Flag as inappropriate

Anne Bolin at 6:19 PM on 3/25/2009

"The Free Press is arguably broader in and puts less spin on its news coverage than the opposition..."

Then why did WCMG win? I don't understand how the Reader could choose a lesser media company that can't even bother to do real news reporting. Tracy Baim's baby must have just won because she knows Micheal Miner. Windy City cares so little about doing real, in depth reporting about the community that they didn't even bother to replace their only news reporter once that individual left for the Chicago Free Press. You voted in a NEWSPAPER THAT DOESN'T HAVE A STAFF REPORTER, that doesn't bother to show up to 90 percent of the community's events, and that hasn't in at least six months contributed any article of value. Read their news section, I beg you. They can't even bother to do original reporting. They qoute the work of the Sun Times and other publications in their pieces. They can't even pick up a phone and do WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO. It's a joke! I'm sorry, but having 13 products doesn't make you a winner if each of those products pales in comparison to what CFP offers. CFP focuses on putting out ONE FANTASTIC product. Put the two papers side by side next week. The answer is obvious. WCT was once maybe a good product, but today, it's a joke.
And don't even get me started with readers picking a podcast as a news source... FOF is fun and fresh, but it's not journalism.

Flag as inappropriate

Chris Plummer at 11:01 PM on 3/25/2009

I love the Feast. Fausto and Marc are very up-to-the-minute, and why Logo hasn't snapped them up as the gay Regis and Kathie Lee I don't know.

Flag as inappropriate

Henry at 12:40 AM on 3/26/2009

Looks like Anne Bolin has lost her head over this! NEW MEDIA WINS!!! Go suck an egg.

FOF stands neck in neck with some of the best radio programs of all time, and deserves all the awards it gets.

It also has an active online community where all the hot news that affect our community happen. You get it from them first, and then weeks later you see it in the papers, if at all.

Why be hating when we should be celebrating!? Spread the love!

One thing I'm wondering is why they didn't bother to write anything about the reader's choice?

Flag as inappropriate

xmtryanx at 12:54 AM on 3/26/2009

So yeah FEAST OF FUN should be in the running for a national gay news source... maybe it was just too much good broadcasting for our little Chicago.

Flag as inappropriate

Robert Tucker at 1:14 AM on 3/26/2009

FoF is and always has been very current.
* two snaps up *

As with all pod,Tv and radio shows once in a while they get in a rut and can be repetitive but if I have to be in rut a FoF rut is the best around!

It also does not hurt that Marc is handsome and knowledgable and that Fausto is charming and entertaining.

Flag as inappropriate

Anon at 11:29 AM on 3/26/2009

Whatever, I think it's awesome that they applauded Free Press for being more comprehensive and news with less spin. In my eyes, they won!

Congrats to FOF! Maybe next year there can be a best national GLBT news category and they can totally win it!

Flag as inappropriate

Chris M at 2:08 PM on 3/26/2009

I applaud Windy City Media Group. They deserve it. They will always be my favorite source.

Flag as inappropriate

Jamie at 2:12 PM on 3/26/2009

Their interview of Shirley Phelps (FOF #690 - Shirley Phelps: An Unlikely Champion - 01.25.08) was the most complete interview of this controversial character I have ever heard. Not traditional journalism, but better than most news I see now a days.

Flag as inappropriate

Anonymous at 2:19 PM on 3/26/2009

Why can we not just say Congrats, to the person that happened to win. We should be happy that we have many sources of gay media. And may I point out that for all this whining, The Reader Lists above readers choice of Feast of Fools, which is now known as Feast of Fun. Lets at least have all our info up to date reader.

Flag as inappropriate

Phil Good at 2:40 PM on 3/26/2009

I'm not a fan of news media. Period...

...but Marc and Fausto are ALWAYS great; informative and FUN! I suppose the new name is more appropriate!

Flag as inappropriate

jasmon carpenter at 3:06 PM on 3/26/2009

i want to say wow andnew media very intersting to me and faussto u are amazing and big congra t o u smile

Flag as inappropriate

jasmon carpenter at 3:09 PM on 3/26/2009

wow congra to u and this is very intersting to me u ar amazing smile and congra again

Flag as inappropriate

GDC at 3:45 PM on 3/26/2009

Congrats to FOF.

However, there is no way Windy City Media Group deserves any recognition as a "best" GLBT Media Source!

Chicago Free Press is the ONLY respectable and independent voice for Chicago's GLBT community!

Flag as inappropriate

Puddles1971 at 3:52 PM on 3/26/2009

What planet does Mike Miner live on? No real media "critic" would pick WCT over CFP.

Flag as inappropriate

Darren at 5:09 PM on 3/26/2009

Whaaaat? Windy City Times looks worse than my high school newspaper. You have GOT to be kidding me! How insulting to Chicago Free Press and Feast of Fun. At least they didn't pick Gay Chicago Magazine. Reader, you're on crack.

Flag as inappropriate

Hehehe at 5:18 PM on 3/26/2009

Awwww, let the poor, horrid, dying rag WCT have this one last huzzah. I bet by 2010 it will be a newsletter Tracy Baim prints off her ink jet printer LOL.

Flag as inappropriate

Brent at 8:42 PM on 3/26/2009

I guess I'd have to agree that WCT isn't deserving. They never seem to cover any local news and I never seem to get any local value out of this publication at all. With that said, it seems as if all of our local gay rags are a failure when it comes to covering local businesses - probably scared losing ad dollars.

Flag as inappropriate

Alan V. at 12:11 AM on 3/27/2009

Feast of Fun is easily the best GLBT podcast. Their daily show excels in the scope of interviews, stories and hilarious banter that sets them leagues apart from any other form of media. Everyone in my office listens to the show, and most of us aren't even gay.

Flag as inappropriate

Rick A. at 1:07 AM on 3/27/2009

Congratulations to Feast of Fun (Fools) for this recognition! Perhaps next year the Reader itself will recognize FoF for its worthiness, but at least the ReaderS know that FoF is the place to go for great news, up to date topics, interviews and... well... FUN! Very very deserving!!! :)

Flag as inappropriate

Eric Weiss at 2:07 PM on 3/27/2009

Windy City Media group is no more a "news source" than Feast of Fools is. And while Chicago Free Press strives for objectivity and professionalism--qualities Tracy Baim has lacked throughout her career--it is, sadly, a pale shadow of what it once was, or what Windy City Times was before Tracy Baim turned it into a piece of trash after she bought it at a fire-sale discount from its founder, Jeff McCourt. Chicago's exceptionally large and influential an LGBT community is poorly served by its local "news sources." Thank heavens for 365gay.com!

Flag as inappropriate

Lisbeth Graymont at 5:27 PM on 3/27/2009

Is the Reader thinking of the pre-Tracy Baim Windy City Times? That newspaper, indeed, was the best not only in Chicago but across the country. Baim bought the name Windy City Times (and trades on its old reputation)but the new WCT is not even a shadow of its former self.

Unprofessional,unethical, shoddy writing and no editing the usually unreadable new WCT is little more than a poorly run and produced vanity newsletter that few take seriously or even read.

But something just dawned on me...Could naming WCT as best gay paper simply be payback because the readers of the Chicago Free Press chose Time Out Chicago as the best Chicago news/entertainment magazine?

Flag as inappropriate

Jimbo at 8:25 PM on 3/27/2009

FOF is news, presented in a way that is informative but also fun and they make you think about the news they're presenting. Their guests are relevant to what's going on in the city and the world. They are most deserving of their award.

Flag as inappropriate

James at 1:21 AM on 3/28/2009

Congratulations! This is well deserved. I can't think of any two men, gay or straight, that deserve it as much as Fausto and Marc.

Flag as inappropriate

Kenny at 8:02 AM on 3/28/2009

WOW Michael, you took the assignment of explaining why WCMG is the best GLBT news source and instead took it as an opportunity to roast Tracy Baim? Bitter, party of one? Personally, if I want to read GLBT news I pick up the Windy City Times. If I want to read a rehashed AP story, or laugh about what "news" makes the front page (most recently things like "is sex an addicton" or "is lesbian obesity a fact"), I pick up the Free Press.

Flag as inappropriate

Max at 3:14 PM on 3/28/2009

Unfortunately for Trashy Shame, she'll hardly get a boost from this bizarre recommendation, since no more people read the Chicago Reader -- and especialy Mike Miner -- than read the freaky publication he's touting. Still, it's absurd that he claims a newspaper with no office, no professional staff and no editing is the best GLBT paper in the city! This seems like a case of one nearly extinct dinosaur species showing pity for another (or in this case, elephant species).

Flag as inappropriate

Eric at 10:09 AM on 3/29/2009

Now Max, be fair. Miner didn't say WCT was the best gay paper in town. He said that Windy City Media Group as a whole was the best gay news source. Of course, this is like saying that News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch's self-aggrandizing empire) is the best world news source, simply because it's so big and spread out, never mind its ethics or quality.

Flag as inappropriate

Ellen at 12:33 PM on 3/29/2009

"Idiosyncratically curated" (Mike Miner's words) is an interesting euphemism to describe Tracy Baim's Chicago Gay History Project. A more accurate description would be "Tracy kisses up to the people she likes and ignores others whose contributions to the community far outshine hers."

Flag as inappropriate

IndieGal at 8:59 PM on 3/29/2009

I'm really happy Feast of Fun / Feast of Fools won. They do more interviews than all the other gay papers in the city combined, and people in the suburbs actually can listen and find out not just what is happening in my community locally, but nationally and around the world.

I've been listening to them for over four years every day at work and while I do my homework. I love these guys!

Their show puts a big smile on my face and gives me a lot of food for thought on the issues LGBT people face every day. Don't let their funny tone of the show fool you. Their great guests, questions and how they treat everyone shows this show is full of best the internet has to offer. And they live here in Chicago!

I love these guys because you can hear that they love what they do, and the topics they cover. That's why they win People's Choice Podcast Awards, year after year! And now they have the Chicago Reader's Best Gay News Source. Congratulations!

-Patti