Dallas Voice marks 30th anniversary
by Chuck Colbert
The leading LGBT publication for Texas achieved a significant milestone earlier this year when Dallas Voice celebrated its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the award-winning weekly newspaper published a commemorative issue chronicling a shared history between Dallas Voice and the LGBT community.
The May 16 issue showcased the community’s history with a focus on who the LGBT community is today. One feature, for example, spotlighted people under 30 who are making significant contributions to the community’s growth. Another story highlighted 30-year-old LGBT businesses and organizations.
“Dallas Voice continues to stay relevant as the voice for the LGBT community by listening to our readers, developing relationships and investing in our future,” said publisher Leo Cusimano. “We will continue to document history like the Supreme Court decisions” as well as “the state and city challenges for equal rights,” and “to report on our important business and community news for many years to come.”
Cusimano also voiced thanks for the advertisers, supporters and readers of the weekly. “We continue to honor the people who make Dallas Voice a successful enterprise,” he said. “Our 30-year anniversary celebration continues all year.”
In 1984, Don Ritz, Robert Moore and William Marberry founded Dallas Voice with an investment of $250 each and a passionate commitment to serve the LGBT community. The men published a 24-page newspaper on May 11 of that year, and it has always been a free publication.
Just last year, two longtime Dallas Voice employees took ownership with the sale of the publication to Cusimano and Terry Thompson.
Cusimano began his career with Dallas Voice in 1992 and has worked as advertising director for most of that time. Thompson, who has been with the company for 13 years, now serves as president. Recently, Tammye Nash, who first joined the Dallas Voice staff in 1988 as a reporter, returned in the role of managing editor.
“I am really happy to be back with Dallas Voice,” Nash said. “The Voice as a whole has been going through some changes in the last year or so, and we are still changing. The times are changing when it comes to media and journalism in general, and especially in terms of print media. The way we create, report and consume news has been and continues to change dramatically, and we are adapting to those changes. We have an outstanding staff company wide, and we are all very excited about the future.”
While the weekly print newspaper has been Dallas Voice’s centerpiece for the past three decades — with more than 1,680 editions — the gay-owned company now provides content through other platforms, including video, podcasts, blogs, business directories and e-newsletters. The publication is available online at DallasVoice.com and has a strong presence on Twitter and Facebook.
Voice Publishing Inc. also designs websites for other companies. Here is a break out of the company’s various media components and brands:
• Dallas Voice, a print and online news magazine, with a weekly flip-page and downloadable PDF
• InstantTEA, an online blog of breaking news and events
• CommuniTEA, a public forum of diverse viewpoints
• Scene photos and expanded print and online picture galleries.
• Weekly eBlast! edition
• OUT North Texas, the official LGBT visitors’ guide and business directory, available in print, online and on mobile devices.
• Podcasts and on-demand programming, including MIXology, a mix of high-energy music by popular local DJs
• DVtv, on-demand video news
• Digital Seltzer, a service that optimizes your website for mobile, tablet and desktop.
Dallas Voice is published each Friday, with a circulation of 16,000 copies distributed in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton and Parker counties. The publication’s weekly print readership is estimated to be more than 43,000 people, with DallasVoice.com drawing more than 210,000 unique visitors each month.
Dallas Voice is a member of the National Gay Media Association and the Associated Press. Recently, Voice Publishing received its supplier diversity certification from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Business Enterprise.
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Volume 16
Issue 4
