Go West, Local Man: 'Onion' to Launch San Francisco Print Edition

By: E&P Staff The deadpan satirical weekly The Onion is launching a print edition in San Francisco.

It's not clear exactly when the new edition will be launched, but San Francisco Chronicle columnist Dan Fost reported that Onion executives have been looking for office space and advertising for advertising salespeople on Craigslist.com.

The Onion began as a print weekly in Madison, Wis., in 1988, and over the years added editions in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Denver. It now publishes out of New York City, where it also has a print edition.

With more than 3 million viewers weekly, the Onion is read nationally, mostly through the Web. But it has substantial print distribution, including 100,000 copies in New York City and 85,000 in Chicago. Nationally, it claims a print readership of 990,000.

Onion President Sean Mills, who did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment, told Fost that the paper has wanted to publish in San Francisco for a long time.

"We think it's a good fit for the cultural and political sensibilities of the city," he said. "The people are well-educated. There's a lot of nightlife, a lot of bars and restaurants."

As it has in other cities, the Onion will be jumping into a market with established alternative papers, including the SF Weekly and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

"We see ourselves as something very different," Mills told Fost. "We think our content stands alone."