Ray Roa



It's been less than 24 hours since CL announced some changes to our alt-weekly, and now there's some more sobering news coming from our friends over at *tbt.

On Tuesday, the free entertainment and news daily announced that it would return to its roots as a weekly paper. Starting June 1, *tbt (which launched in 2004 as a weekly paper) will cease Monday through Friday publication, a change it adopted in 2006. When the changes hit, the paper will only arrive in newsstands on Thursdays.

YOU'LL TALK AGAIN

A farewell from our outgoing editor-in-chief

That's the same day Creative Loafing Tampa releases its new issue. Maybe we can ride in the same delivery truck, guys!

In a note to readers, *tbt says that the rising cost of Canadian newsprint is the main culprit for the change.

"...we love how our readers have embraced a different kind of newspaper. Now, tariffs placed on Canadian newsprint have caused our paper costs to skyrocket," the note said. "One of the fallouts of that tariff burden is that in June, tbt* will become a weekly newspaper again."

Read the full statement below.

Dear readers, Back in 2004, tbt* launched in the Tampa Bay area as a free, weekly entertainment and general interest newspaper. We became a daily newspaper delivered to offices and newsstands in 2006. And wow, it’s been fun. The tbt* staff prides itself in more than 12 years of fast news you can use Monday through Friday. And we love how our readers have embraced a different kind of newspaper. Now, tariffs placed on Canadian newsprint have caused our paper costs to skyrocket — you can read a message about this from Paul Tash, the CEO and chairman of Times Publishing Co., at bit.ly/Tash-note. One of the fallouts of that tariff burden is that in June, tbt* will become a weekly newspaper again. We’ll publish each Thursday with everything you need to know to plan your weekend and into the next week. The (still free) weekly tbt* will have interesting new content, like an expanded focus on LGBTQ issues and a sports planner and commentary. We also plan to send out a daily email for our devoted news junkies — you can sign up now at bit.ly/tbt-top5. For now, the daily tbt* will be with you until June 1. We’ll update you on our exciting plans for the weekly tbt* as that date draws closer. Thank you, readers.

Full disclosure: from 2013-2016, this writer contributed a weekly live music column plus occasional features stories and reviews to *tbt.