By: Mark Fitzgerald Glenn and Charles Cherry, brothers and principals in Florida's largest black-owned media company, intend to launch the first statewide black-oriented newspaper next month on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
According to an account in the St. Petersburg Times by media critic Eric Deggans, the Cherrys plan an initial launch of 100,000 copies of the new weekly statewide Florida Courier in five markets: Tampa/St. Petersburg, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach/Miami.
They plan to expand to 300,000 copies by the end of 2006.
Charles Cherry II is already publisher of two black-oriented papers, the Daytona Times and the Florida Courier, based in Ft. Pierce. The papers have a combined circulation of 25,000.
He and his brother are principals in Tama Broadcasting, a Tampa-based firm that operates 11 radio stations in three states. An E&P message seeking comment from the brothers was not immediately returned.
A prototype on the Web site,
www.flcourier.com, shows a colorful broadsheet.
The paper will initially be distributed free, but it will market mail subscriptions.
There are an estimated 1.8 million African Americans in the five markets the Florida Courier will target initially.
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