Salt Lake City Weekly

What Salt Lake City Weekly does

Salt Lake City Weekly, operating as "City Weekly," is an independent alternative weekly newspaper and local media outlet founded in 1984 and based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The publication serves Utah residents and local businesses with original local news, arts and entertainment coverage, restaurant and bar reviews, music and film previews, opinion pieces, an events calendar, and its flagship annual "Best of Utah" reader-voted awards program. Distribution is multi-channel: the primary website (cityweekly.net) built on PubGen CMS, a digital flipbook edition on Issuu, an email newsletter via Letterhead, the "Bingham Boys" podcast on Substack, and active Instagram, Facebook, and X accounts. The company has 11-50 employees and operates as a private, independently owned entity with no disclosed parent, funding rounds, or institutional investment. Founder John Saltas is associated with the company.

The business model is a multi-stream local media operation. Revenue is generated through display advertising from local businesses, paid subscriptions, one-time reader donations (a recently surfaced stream), and a small e-commerce merchandise store. The Best of Utah awards program functions as a recurring annual franchise that drives both reader engagement and a concentration of local advertiser spend around voting and results coverage. Content production remains human-edited with no disclosed AI/ML tooling or automation. Geographic reach is concentrated in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area and broader Utah market, with no indication of multi-market or international expansion. The publication faces the structural challenges typical of legacy local print-rooted media — single-market dependency, reliance on SMB advertising, and a small staff — while offsetting these with diversified digital touchpoints, a recognizable brand franchise in Best of Utah, and direct reader-support revenue.

Name

Salt Lake City Weekly

Legal name

City Weekly

Website

https://cityweekly.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Salt Lake City Weekly is an independent, Salt Lake City-based alternative weekly newspaper and local media outlet serving Utah residents and local businesses with original local news, arts, dining, and entertainment coverage, anchored by its annual Best of Utah reader-voted awards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Alternative Weekly Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Local news publishing
• Alternative weekly newspaper
• Arts entertainment coverage
• Community journalism
• Online news media

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The website displays numerous advertisements throughout its pages, indicating advertising as a primary revenue stream. Multiple ad placements are visible across news sections, including display ads for local businesses.
2. Subscriptions: The website features a Subscribe link and subscription management page, indicating paid subscription revenue for digital and/or print access to content.
3. One-Time Donations: The website prominently features a 'One Time Donation' option, suggesting a reader support/membership model where readers can make one-time financial contributions.
4. Online Store: The publication operates an online store (cwstore.cityweekly.net) selling merchandise and potentially other products.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

City Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper and local media outlet that publishes Salt Lake City and Utah-focused news, arts and entertainment, dining, music, film, and opinion content. Its core products are the cityweekly.net website and the annual Best of Utah reader-voted awards, supported by a digital flipbook edition, an email newsletter, an events calendar, and a merchandise store.

Product overview

Salt Lake City Weekly operates a traditional alternative weekly news publication model consisting of a primary website (cityweekly.net) delivering local news, arts & entertainment, dining, music, film, and opinion content for the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan area. The publication's flagship offering is the Best of Utah annual awards program recognizing top local businesses across health, dining, and lifestyle categories. Supporting products include a digital flipbook edition via Issuu, email newsletter subscriptions, an events calendar, and an online merchandise store. Content sections cover News, A&E, Eat & Drink, Music, Film, Opinion, Best of Utah, and Events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• City Weekly Website Primary online news platform for Salt Lake City Weekly delivering local news, arts and entertainment coverage, dining reviews, music previews, film reviews, opinion pieces, and community event listings for the Salt Lake City, Utah area.
• Best of Utah Awards Annual reader-voted awards program recognizing the best local businesses, restaurants, healthcare providers, wellness practitioners, and services in Utah across categories including Body & Mind, Dining, Sips & Sweets, and Libations.
• Flipbook Digital Edition Digital version of the City Weekly print newspaper available through the Issuu platform, allowing readers to view the publication in an interactive online format.
• City Weekly Newsletter Email newsletter subscription delivering weekly updates on local Salt Lake City news, events, and featured content to subscribers.
• Events Calendar Online directory of local community events in Salt Lake City including concerts, arts events, festivals, and cultural activities.
• City Weekly Store Online store for purchasing City Weekly merchandise, gift subscriptions, and other products to support the publication.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Willamette Week: Portland, Oregon's independent alternative weekly newspaper. Closely matches City Weekly's alt-weekly tabloid model, local news + arts coverage, and reliance on local SMB display advertising in a single mid-size metro.
• Riverfront Times: St. Louis-based alternative weekly newspaper. Comparable as an alt-weekly tabloid focused on local news, dining, music, and A&E with a display-advertising revenue model serving one metro market.
• Tucson Weekly: Free alternative weekly newspaper in Tucson, Arizona. Comparable alt-weekly tabloid covering local news, arts, dining, and opinion with an advertising-driven model in a single mid-size U.S. metro.
• Boise Weekly: Free alternative weekly newspaper serving Boise, Idaho. Highly comparable as a regional alt-weekly in a Mountain West city of similar size to Salt Lake City's, with the same local-news-plus-A&E editorial mix and advertising-driven revenue model.
• L.A. Weekly: Iconic Los Angeles alt-weekly tabloid newspaper. Direct peer in category (free alt-weekly) and editorial mix (local news, A&E, dining, opinion), though operating at substantially larger scale in a much bigger metro.
• Nashville Scene: Nashville's alternative weekly covering local news, arts, music, and dining. Directly comparable to City Weekly on format, content verticals (especially music and dining), and advertising-supported business model in a single metro.
• The Pitch: Kansas City's alternative weekly newspaper. Comparable alt-weekly tabloid model covering local news, arts, dining, and music in a single mid-size metro with an advertising-supported business.
• The Austin Chronicle: Long-running free alternative weekly tabloid newspaper in Austin, Texas. Directly comparable to Salt Lake City Weekly in format (alt-weekly tabloid), business model (free distribution with display advertising and events coverage), and editorial focus (local news, A&E, dining, music, opinion).

Broad incumbents

• Deseret News: Major Utah daily newspaper and one of the two dominant general-interest local news brands in Salt Lake City. Comparable as a local media outlet competing for the same SLC audience and advertiser budgets, with a broader news mandate and substantially greater resources.
• The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah's largest daily newspaper and the dominant local newsroom in the Salt Lake City market. Competes for the same local readers and SLC SMB advertising dollars as City Weekly, but at much greater scale and with a daily news rather than alt-weekly focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cityweekly
• Facebookfacebook.com/slcweekly
• Instagraminstagram.com/slcweekly
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/salt-lake-city-weekly

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Salt Lake City Weekly