Austin Sun

The Austin Sun was co-founded by Jeff Nightbyrd (formerly Jeff Shero), who had been the editor of The Rat in New York City and associated with The Rag underground newspaper in Austin.{{cite web|url=http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/back-in-business-of-stirring-up-trouble.html|title=What Ever Happened To The New Generation?|website=TheRagBlog|author=Thorne Webb Dreyer|date=December 30, 2007|access-date=2007-12-30|archive-date=July 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708070326/http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/back-in-business-of-stirring-up-trouble.html|url-status=live}} Nightbyrd established the paper with Michael Eakin,{{efn|Michael Eakin was murdered in Houston in 1979. His murder remains unsolved.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://rayreece.net/almost-no-apologies/ |first=Ray|last=Reece|chapter=Almost No Apologies (The Desecration of the Violet Crown)|date=1991|title=No Apologies: Texas Radicals Celebrate the '60s|publisher=Eakin Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207003559/https://rayreece.net/almost-no-apologies/ |archive-date=2017-02-07 |editor-first=Daryl |editor-last=Janes}}{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Ventura|author-link=Michael Ventura|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid:82865|title=Look Ma, No Hands!|work=The Austin Chronicle|date=September 7, 2001}}}} a former editor at The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. They were later joined by J. David Moriarty as managing editor, and considered to be the only person at the paper with business expertise.

Unlike underground newspapers (and despite being so categorized by the Library of Congress), which published much counterculture social and political commentary by volunteer contributors, the Austin Sun was intended to be a commercially viable enterprise, with formal advertising programs and paid staff positions.

The paper's first issue was published on October 17, 1974.

Despite intentions of commercial viability, most staff members of the Austin Sun needed to have full-time jobs elsewhere to provide for themselves. Jeff Nightbyrd regularly offered employees stock in lieu of salaries, though the stock, being printed paper in relation to a private company, bore no relationship to the actual value of the business.{{efn|As stated by Bill Hood, a former Austin Sun photographer and later the paper's art director.{{cite web|title=To Hell with Houston!|first=Bill|last=Hood|date=March 7, 2009|website=TheAustinSun.com|url=http://theaustinsun.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216142459/http://theaustinsun.com/|archive-date=Feb 16, 2016}} }}

The Austin Sun published its last issue on June 29, 1978.

Following the cessation of publication of the Austin Sun in 1978, several of its writers — Michael Ventura, Ginger Varney, Bill Bentley,{{cite news|first=Margaret |last=Moser|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:75120 |title=Back Door Man: The Man Behind More Oar, Bill Bentley|work=Austin Chronicle|date=December 17, 1999}} and "Big Boy" Medlin{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Ventura|url= https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/1998-10-02/520317/ |title=Report From L.A.|work=Austin Chronicle|date=October 2, 1998}} — relocated to Los Angeles, forming the core first editorial group of the LA Weekly, which commenced publication that same year.{{cite news|url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/la-weekly-founder-jay-levin-on-the-vision-that-started-it-all-2157271/ |title=L.A. Weekly Founder Jay Levin on the vision that started it all|work=LA Weekly|date=December 4, 2008|first=Jay|last=Levin|author-link=Jay Levin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529222210/http://www.laweekly.com/news/la-weekly-founder-jay-levin-on-the-vision-that-started-it-all-2157271|archive-date=May 29, 2016}} Some of those same writers, such as Ventura and Bentley, became key contributors to The Austin Chronicle when it commenced publication in 1981.{{cite web|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A82873|title=Chapter 1: Before the Beginning – September 1981 – August 1982|work=Oral History of the Austin Chronicle|date=September 7, 2001|publisher=AustinChronicle.com}} Both the LA Weekly and the Austin Chronicle continue to publish; both also remain associated with persons who were originally with the Austin Sun.

The social and cultural impact of the Austin Sun is recognized through the publication being indexed by the Library of Congress.{{efn|The Austin Sun is also included as part of the Alternative Press Collection of the University of California, Santa Barbara,{{cite web|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/data/13030/nx/ft400003nx/files/ft400003nx.pdf|publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara|title=Guide to the Alternative Press Collection}} as well as through ongoing reunion activities.{{cite web|url=http://theaustinsun.com/|title=The Austin Sun Reunion Group: FOR THE RECONNECTION OF ALUMNI OF THE AUSTIN SUN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216142459/http://theaustinsun.com/ |archive-date=2016-02-16 |website=TheAustinSun.com}} }}

A reunion of Austin Sun staff members was held in October 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/AustinSunPix/40-YearsLater.html |title=The Austin Sun Reunion, Halloween 2009|first=J. R. |last=Compton|website=The Party at the End of the Universe|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042923/http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/AustinSunPix/40-YearsLater.html|archive-date=Mar 4, 2016}} A website was established by former staff members Bill Hood and Deborah Stall Nelson, where former staff members and readers of the Austin Sun regularly shared recollections and updates.

Protection of the Austin Sun name appears to have been lost, in that for many years the name was used by a news aggregation site run by the World News Network, with no evident association with the original Austin Sun ownership.{{cite web|url=http://austinsun.com/ |title=Austin Sun Internet News Site|website=AustinSun.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503090038/http://austinsun.com/ |archive-date=May 3, 2012}}

In June 2016, the Austin Sun was relaunched as a website in the spirit of the original publication. Founding Sun writers Bill Bentley, James BigBoy Medlin, and Michael Ventura were contributors to the new site, along with original art directors Dan Hubig and Carlene Brady.{{cite web |url=http://www.austinsun.us/ |title = Austin Sun: A Journal of Humor, Music, Art & Politics for Austin & the Surrounding World, Since 1974|website=Austin Sun}} The relaunched Austin Sun has not been updated or posted new content since the spring of 2021.

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{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.austinsun.us/ Austin Sun relaunched website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160216142459/http://theaustinsun.com/ Archive of the Austin Sun alumni group]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713234058/http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/AustinSunPix/SUN.html Archive of Austin Sun photographs from 1975-1976 by J.R. Compton]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042923/http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/AustinSunPix/40-YearsLater.html Archive of Austin Sun reunion Photographs by J.R. Compton from 2009]

Category:1974 establishments in Texas

Category:1978 disestablishments in Texas

Category:Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States

Category:Defunct newspapers published in Texas

Category:Newspapers published in Austin, Texas

Category:Newspapers established in 1974

Category:Underground culture

Category:Underground press