We are excited and very happy to announce that Memphis Magazine, along with our sister publication, the Memphis Flyer, is joining Noisy Creek, a media company that’s working to bolster independent, local publications. The Noisy Creek network also includes Seattle’s The Stranger, the Portland Mercury, and the Chicago Reader, with more members onboarding soon.
Becoming part of Noisy Creek will enable our publications to deliver more plentiful and robust content, while implementing a stronger business model that incorporates philanthropic support and reader participation — and all this without interference in our editorial decisions. Our magazine will be stronger, and our business model will be more secure.
For the past 50 years, Memphis Magazine has delivered long-form writing by some of the best authors in town, paired with visuals created by the city’s most talented artists and photographers. And we will continue to do just that — with more structural support.
Over the past several months, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the people behind Noisy Creek — founder and CEO Brady Walkinshaw, and his brilliant team. I’m excited to introduce you to Brady through the following message directly from him.
Noisy Creek CEO Brady Walkinshaw
From Brady:
City magazines and the alternative press in America defined civic life, arts, culture, news, and politics in communities for decades. Memphis Magazine and the Memphis Flyer are beloved publications, and with the magazine celebrating its 50th anniversary, it’s won scores of regional and national awards for editorial and design excellence. The Flyer’s crusading journalism has shaped conversations in the Bluff City.
I passionately believe in the power and potential of these publications. I started Noisy Creek two years ago, with the strong belief that local community, analog content and print publications, in-person experiences where we gather together, and ways that we can build trust and connection to one another and to the place we live and love, is more important to our collective future than ever before. Publications like Memphis Magazine and the Flyer are backbones to building local culture and community — we need publications like this that we love and trust, and that bring us laughter, connection, tears, provoke us to act and get together, try new food, and see live performances. These are all things that bring us together.
I am so excited to get to know the Memphis community more deeply. I grew up in rural Washington State, and through a circuitous career discovered my passion to invest in and support beloved local media. We’re in Chicago, Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, and now Memphis, and everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve invested in our editorial newsrooms and doubled down on our commitment to community. We’re so fortunate to be doing this in close partnership with leaders in the Memphis community who ran Contemporary Media for so long — Ward Archer, Henry Turley, Kate Gooch, and Gayle Rose.
We look forward to spending more time in Memphis and investing in this incredible community for many years to come!
