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Robin Garr

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LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by Robin Garr » Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:57 pm

You've probably heard about the uproar at LEO Weekly, where new management fired the entire staff, including Editor Erica Codey-Rucker, leaving only one writer and a very bleak future for the long beloved Louisville alt-weekly. Our longterm relationship with LEO, sharing our HotBytes restaurant reviews and think pieces, wasn't terminated, but I don't see how I can continue this 20-year partnership.

However, Erica has quickly pivoted to a Facebook page (linked below) to support the wandering flock. I hope you'll check it out, like and share and support the many writers' work
Louisville Independent Observer - LIO - on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571545451417

Finally, for an outside perspective, Louisville Public Media covered the story:
https://www.lpm.org/news/2025-01-10/leo ... al-staffer
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Mike L

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Re: LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by Mike L » Sat Jan 11, 2025 2:17 pm

Sad news, thanks for sharing the info Robin.

I know it's early in the process, but have you considered doing some kind of collaboration with Erica? Maybe sharing space on this website, or adding your content to her Facebook page. Just a thought. Good luck to everyone involved.
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James Natsis

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Re: LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by James Natsis » Sat Jan 11, 2025 2:52 pm

Brutal news. I knew that they were running a tight ship, but hoped that they could sustain their model.

There is still a market out there that supported LEO and Insider Louisville for a longtime. Advertising has changed and folks are shifting towards cheaper models via social media. I freelanced for Insider for a longtime. I did it for free until the final phase when they insisted on paying (not much) as part of their business model, I guess.

Insider, to my understanding, over extended by moving to a large space smack downtown and carrying a large staff. In the meantime, advertising was changing and not to their benefit. It was such a great publication and a big loss for the city.

I'm glad that Erica Rucker is determined to carry on. But a facebook account needs to morph into a full blown platform. I hope someone steps up to fund a website.
James J. Natsis
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Robin Garr

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Re: LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by Robin Garr » Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:06 pm

Mike L wrote:Sad news, thanks for sharing the info Robin.

I know it's early in the process, but have you considered doing some kind of collaboration with Erica? Maybe sharing space on this website, or adding your content to her Facebook page. Just a thought. Good luck to everyone involved.


Mike, thanks. Several of those things are happening. Click the LouisvilleIndependentObserver - LIO link in the top post to see what Erica is doing, and I'll definitely post some stuff there. I'm also setting up a Substack iteration of the reviews, mirroring LouisvilleHotBytes, so I can invite readers to subscribe.
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Robin Garr

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Re: LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by Robin Garr » Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:07 pm

James Natsis wrote:I'm glad that Erica Rucker is determined to carry on. But a facebook account needs to morph into a full blown platform. I hope someone steps up to fund a website.

I'll definitely support Erica, for sure! See also my previous post for more plans including a Substack site with subscription possibilities. This is, after all, a group of writers who've been doing creative stuff for a long time!
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Robin Garr

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And now ... HotBytes subscriptions on Substack!

by Robin Garr » Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:35 pm

Ah, nostalgia: Remembering the happy places that time forgot
Who doesn't love to remember the good old days? We're republishing this popular HotBytes post to launch our new presence on Substack! Come, see, and subscribe!
https://bit.ly/nostalgiaHB

To clarify, this is not replacing this forum or the HotBytes website. But by using the Substack ecosystem to facilitate free or paid subscriptions, it opens the way for you to support us with a paid (or free) subscription. :mrgreen:
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Carla G

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Re: LEO Weekly on verge of collapse :(

by Carla G » Fri Jan 17, 2025 9:04 am

(heavy sigh- hanging my head)
No doubt the change in how we get our news, read (or not) a newspaper, manage advertising sales, all contributed to the paper's demise but releasing that many people? To change how? I worked there for years back when it had a very healthy profile and I made an excellent living selling advertising for them before it was sold to an outside newspaper that brought in a publisher that had no publishing experience at all. After that, several years passed while the knowledgeable, editorial and sales staff tried to carry on, resisting attempts by the "know nothing" publisher to turn the paper into a republican, woman's magazine. Even after that publisher "left" the damage was done. I went into other venues so I have no knowledge if the paper ever really recovered. What a loss for Louisville. LEO was one of the last independents that produce content that people actually talked about. Guess I'll be checking out Substack.
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