Webster-Kirkwood Times Gobbles Up West End Word

Hopefully the sale will improve the Word's website, which currently provides little more artwork than this pathetic screen grab.

​One wonders, does the Central West End have enough garden tours, ribbon cuttings and Boy Scout fund-raisers to satisfy the voracious news appetite of the Webster-Kirkwood Times?

Yes, apparently. Today the Webster-Kirkwood Times Inc. announced that it has purchased the West End Word, the bi-weekly publication that covers "city living from the Arch to the Innerbelt."

Dwight Bitikofer, publisher of the WKT, tells Daily RFT that his company was approached by Jeff Fister, owner of Word about purchasing the publication. Fister will continue to own and operate Virginia Publishing, publisher of the neighborhood monthlies Lafayette Square Marquis and Soulard Renaissance.

Bitikofer says it remains to be seen what changes his company will make at the Word. This much, he does know:

His business partner, Don Corrigan, will serve as editor-in-chief of the Word as he does for their other publications. Fran Mannino, the web editor for WKT, will serve as managing editor for the publication. Current editor of the Word, Kara Krekeler, is leaving the paper to return to school, says Bitikofer. He adds that he imagines to eventually make some new hires for the Word and improve its website. For now the paper will remain bi-weekly.

West End Word has published since 1972 and has a circulation of 20,000. The weekly Webster-Kirkwood Times is six years younger and has a circulation of around 40,000. The company also publishes the South County Times, a weekly that hits some 37,000 lawns each week. 

Bitikofer declined to say what his company paid for the publication.