Founded in 1980, the Metro Times since its inception has been supported entirely by advertising and distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands, businesses, and libraries around the city of Detroit and its suburbs. Compared to the two dailies, the
Detroit Free Press and the
Detroit News, the
Metro Times has a liberal orientation, like its later competitor
Real Detroit Weekly. As of 2014, average circulation for the
Metro Times was 50,000 weekly and it was available at more than 1,200 locations. Average readership is just over 700,000 weekly. Its annual "Best of Detroit" survey awards local businesses. The categories include "Public Square" (city life); "Spend the Night" (nightlife and bars); "Nutritional Value" (restaurants and food); and "Real Deal" (retail and other stores). Syndicated alternative comics run by the
Metro Times have in the past included
Perry Bible Fellowship,
This Modern World,
Eric Monster Millikin and
Red Meat. The
Metro Times also prints Dan Savage's
Savage Love sex advice column (which replaced Isadora Alman's
Ask Isadora sex advice column) and Cal Garrison's
Horoscopes (which replaced
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology). Starting with the January 19–25 issue, the
Metro Times had its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary
Wordplay. Editors cut the crossword in May 2008 to save space. The paper was founded in 1980 by co-publishers Ron Williams and Laura Markham, with Williams as editor and Markham as business manager. In December 2012, Metro Times Editor W. Kim Heron announced his departure. Heron had previously been the paper's managing editor. In March 2013, after three months during which Michael Jackman was interim editor, the publisher named Bryan Gottlieb as Editor-in-Chief. In 2013,
Times-Shamrock Communications sold the newspaper to
Euclid Media Group. The company dissolved in August 2023 and the sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC. In April 2014, Valerie Vande Panne, former editor of
High Times, was named editor-in-chief. In May 2014, the
Metro Times merged with
Real Detroit Weekly, which had been a Detroit-area alternative weekly paper since 1999. Dustin Blitchok took over as editor-in-chief in February 2016, before resigning from the position in November of the same year. Former
Metro Times staff writer and associate editor for
Hour Detroit Lee DeVito was named editor-in-chief following Blitchok's departure. Euclid Media Group dissolved in August 2023 and the newspaper was sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC. ==Offices==