Riverfront Times

About Riverfront Times

The Riverfront Times — the RFT — was the free progressive alternative weekly newspaper of St. Louis, Missouri, publishing from November 1977 until May 2024. Founded by Ray Hartmann and Mark Vittert, it grew into one of the biggest alternative weeklies in the country, known for an eclectic mix of local politics, music, arts and dining coverage alongside long-form investigative stories that exposed issues other St. Louis media wouldn't touch. After changing hands several times — including long stretches under Village Voice Media and Euclid Media Group — it was acquired in 2023 by Big Lou Holdings LLC, which laid off the entire staff and ended print publication in May 2024, closing a 46-year era in St. Louis journalism.

Founding in 1977

The Riverfront Times published its first print edition in November 1977. It was founded by Ray Hartmann, a young journalist who had twice served as editor-in-chief of the Maneater at the University of Missouri and worked as a speechwriter for Governor Christopher "Kit" Bond, with backing from St. Louis businessman Mark Vittert. Hartmann molded it into a vital alternative newsweekly that fearlessly questioned the status quo and provided a platform for stories often overlooked by more traditional outlets — the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Globe-Democrat.

The paper's name evoked the city's riverfront heritage, and its formula was the classic alt-weekly blend: progressive politics, exhaustive arts and music coverage, dining writing and a voice that was funny, confrontational and deeply local. It eventually became one of the biggest alternative weeklies in the country.

Growth into an alt-weekly powerhouse

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the RFT established itself as essential St. Louis reading. Hartmann — described as a liberal Republican — wrote a popular weekly column, and the paper's newsroom produced the kind of long, reported features that became its signature. By the time of its sale in 1998, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies quoted estimates that, based on annual gross revenues of $6 million, the paper was worth about $10 million — a measure of just how big a business a great alt-weekly could be. As of June 2008, the paper had an AAM-audited weekly circulation of 81,276 copies.

Sale to New Times and the Village Voice years

In 1998, Hartmann and Vittert sold the Riverfront Times for an undisclosed amount to New Times, the Phoenix-based alt-weekly chain that would become Village Voice Media. With the purchase, New Times owned ten newsweeklies; the firm later grew to own 17 papers, including the Village Voice itself. Hartmann continued writing his column for the paper until 2002, and he and Vittert went on to acquire St. Louis Magazine in 1994, overseeing its resurrection and revitalization for nearly a quarter-century. Hartmann also became a foundational voice on Nine PBS's "Donnybrook," one of the most-watched local public affairs programs in the country, for 37 years.

Editors and editorial voice

Dozens of writers came and went at the Riverfront Times over its 46 years, and its editors shaped its voice in distinct eras. Sarah Fenske served as editor from 2015 to 2019, followed by Doyle Murphy, who worked at the paper for six years beginning in 2015 and served as editor-in-chief for nearly three years until February 2022, and then Rosalind Early, who edited the paper from March 2022 to 2024. The through-line was a commitment to covering voices in St. Louis that often weren't covered by other media — stories that were quirky, bizarre or contentious, or stories that were tricky and complicated, the kind "someone in power didn't want to get out."

Coverage: politics, music, food and social justice

For decades, the alt-weekly served as a catch-all for stories featuring the people, food and music of St. Louis, as well as long-form stories focusing on — and often exposing — issues in the city. The print edition consisted of local politics, music, arts and dining news, while the website carried daily updates to blogs and photo galleries. Former editor Doyle Murphy called it "a real voice on a lot of social justice issues that either didn't get covered or weren't going to get covered in the kind of depth that the RFT was going to put into it." People called the paper, former editor Sarah Fenske said, with stories "that only the RFT could do."

The COVID crisis and the staff's fight

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt the paper a severe blow, forcing it to cease print production temporarily. But the staff kept the paper alive, often working for little or no pay during the shutdown. "I know people on that staff — who are still there and people who have gone on to other places — who fought for that place, even without taking a paycheck for a while," Murphy said. "I don't think there's a whole lot of businesses where if you laid people off they come back the next day." The episode highlighted the unique role the RFT played in the community — and the devotion it inspired.

The 2023 sale and the 2024 closure

In 2023, Big Lou Holdings LLC, owned by Chris Keating, acquired the Riverfront Times from Euclid Media Group. The acquisition also included other alt-weeklies such as the Detroit Metro Times, Cincinnati CityBeat and LEO Weekly in Louisville. Keating told the paper he planned to continue its long tradition of excellence and brought the food-and-drink-focused Sauce Magazine into the fold with its full staff. But in May 2024, the new owners laid off the entire news staff and ended print distribution. "The RFT is officially dead," wrote staff writer Kallie Cox on X on May 22, 2024. "I can say this is the best paper I've ever had the pleasure of working at." The only remaining element of the publication is a website featuring primarily aggregated content.

Ray Hartmann's legacy

Ray Hartmann, who founded the Riverfront Times in 1977 and shaped St. Louis media for nearly half a century, died on April 23, 2026, at the age of 73. The St. Louis Board of Aldermen honored him with a resolution celebrating his legacy as a St. Louis icon: a fiercely independent journalist, publisher and commentator who dedicated nearly 50 years to the civic life of the region, a mentor who launched and fostered the careers of countless journalists, and a community leader who had recently sought to serve his neighbors as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Legacy of the RFT

The Riverfront Times' 46-year run made it one of the great American alt-weeklies: a free paper that covered St. Louis with more depth, more irreverence and more heart than anyone else, that exposed corruption and celebrated the city's culture in the same issue, and that inspired a loyalty so fierce its staff worked without pay to keep it alive. Its closure in 2024 — part of a grim wave that claimed alt-weeklies across the country — left what Murphy called a huge loss: "There's absolutely no voice like the RFT. It just covered so many things that nobody else covered."

What the RFT proved, over nearly five decades, was that a city the size of St. Louis needed — and would sustain — a newspaper willing to be uncomfortable. Its long-form investigations held the powerful to account; its music, arts and food coverage gave the city's cultural life the serious, joyful attention it deserved; and its opinion pages gave a platform to voices the Post-Dispatch wouldn't print. The paper launched careers, shaped debates and documented St. Louis week by week from 1977 to 2024. The website that remains is a shadow of that institution, but the archive — 46 years of free, fearless St. Louis journalism — endures as the paper's true monument.