ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Riverfront Times was sold Wednesday to an unknown buyer, as a result of the sale, all the staff were let go.
"It's kind of like I'm Tom Sawyer getting to go to my own funeral" said Executive Editor Sarah Fenske to KMOX's Michael Calhoun.
Fenske was among those in the Riverfront Times newsroom who found out early Wednesday of the sale and the slashing of staff. She says it's still a mystery even to her on who is set to buy the Riverfront Times, which has been a staple and mainstay for many in the St. Louis-area since it's first issue was released in 1977.
"I would love know it too," Fenske told Calhoun. "It was an undisclosed buyer. They were not allowed to tell me who it is. And they did not want to retain any of us."
Fenske says now-former owner Chris Keating of Big Lou Holdings, who owns alt-weekly publications in other cities like Detroit, Cincinnati, and Louisville, is trying to help many of the previous Riverfront Times staff seek opportunities in his other publications.
"He's trying to place as many of the RFT people as he can at his other publications," said Fenske. "But I think if this (new) owner was interested in local journalism, they would've at least wanted to sit down and talk about our staff and that's not a conversation they wanted to have."
But that staff, Fenske says, has really made a name for itself in a short time, churning out scoops at a time when cutbacks are happening at many other news outlets across the country.
"I have been back for over two years now and have loved working with this team," said Fenske. "People were just fearless in pursuit of a good and important story. I think a lot of what we are hearing today is people saying 'oh my goodness, I had no idea. I thought you guys were doing great' and I think journalistically we were in a good place, but unfortunately, I don't think it was true financially and that why we are where we're at right now."
The paper began in 1977 as a downtown-centric publication. The founders were Ray Hartmann and Mark Vittert. Hartman notes, at the time, the region had two daily newspapers.
While the paper became popular because of its personal ads, which were sometimes racy, it was another offering Hartmann believes put the Riverfront Times on the map.
"The big thing was we were the only place where you could find live music, none of the daily newspapers, nobody else really offered a live listening place for live music in bars," said Hartmann. "We cross-referenced the bands and that was a big thing."
The popularity led to the path of skeptical journalism for the publication.
"We started asking questions and we became known as the one place where in the media we questioned the assumption of the other media, whether it was the daily papers or KMOX or whoever it was. We were always asking the questions other people in the media weren't asking." said Hartmann.
Some of the causes championed by the paper four decades ago are still relevant today, like historic preservation.
"Our first real crusade was fighting against the tearing down the Title Guaranty Building back in the early 1980s," said Hartman. "I know that is not a whitty anecdote, but we fought that so hard and while we came up short on that...but it's a cautionary tale and reminder that we don't have to give up on preservation and that was one of our big causes and I hope we don't now."
Fenske says the terrific work of journalism the Riverfront Times did continue up until the end.
"We had an issue that were planning for next week where a lot of the stories were already written and edited, no one wants those stories now and so I don't think there'll be an Riverfront Times next week," said Fenske. "And that will be crazy. It will be the first time since 1977, even during the pandemic when the paper was meant to get shut down and they kept working to put it out. So.....yeah."
Over the decades, bylines from writers the likes of D.J Wilson, Jeannette Cooperman, Chris Garrison, Kristen Hinman, Danny Wicentowski and many more have exposed wrongdoing, made us laugh, or just roll our eyes. They've helped St. Louis feel like a community.
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