Nashville free daily hires new publisher

Nashville's free daily, The City Paper, announced Friday (June 2) that it has hired the publisher of that town's alt-weekly as its publisher. Albie Del Favero, 52, who has been with the Nashville Scene for 17 years, starts Monday at The City Paper. Interim Publisher Jim Ezzell -- CFO of Thompson Machinery Commerce Corp., one of The City Paper's shareholders -- led the free daily for the last 23 months while owners hunted for a new publisher. The City Paper was founded Nov. 1, 2000 by local businessman Brian Brown, who stepped down as publisher on March 2, 2004. A replacement, Tom Larimer, lasted about six months. Then Ezzell stepped in as interim publisher.

“Free circulation daily newspapers and their Web sites are the future of print journalism and the daily newspaper industry,” Del Favero said. “The City Paper has been ahead of the curve since it was founded, but now is in the right place at the right time to become one of the next major success stories in American newspapers.”

Said Clint Brewer, The City Paper's executive editor: “Albie’s track record speaks for itself. He understands the importance of quality journalism to a community, and I look forward to working with him to make The City Paper Nashville’s true daily newspaper.”

• Wikipedia entry on The City Paper
• The City Paper's Web site