The Aquarian Weekly
Encyclopedia
The Aquarian Weekly is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Founded in 1969, its focus is popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

. It is accompanied by a pull-out section, The East Coast Rocker, which is freely distributed throughout the New Jersey/New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

/Eastern Pennsylvania region.

The paper has remained independently owned and operated throughout its existence.

History

James Rensenbrink, a former employee of two New Jersey newspapers and one Louisiana newspaper, founded The Aquarian in 1969. The Aquarian initially concentrated on radical politics and uncompromising ecological writings, raging against media monopolies as well as antiquated marijuana laws.

In the beginning, The Aquarian promoted hippie culture and healthy lifestyles, dropping issues sporadically from 1969 to 1974 at the cost of 15 cents per issue in 1969, 10 cents by 1971, then becoming free by 1972. In 1973, The Aquarian hit stride, mixing its sociopolitical views and drug culture coverage with new popular music features, as well as covering underground nightspots like CBGB's

The October ’73 issue offered a picture of Mick Jagger on its cover, an in-depth interview with the Eagles, and a review of the Allman Brothers Band at Trenton’s State Fairgrounds. The February 20, 1974 issue had a pink-hued front cover and the next issue, March 14, 1974, featured an out of shape man in blue and red Superman cape plus the first Classified section, bringing a stabilized 25 cent price to customers. By 1977, The Aquarian became a full-time weekly at a cost of 50 cents.

By January 5, 1983, East Coast Rocker provided full-time music coverage inside The Aquarian while the concurrent New York Arts Weekly concentrated on non-music items and poetry for its strictly New York City audience. On July 18, 1984, the first “Records In Review” section appeared, rating new recordings from the scale of one to ten. For Issue 614, February 12, 1986, The Aquarian changed to the smaller, more accessible 8 x 12 size. By issue 623 on April 16, 1986, The Aquarian proudly boasted that it was currently “The Only Weekly Music Newspaper in the U.S.”

An important historical date was July 16, 1986, when Issue 637 temporarily marked the end of The Aquarian in favor of the more conveniently named East Coast Rocker, offering Issue 1 on July 23, 1986.

East Coast Rocker’s May 16, 1990 edition celebrated its 200th issue. The price of $1.50 was established for East Coast Rocker on March 21, 1990, lasting 14 years plus as the publication changed back to its Aquarian Weekly handle. And so it was on October 21, 1992, Aquarian Weekly resumed at Issue 638 following 326 weekly editions as East Coast Rocker.

By 1996, The Aquarian had become an eleven-member co-operative based on employee ownership consisting of Rensenbrink and several staffers. In 1998, ad director Diane Casazza, ad rep Chris Farinas and production director Mark Sceurman took over publishing to present day.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK