mouth Puppet Theatre, Peter
the Adequate, and storyteller Carl Anderson. The party, co-sponsored by
Balcones Fault Red Granite and 107.1 KGSR, runs from 2-8pm. Everyone is
invited.
15 Years Ago: In the first months of the Austin Chronicle (and I hope few readers were foolish
enough to think last week’s many reminiscent words about the Chronicle‘s
early days were my final say on this paper celebrating its 15th anniversary),
it was a bi-weekly of 20-24 pages with a print run of 20,000. There was almost
no full-time staff but about eight or so volunteers. The struggle to stay alive
was intense — often exhilarating, more often debilitating.
There was never enough money, and even though the paper kept earning more
money, there were always ways to spend it, not the least of which was paying
the staff something resembling a decent wage. As soon as we made money, we
spent it, so the need for money never changed and never ended. Things are only
slightly different now. What money the paper made has gone back into the paper
and it is always hungry for more.
Ironically, the turning point in the Chronicle‘s story was about eight
years into its existence. The paper had been weekly for a year, but had shown
almost no overall growth, which was economically devastating (twice as many
issues, 10 percent more income). Conservative activist Mark Weaver of the
American Family Association talked HEBs into not distributing the
Chronicle at their stores anymore. Weaver then went around to the radio
stations and the Austin American-Statesman bragging about his victory.
They all covered it.
People rose up, lead not by the Chronicle but by the community.
Clearly, many adults were sick to death of a handful of others trying to tell
them how to think and what to read. Within a few weeks, the Chronicle was back in HEB stores.
A few months after this, the Chronicle began to experience
unprecedented growth, and advertising became very robust. There were many
reasons for this: the longevity of the paper and ongoing, excellent editorial
content, a recovering economy, and increasing internal reorganization and
sophistication. The most important aspect was that for a few weeks everyone in
Austin was talking about the Chronicle, and one of the things they
realized was that everyone was reading the paper. I would facetiously offer
thanks to Mark Weaver, but I don’t want to tread down that path even in
humor.
Now: 15 years after those first issues, this issue is 136 pages, last issue was 112 pages, and all summer
our issues averaged 90 pages plus. The print run is 80,000. According to Media
Audit, an independent phone survey to which we subscribe, the paper has 229,300
readers (just about 50/50 male/female) over any four-week period. Whereas 18%
of our readers make under $25,000 a year, 16% make over $75,000. 21% are
between ages 18 and 24, with 14% between 45-54. The Chronicle is now
produced by a staff of about 50 full-timers and many part-timers as well as
numerous independent contractors and freelance writers.
In many ways, perhaps the story of this anniversary should be about how the
little paper that could, did, and what that means. It is one thing for a small
staff of industrious slackers to put out a paper read mainly by those who think
of themselves as living in the subculture. Most everyone who worked at the
paper just worked on issues thinking about the present; they didn’t expect a
future. We weren’t ever sure if the paper was going to survive. But from the
day we did that first issue, it was like sending a child out into the world.
Any parent knows how hard and how irrationally you will fight for your child,
even if you may be a bit mad at the scamp yourself. There was a ferocious
energy poured into those early years which just ate people up.
Now, people all over Austin read the Chronicle. When we say things,
people listen. In our April 1 issue, when we announced that we were going daily
and had a deal with a major national newspaper firm to build a printing plant,
we not only got resum�s from all over the city and country, but an
excutive of said national company called us, two hours or so after we started
distributing the paper that Thursday morning, and, in all fairness, was not
very happy. The paper has gotten bigger. People do take us more
seriously. This is not always good (especially on April Fool’s Day) but the
Chronicle‘s sense of itself as a community paper hasn’t changed, even as
the community and the paper have.
Which is why the “Best of Austin” is one of our favorite issues of the year.
This wasn’t always the case, the staff hating the issue, unhappy with a rating
system for this city they loved. It seemed abjectly commercial to rate favorite
people, places, and things. Now that we have been doing it for so long, it is
viewed as an ongoing work with a past and a future, a way to salute Austin’s
best, brightest, and most worthy on an annual basis without slighting others
(if we haven’t covered something in this or a previous poll, and it is
deserving, we certainly will). We invite our readers to send in any ideas and
categories we may have missed. Suggestions from this year’s ballot are already
being worked into next year’s poll.
Future: The paper and what
it is and who we are has changed. If you think I’m going to talk about the
future, no way. We’re as surprised as you are by whatever is coming next.n
This article appears in September 13 • 1996 and September 13 • 1996 (Cover).