The first issue of CityBeat was published Nov. 17, 1994 — the same year Pulp Fiction hit theaters, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan took their rivalry off the ice and we all watched O.J.’s white Bronco lead police on a really low-speed car chase along the freeways of Los Angeles. Helmed by editor/co-publisher John Fox (who left local altweekly Everybody’s News to launch his own) and general manager/co-publisher Dan Bockrath, the stated identity of CityBeat was this: “We are a small, enthusiastic group of journalists, designers, photographers and sales people hoping to provide what we think is sorely needed here: a locally based, independent media voice that provokes thought and encourages action.”
And over the course of 25 years, that pursuit hasn’t changed.
CityBeat has covered Cincinnati news, music, arts, culture, dining, drinking and the city’s ups and downs with wit and insight for more than two decades (we’re basically a cool, printed time capsule) and it’s been a communal effort since the beginning. The amount of work and the quality of work our brilliant, dedicated staff produces and their ability to constantly adapt amazes to me — and a third of them weren’t even born when the paper launched. CityBeat would not exist without them and all of the other staffers and freelancers who have contributed their voice and their words to shaping this publication. I am eternally grateful for all of it. And if you look back through the years (which you will soon actually be able to do because we’re digitizing the archive), you’ll see many of the city’s best writers got their start with us.
But it wouldn’t mean anything without readers. So, if you’re reading this, thank you for coming along for the ride.
In this issue we’ll be featuring reminiscences and recaps of our coverage since 1994 — including stories from people who met through CityBeat.
And sure, things have changed over the past 25 years. We have to use the internet now, classified ads don’t pay the bills and the CityBeat smoking lounge is gone, but we are still that same small, enthusiastic group of people, striving to be an independent voice that provokes thought and encourages action.
- 25 Huge News Stories That Have Happened Since CityBeat Was Born: It’s bee a wild quarter century
- Learning from Ghosts: 25 things that were here when CityBeat started, but aren’t here anymore
- A Second Helping: 25 Cincinnati restaurants that are still worth writing about (and 25 restaurants we have loved and lost)
- A Quarter Century in Cincinnati Arts: 25 years of recollections about covering the city’s arts scene
- Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Quarter Century: How to cover a city’s music scene in 25 easy years
- On and On: Local Music 25 Years Later
- CityBeat’s Art & Culture Editor on Why She Got Into Journalism in today’s Print Climate
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 10, 2019.