Folio Weekly, Jacksonville’s alternative weekly magazine for 33 years, announced May 5 it is ceasing publication citing “the economic freefall of this outbreak.”
Publisher Sam Taylor announced the closure and his retirement from the publication in a message on the Folio website. He said in a text the virus “killed our ad revenue.”
Closing Folio Weekly after 33 years is “kinda like a loss of a friend, but Folio clearly made a difference,” Taylor texted.
“If you have been among our loyal readers, you are a treasure to me,” Taylor wrote in the announcement. “If you have been an advertiser in Folio Weekly, you made a worthy choice in locally owned media.
“If you sold us products or services, you did us right. If you allowed distribution of Folio Weekly at your business, your generosity cast light in this corner of Florida.
“If you agreed to be interviewed for a story in Folio Weekly, I hope you feel we treated your story with respect.
If your name ever appeared in our masthead as an editor, writer, salesperson, designer, business manager, photographer, route driver, freelancer or contributor, let it be known you were among the best at your craft.”
On March 25, the weekly announced on Twitter it would skip that week’s issue and return April 1 as a monthly publication.
Taylor said he employed four part-time staff and 20 independent contractors.
“The general response seems to be wistfulness,” Folio Weekly editor Georgio Valentino said in a phone interview May 5. “This is not a good thing for Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.”
Valentino said Folio wouldn’t put out another print product but would be temporarily publishing online.
“We’re going to wind down operations within the next four to six weeks,” he said.
Valentino said he wasn’t part of the decision.
“I was aware the possibility of shutting the thing down was very real, so I wasn’t particularly surprised by the decision,” he said.
Taylor said by text he will take on the role of owner of Liberty Life Weekly Magazine, advising the publication’s publisher Joe Snowberger. The weekly tabloid launched this year, and will be distributed to seven military bases and 50 veterans organizations in Camden, Georgia, along with Nassau, Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties.
Valentino has been in Athens, Greece, since COVID-19 shutdowns began and will remain there.
Folio Weekly debuted in Jacksonville in 1987, according to the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, of which it’s a member. It covered politics, entertainment, lifestyles and profiles.
The weekly newspaer ran a calendar of events and held annual “best of” contests, where readers could nominate and vote for their favorite businesses and people.
The free publication was distributed in Duval, St. Johns and Clay counties.
“Everybody is sad,” Valentino said. “Everybody is going to miss their Folio Weekly, and I don’t blame them. I’m going to miss my Folio Weekly.”