Farewell from the @BostonPhoenix

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13 thoughts on “Farewell from the @BostonPhoenix”

  1. So terribly sad. The Phoenix made an inestimable contribution to the community over the years. Perhaps something new will rise from the ashes—that would be appropriate.

  2. The “new look” was doomed from the start. Thanks to the minute typeface, it
    was almost unreadable. Advertisers were no doubt impressed with the design
    and the art director but it was an eye-strainer. “For the sake of a nail…..”

  3. The lasting impression I have of the little man who owned the Boston Phoenix is not positive.

    When I was Jerry Williams executive producer back in the 80’s Jerry had spoken to Steven Mindich and asked him to fill in for him when he went on vacation.

    Without informing Jerry or me the then program director,the late Mel Miller, aka Melvin X. Melvin, had promised the fill-in position to some now forgotten sports reporter from Channel 7 when WRKO and WNAC – Channel 7 were both owned by General Tire and Rubber Company.

    I was the one designated to call the little man and tell him that he would not be filling in for Jerry Williams.

    Mindich then started on a string of expletives that would have made Richard Nixon blush…

    He called me a F’ ing this and an F’ing that and ranted on for minutes until I told him calmly that if he continued to swear at me I would terminate the phone call. He continued to swear at me and I hung up on him. Still, proud that I did that.

    So as the Phoenix does not rise from the ashes I can say that little man is still an F’ing anal sphincter !

    1. You know what, @Paul? Mindich would have been great on the air. A lost opportunity.

      1. I couldn’t disagree with you. In fact, I had been with him a month or so earlier with Jerry Williams when he asked Jerry to speak at his temple and he was very nice to me. Stil, no excuse for his behavior. I don’t treat people that way and I expect not to be treated like some lowly peon. I hope he didn’t treat his employees like that. If you are ever interested I have some interesting stories about my time at WRKO. They were life changing for me. Jon Keller and I were at WRKO at the same time. He produced David Brudnoy’s program at night and I Jerry Williams in the day. Good fellow, very happy for his success. David was a gentleman and still missed. Those were the times when talk radio was worth listening to. Today, it is a joke…a very bad joke.
        With the exception of course of Jim Braude and Margery Egan’s new program on WGBH Radio.

  4. And Boston takes another medium-sized step toward becoming a one-paper town. The Herald isn’t enjoying robust health these days and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen once the Globe is sold.

  5. Can Boston Magazine be far behind?
    Have you noticed they no longer have a glossy cover but some cheaper heavy stock paper.
    Sadly, not much of a magazine anymore if it ever was.
    Their restaurant reviews are bought and paid for as are most of their “Best Of” issues. Best goes to the highest bidder … or advertiser.
    No credibility in Boston Magazine.

  6. Wonder why such an amazingly great paper was FREE? Greatness should certainly have a worth to it. I am sure I will be labeled as someone who just doesn’t understand. Final answer, it no longer served a purpose!

  7. It was free for a while in the beginning, then it was pay for a long time. Finally reverted to free because the execs thought that would increase circulation and be of greater appeal for advertisers who would provide the profit margin. Didn’t work out, obviously. By the way, was always free on area college campuses as far as I know, because that was the core constituency for the paper and automatically allowed for claims of large circulation.

    1. @Jeff: Yes, and they did a separate press run for the colleges, calling it BAD rather than the Boston Phoenix.

  8. Dan: Forgot that about the campus edition. BAD for Boston After Dark— not a critique of the paper.

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