DBR MEDIA

DBR Media, a syndicate founded eight years ago to service weekly newspapers and small town dailies, ceased operations on March 17, reports Dave Astor at Editor & Publisher. An e-mail to DBR’s roster of over 50 cartoonists and columnists explained that the company has been “experiencing very hard times” and could no longer stay afloat, adding: “Please know that every effort is going to be made to compensate you. Money is still owed to us from clients. We are hoping to recover that.” DBR’s founders — Diane Eckert, Brad Elson, and Richard Wilson, whose first names supplied the company’s name initials — all worked for King Features Weekly Service, with which their new company would be in more-or-less direct competition. While acknowledging the common clientele both companies would pursue, Eckert, who was executive editor of DBR at its founding, felt there was room for both: with over 11,000 weekly papers in the U.S., she noted, there were "more than enough" clients" to go around. Apparently not. KFWS, launched in 1986, is still running and, at last report (March 27), had picked up 17 of DBR's client papers. At least two of the DBR creators are offering their features through georgetoon.com: Polly Keener's strip Hamster Alley and her puzzle page, Mystery Magic; and Mark Szorady's comic strip George and comic game panels Double Take, Word Pile, and George's Word Ladder.