The Beat goes off

The Chico Beat, the tab-style weekly created by former CN&R Editor Tom Gascoyne and News Editor Josh Indar shortly after they left this paper in early 2006, announced last week that it was closing up shop. Its last issue had come out weeks earlier, and on Friday (Sept. 5) its Web site was taken down.

The paper tried to fill a niche to the political left of the CN&R but never caught on with advertisers. It received financial backing from Kelly Meagher, a former environmental activist who contributes regularly to progressive causes and politicians. A companion publication launched at the same time as the Chico Beat, a quarterly arts magazine called 10 Spot edited by Indar, stopped publishing after just a few issues.

For thoughts on the Beat’s demise, see this issue’s Guest Comment.