Fast Forward Weekly closing shop

[jeep991]

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/calgaryblo...e-end-of-ffwd/

Sad to see the end of this paper. It was nice to be able to check out the local entertainment scene it provided every week back when I lived in Bankview.

[Locke]

It was cool as I was living closer to downtown and was in University and was willing to go to some wayward and insane bar or 'music hall.'

As I got older and uncooler I just never paid it any attention anymore. It had a helluva niche market.

[troutman]

Too bad - an important voice in the local Arts scene. I suppose we can still get our club news from BeatRoute and Exclaim!

http://www.calgarycassettes.org/2011...ssues-1-6.html

Some of our younger readers may not remember VOX - it was the monthly (mostly) publication that came out of CJSW, acting as a program guide and also a barometer of the scene. Plus, even from Issue #1, it had some of the best writing to ever come out of this city.

The magazine kicked off in September of 1983, and ran for about 15 years. In 1998, in one of the most disastrous management/governance moves that CJSW has ever made, the paper was sold to the Vancouver-based Georgia Straight and relaunched as the ill-fated weekly Calgary Straight. This move proved only one thing: don't mess with Ian Chiclo. The Straight could never compete with FFWD and folded... we can't even remember when.

We like to sometimes think that Beatroute carries the spirit of VOX, but then we actually read Beatroute and realize - nope. That spirit is still out there, but rather than being concentrated in one place as it was with VOX, it's diffused through all our city's publications.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/alumni/stories/ichiclo

There had been two failed attempts at weeklies in Calgary, so people told Chiclo and his team that it couldn’t be done. “A year in, a business owner said why should he advertise with us when we’ll be gone within a few more months. His business is actually the one now closed,” says Chiclo. He adds that what set FFWD apart was a long-term vision. “It’s been a long, slow process. We planned that it would take five years to establish ourselves, and 10 years to really get going.”

[East Coast Flame]

That's a shame. Hopefully they keep their on-line presence. Their events calendar was one of the best ways to find out what's happening around town.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by East Coast Flame

That's a shame. Hopefully they keep their on-line presence. Their events calendar was one of the best ways to find out what's happening around town.

This is of some help:

http://cjsw.com/events/

[Jimmy Stang]

Sad to see it go. Unfortunately, as with many print publications, it was getting thinner and thinner over the past few years as it became harder to maintain and attract advertisers.

Beatroute, although more gritty and monthly, is still a good place to keep up with the local scene. I would have preferred if both publications continued because they are quite different and serve different niches, with less overlap than you'd expect from local entertainment publications.

Still - very unfortunate. The article suggested that there was a glimmer of hope for the web platform, but paying staff and freelancers on webzine-type revenues isn't likely to happen. Hopefully something rises from the ashes, but unfortunately this is a sign of the times for print.

[CliffFletcher]

That sucks. I was in my mid-20s and living the bohemian life in the beltline when FFW got started. It really did capture the burgeoning entertainment and urban scene of the time, and had far better writing than the imitators that sprang up in its wake. As my wife and I moved to the suburbs and started a family, we'd pick up FFWD now and then as a window into the life we left behind. Sad to see it go.

One interesting fact from the article: Readership never declined. It's just a matter of print ad revenue no longer being a viable source of revenue.

[Puppet Guy]

I'll miss the misadventures of Milkman Dan and Karen.

[DownInFlames]

I rarely read the paper version these days, but I check the website all the time. I asked them if they could put out a pdf version but they never did.

Hopefully they can keep some kind of online presence.

[Ozy_Flame]

Sad day indeed. Was awesome for Read Meat though. Bug-Eyed Earl and Johnny Lemonhead were my favourites. The best Red Meat was the dead clown found by two kids strip.

Also, the Dan Savage stuff was hilarious, if for no other reason than reading about people's trainwreck sexual lives.

Video Vulture was GOLD.

Great place to get local event info and movie too.

[Bunk]

They were never as willing as some Alt Weeklies (Toronto's Now for example) to finance themselves through adult-oriented ads for body rub places and escort services. It was always really rich reading an op-ed about human trafficking, or sex worker exploitation in a paper like Now and then realize the hypocrisy by funding the paper through people who are very likely victims of these problems. Sadly, it probably would have kept them afloat for longer.