CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Real Paper, one of the Boston area's leading weekly alternative newspapers, announced Friday that it is halting publication immediately due to mounting deficits.
Ralph I. Fine, president of The Real Paper, said in a press release the deficit it has faced for several years running has gone beyond what the paper can withstand and can it no longer keep up with inflation and interest rates.
'Since January 1980, the magnitude of the losses has substantially increased. National economic factors, including double-digit inflation and high interest rates have hurt,' he said.
Fine said he, publisher Bill Scott and associate publisher David Weiner had 'no realistic alternative' other than to stop printing the 9-year-old tabloid.
Scott would only say 'the mood of the office was sad, real sad.'
'The fact is that we just weren't making any money,' said executive editor David Rosenbaum. 'The paper hasn't made money for many years and the owners got tired of losing money. I guess it was just no longer worth it to them as a tax write-off.'
The Boston Phoenix, the area's other major alternative weekly, said in a statement that it has captured 'a growing segment of the Boston advertising market in the past five years' with revenues growing by $2.5 million.
The Phoenix also said it will probably increase its press run next week by about 25,000 copies because of the Real Paper's demise.
Phoenix publisher Stephen M. Mindich said the paper expects to interview 'as many members of The Real Paper as possible,' but it was unclear how much the Phoenix staff would be increased.
'I don't know what the situation will be. I have to sit back and see what will happen along with the others,' he said.
The Real Paper published its first issue August 1972. The Boston Phoenix was launched in 1966 when Mindich bought the former Cambridge Phoenix and changed the name.
