Another possible territorial claim in the growing turf war between Go 96.3 FM and 89.3 the Current -- and another loss at the Twin Cities' thinning alt-weekly -- Reed Fischer is leaving his job as City Pages' music editor to become editorial producer at Go 96.3.
The Northfield native came to City Pages in 2012 and kept up the momentum started by his predecessor, Andrea Swensson, who similarly left the weekly newspaper for a radio gig as 89.3 the Current's music reporter.
Assuming he will generate blog items and on-air reports like Swensson does – there's no official word of his duties yet -- Fischer's hiring could mark another way the fledgling, Pohlad-owned modern-rock station might be modeling itself after the Current (and other NPR-affiliated music stations). He joins a Go staff that includes ex-Current DJ Barb Abney and former Cities 97 jockeys Jason Nagel and Brian "BT" Turner.
One area where Go still pales in comparison to the Current is its representation of Minnesota music, a fix that might be well-suited for Fischer. He oversaw City Pages' annual Picked to Click poll as well as its heavily localized Gimme Noise blog.
City Pages' parent company, Voice Media Group, started off 2015 by hiring a mergers-and-acquisitions company to possibly sell off of its 11 alt-weekly newspapers after widespread slumps in circulation and revenue.
Always a proud talker about his Voice experience – he previously worked at their alt-weekly in the Palm Beach, Fla., area – Fischer said in a Facebook posting, "My five action-packed years with Voice Media have been a delight and a privilege. I'm grateful that these jobs introduced me to so many driven journalists, photographers, artists, publicists, venue staffs, and countless others who believe in the healing power of music and words."
