Blues-Star to cease publication

The Clarksdale Blues-Star will end its run with this week’s edition. - File photo.

The board of directors of New Vision Media, Inc., parent company of Clarksdale Blues-Star, Inc. voted this week to cease publication of The Clarksdale Blues-Star.

“There just isn’t enough advertising revenue in this market to support two newspapers,” said publisher and editor Nathan Duff. “We gave it our best shot, and we appreciate all of our supporters.”
   
The Blues-Star began publishing in April of 2009 with a premier issue, and then began its regular weekly run on May 3. This Sunday’s edition will be the last, according to Duff.
   
“The response from the readers was overwhelming, but we only managed to sell 700 or so subscriptions and the ad revenue just wasn’t there,” he said. “Everyone who reads a newspaper in this town was glad to see us come along, but that did not translate into the kind of ad sales it would have taken to keep the thing running.”
   
As word of the closure began to circulate late this week, Duff said that he was inundated with calls and e-mails expressing the dismay of the readers of the paper, but that there wasn’t anything that could be done.
   
“Barring an angel investor falling from the sky with a large cash commitment, we are done,” he said. “I appreciate all of the kind sentiments and of course the help of the staff that made this such a great publication week-in and week-out.”