Fort Lauderdale attorney and radio host Norm Kent plans to launch a new weekly newspaper geared toward South Florida’s LGBTQ community.
The new print and online publication, the South Florida Gay News.com will be published on Mondays, with more than twelve thousand copies slated for distribution in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
Nicknamed SFGN, Kent said he purposely chose a hard copy newspaper name with a “dot com” in the masthead “in order to accommodate and acknowledge; promote and link the diverse media platforms a 21st century newspaper has to deliver. Our developing website will be up and running this week.”
“The bottom line is that we are going to publish a fiercely independent publication, a credible and legitimate weekly newspaper, which will feature topical news, cutting-edge issues, outspoken columnists, and articles capturing the breadth and diversity of gay life,” according to a press release issued by Kent.
Kent is no stranger to publishing. In 1999 he published The Express Gay News – the first credible weekly newspaper for South Florida’s gay and lesbian community.
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Four years later he sold the paper to Unite Media which then published the paper under the banner of The Express, which eventually became the South Florida Blade, under ownership of Window Media.
Kent’s announcement comes just one month following the closure of the South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine. The two south Florida-based gay publications were among six publications shuttered when Window Media succumbed to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November.
The other publications were the Atlanta-based Southern Voice and David Atlanta, the Houston Voice, and the Washington Blade.
SFGN is the second gay publication to launch in South Florida.
Immediately after South Florida Blade closed in November, Mark’s List, a South Florida-based online site, launched its own gay newspaper, Florida Agenda.
Last month, former employees of the Washington Blade launched DC Agenda, and earlier this month the founder of Southern Voice announced plans to launch the GA Voice in Atlanta.
The first issue of South Florida Gay News.com is expected to be published on January 25.
