By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – One of St. Louis's many free newspapers is going away.
Publisher Dave Drebes says this month's issue of the Arch City Chronicle will be the last.
Drebes says it was started with a friend six years ago as a one-page newsletter and at that time was a hobby. The paper offered the latest political rivalries, deal-making, grudges and other 'inside baseball' musings.
Drebes even gave up his day job to be publisher, but the bean counting eventually caught up.
"There were months when we broke even and then there were months when we didn't, and we were unable to get it financially secure," Drebes said, in an interview.
"I think if you had just a couple different individuals and a couple different breaks, I think it's possible to be viable. So I'm not bearish on print as a medium."
Drebes says the Arch City Chronicle website will continue for now, but those plans also could change.
"We tried to ignite a little more of the political dialogue and the real key was to put out something that was fun to read," Drebes added. "We didn't want to be just another boring publication, or just reporting the facts, we wanted to bring some attitude and bring some perspective."
At its peak, the paper came out every other week and printed 20,000 copies.
Drebes is also working on another project, a new effort called Missouri Scout , which will focus more on statewide politics (whereas Arch City Chronicle focused on St. Louis area politics).