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FFWD editor Drew Anderson in their editorial offices in Calgary, Alberta, February 25, 2015. The free arts weekly will stop publishing and will publish its final issue March 5.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail

Fast Forward Weekly launched on Dec. 14, 1995, with a giant cover photo of Santa Claus and the question: "Would you sit in this man's lap?"

Calgary's alternative news and entertainment weekly had arrived. For 19 years and a bit, FFWD has provided an alternative voice in the oil-rich, conservative-dominated landscape, as well as an enormous and steady amount of smart, offbeat, damn-the-torpedoes arts coverage. So when its publisher and editor announced this month that the paper would cease publication after the March 5 issue, the outcry was intense, as are serious concerns about the impact on the city's arts community and the hole that will be left in its political coverage.

"We are an important voice for that sort of larger conversation about Calgary and we do provide a different perspective; we are truly an alternative voice," says editor and publisher Drew Anderson, who has been with FFWD off and on (mostly on) since 2008. "A lot of our readers, people that don't necessarily agree with us, have really been talking about what a blow this is for sort of that larger political and cultural conversation in the city."

The paper's owner, Great West Newspapers, told Mr. Anderson on Feb. 18 that it was pulling the plug – a few months short of what would have been FFWD's 20th anniversary. Mr. Anderson told his staff the next day. While readership has not declined, he explained in a public letter to readers, the ad revenue just was not there.

Eight full-time staff members, including Mr. Anderson, have received lay-off notices, and a small army of freelancers will be affected as well, many of whom have been with the paper from day one, such as the horoscopes writer, or close to it, such as the Video Vulture columnist (one recent column looked at media "in which genitals are given their own personalities, identities and lines of dialogue").

There is also now one less place in Alberta for young journalists to get their break.

"The paper really gave me my start, and that's the same for a lot of people in this city," says Mr. Anderson, whose first paid writing gig was a freelance book review for FFWD.

The largest impact will be on arts coverage, the paper's primary focus. "We covered arts and culture in the city like nobody else did," Mr. Anderson said earlier this week, after completing FFWD's penultimate issue. "We were their guide into that. So many people come to Calgary thinking that there isn't a vibrant cultural scene; that there aren't these excellent artist-run centres showing innovative local visual artists; that there aren't these great local theatre companies putting on these amazing productions, some of which are homegrown. So it's going to be a real blow for them, I think, too."

Mr. Anderson, his staff, and writers are putting together a final issue, which will include an official history of FFWD written by listings editor Kari Watson, who has been with the paper since the beginning. There will also be the usual weekly arts coverage. "We want to show a final bit of love to those theatre productions and exhibitions and whatnot that we can cover," says Mr. Anderson, who has been too busy – he is also shutting down the office, and planning a public good-bye party – to look into future employment opportunities.

It will be a large paper. The outpouring of support has translated into a great deal of advertising for the final issue. "So I think it's going to be a bit of a beast," Mr. Anderson says. "It's going to be … a proper send-off."

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