Type | Alternative newsmonthly |
---|---|
Publisher | John Heaston |
News editor | Chris Bowling |
Founded | 1994 |
Ceased publication | 2023 |
Headquarters | 4734 S 27 St
Suite 1A Omaha, NE 68107 |
Website | https://thereader.com/ |
The Reader was an alternative newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska from 1994 to 2023.
The Reader was established in 1994 by a group that included John Heaston and Dan Beckmann. Beckmann bought out Heaston in 1999, then sold nearly all of his ownership interest in February 2000 to 77-year-old Alan Baer, a member of the family that had founded the J. L. Brandeis and Sons department store chain. [1] Baer replaced Beckmann as publisher a few months later. [2]
Meanwhile, Heaston established another paper, the Omaha Weekly, in March 2000. After Baer died in November 2002, Heaston bought the Reader and merged it with the Weekly. [3] John Heaston was interviewed in 2021 about the Reader's history as part of the paper's recent membership drive on a biweekly podcast "Reader Radio." [4]
The Reader's corporate owner, Pioneer Publishing, also publishes several other papers and websites, including the Spanish language El Perico. [5]
In January 2015, The Reader changed its publication frequency from weekly to monthly and increased daily content on The Reader's website. [6]
The Reader was published out of a train car that was attached to a brewery on 78th and Cass (1995) before it enjoyed stints at offices downtown (1996-1999) and in historic Dundee (2000-2007) until landing in its current location in the immigrant hub that is South Omaha near the intersection of 27th and L Streets.
The paper published its last issue in September 2023. [7]
In 2022, The Reader was named as one of "10 news publishers who do it right" by Editor & Publisher Magazine. [8] The 2022 masthead includes Publisher John Heaston, Lead News reporter Chris Bowling,