The Washington Blade will return to newsstands in D. C. April 30 after a several-month hiatus under a new title.
D.C. Agenda was launched in November by former Blade employees just days after the publication’s former publisher shut it down.
Two months later, D.C. Agenda publisher Lynne Brown, editor Kevin Naff, sales executive Brian Pitts and other staffers formed Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia Inc. to publish the paper, and the company bought the original newspaper’s name, copyright, trademark, archives and equipment for $15,000 in late February.
Naff said the Blade’s longstanding renown in the D.C. LGBT community motivated the company to revert to the original title.
“The paper has a 40-year reputation and history in the community, so it was a no-brainer decision,” he said. “And we also did a reader survey to see what the readers thought about the two names and they overwhelmingly wanted us to go back to the Blade.”
The D.C. Agenda name will now be used to title the paper’s entertainment section.
The Blade, as well as several other LGBT publications throughout the country, were shut down abruptly this past fall by publisher Window/Unite Media for financial reasons.
Most of the Blade’s former employees came together to launch the new publication, which hit stands just four days after the Blade’s shuttering.
The company is now renting office space in the Metro D.C. GLBT Community Center and has seen donations pour in from around the world, as well as offers of assistance from attorneys, accountants and advertisers.
The original D.C. Agenda was just eight pages, but the publication has continued to grow since its inception, and this week’s Blade will be 56 pages.
“The community has really been consistently supportive over the last five months,” Naff said. “We’re thrilled to be able to bring it full circle and relaunch the Blade. It’s a shame it had to fold at all, but we’re very excited that we’re able to bring it back.“
The company is currently looking for permanent headquarters and will begin work to ensure the past 10 years of the paper’s archives are available online at www.washblade.com.
— Jen Colletta