SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Just more than a year ago, a visibly shaken Frank Malfitano gathered reporters for a sobering news conference: After 35 years, Syracuse Jazz Fest was taking a break. For the first time since 1984, Syracusans wouldn’t be treated to a weekend of free sounds from nationally renowned artists.

This March, music fans got another piece of bad news: Rebel Radio’s spot on the dial had been sold and would change format to Christian rock. That raised questions about the future of DJ Dave Frisina, who had spent 39 years spinning local tracks on Syracuse’s radio waves. Frisina and his all-local show survived the shift, moving to an online program, but it’s left a hole on the dial at 105.9 FM during the after-work commute and one less familiar voice on the radio.

Then, this week, one of the oldest pillars of Central New York’s arts scene announced it was closing shop. The Syracuse New Times will print its last issue on June 26, putting the final nail in the coffin of the alt-weekly paper that just celebrated its 50th year in business.

Each of those losses stemmed from unique challenges. Newspapers have struggled to compete nationwide as online behemoths like Google and Facebook swamp the advertising market. Jazz Fest faced political headwinds and money trouble. Radio stations experience a regular churn of ownership that wreaks havoc on programming.

But for people who love music or theater or culture or media, it’s felt like one gut-punch after another as storied institutions admit they’re hurting. Now, longtime readers and listeners are scrambling as they look for new places to seek out local culture. And with each upheaval it seems another bit of our identity is chiseled away.

Stacey Waterman, a longtime local concert producer, said the plight of any cherished institution is a reality of time and age. Like the rock gods of our childhood, our local institutions are getting old and dying.

“They’re going the way of our rock stars, heroes and idols. Except nothing is replacing our rock stars, heroes and idols,” Waterman said. “You’ve seen it a lot in the last couple years, just things that have reached their prime and are going to dwindle off.”

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At the heart of all this is change. The media landscape is changing. The arts scene is changing. Syracuse is changing. Some institutions adapt and thrive. Some close shop to make way for something new.

The shuttering of the New Times is the freshest loss, and perhaps the one that will resonate most in the long term.

The weekly paper has long been the go-to source for local musicians, thespians and outcasts. Even as its pages thinned in recent years, its calendar offered a comprehensive list of local events and its writers blanketed community theater coverage.

Its closure is not surprising news for anyone who tracks trends in the newspaper business. A report last year from University of North Carolina said one in five community newspapers has closed since 2004. That’s more than 1,800 papers.

And the New Times admittedly was having a hard time making ends meet. It switched to a subscription model in March after decades as a free paper. That experiment lasted just three months before its owner, Bill Brod, decided to call it quits.

“We are incredibly disappointed to have arrived at this decision, but see no options remaining to press onward in our current format,” Brod said in a statement. "It is clear the public is comfortable and more interested in using other platforms to keep informed of events and activities in our community.”

Waterman pointed to a growing list of choices for reading about arts and music. There are blogs, podcasts and social media platforms available to anyone, anywhere, any time. She hopes some of those blogs will step up to fill the void left by the New Times.

Malfitano, the founder of Jazz Fest, said the loss of the New Times speaks to the same challenges that plagued his festival near the end. There’s increased competition for resources and attention, and a shrinking pool of financiers willing to support arts institutions.

“Even Woodstock is having problems at their 50th anniversary,” he said. “There seems to be a shelf-life on what sticks around and what doesn’t.”

Jazz Fest closed its doors last summer after a 35-year run as the area’s premiere arts festival (though Malfitano certainly won’t rule out a return). Its lead sponsor, M&T Bank, walked away after more than 20 years, blowing an un-pluggable hole in the festival’s budget.

Like the New Times, Jazz Fest was free. It was supported by sponsors and advertisers and adored by locals who grew up with it.

Malfitano said he feels like Syracuse’s institutions are withering. It’s not just Jazz Fest and the New Times. He sees a cultural erosion in the defunct symphony, the shrinking TV news market, fewer newspapers, and even the closure of Syracuse China.

“Gradually, one by one, you’re seeing a lot of our institutions are being chipped away,” he said. “For me the world is a much sadder place without the Syracuse New Times..."

Maybe 30-something years is all an organization can hope for, especially as the principals in that organizations mostly go unchanged.

Malfitano has been the driving force behind Jazz Fest since day one and is now in his 70s.

At the New Times, many names on the masthead today are the same as they were decades ago. Walt Shepperd’s byline can still be found often on the front page, for example.

Ty Marshal runs the Homer Center for the Arts. He’s active in local theater and is a former writer for the New Times.

To him, the knee-jerk reaction to the tectonic changes happening with these longtime institutions is nostalgia. It’s sad to watch as things we’ve loved for decades diminish or disappear.

But, practically speaking, he said, it’s not all doom and gloom. There’s good stuff happening here. Arts are thriving. And these big holes in the cultural landscape are begging to be filled by fresh, new voices.

“It ebbs and flows like tides,” he said, referring to the arts scene. “In this particular ebb we’re seeing a loss of some institutions – Jazz Fest, the New Times, Rebel Radio... But I bet there will be another wave with new institutions, new artists.”

For Waterman, like Marshal, the changing landscape on the local scene is a natural evolution. The folding of at least two major institutions in such a short time, she said, is mostly just a coincidence. After all, things come and go in the entertainment world.

“That’s nature,” she said. “What’s happening with our cultural outlets is just time passing and new formats and new technology. We’ve got to change with it.”

Both Marshal and Waterman praised what Frisina is doing with his radio show as an example of a storied institution adapting to survive. He’s changing with the times, they said. He’s going online, where the listeners are.

Frisina’s move certainly isn’t as stark as the loss of the New Times or Jazz Fest. While Rebel Radio lost its spot on the airwaves, it has continued as a streaming station with live broadcasts on Sunday.

For Frisina, who has spent 40 years in Syracuse radio, the change is a good one. He doesn’t miss radio because there’s not much to miss.

He still broadcasts from the same studio and plays local stuff. He’s still live on Sunday nights with his show Soundcheck, though his weekday shows are pre-recorded. He’s got a little more free time now to spend on other things.

And, he said, there are far more ways to listen. After all, few people tune into the radio outside their car anymore. But everyone’s got a cell phone or an Alexa or a bluetooth speaker.

“Nowadways, if you’re just treading water, everyone swims past you,” he said. “We couldn’t have done this maybe five or 10 years ago. But there’s more people listening to things other than radios. There’s more devices.”

Still, for many longtime residents it’ll be weird not to hear Frisina’s voice on the airwaves on the drive home. Or see the New Times on the deli counter at lunch. Or spend a Saturday in June with Trombone Shorty on the lawn at Onondaga Community College.

Those things that have become such a regular part of our daily lives are gone, and Syracuse feels a little less vibrant without them.

But, like Waterman said, time moves on. And something, someday, will replace each of those as our new institutions.

“It’s not the wave of the future, we’re catching up to the present,” she said. “I see it like everything else. Time keeps moving. Change is gonna come.”

Editor’s note: The author of this story is a former writer for the Syracuse New Times. Also, Dave Frisina does local music round-ups for syracuse.com.