Brent Meredith has been named the first full-time managing editor for Out & About Newspaper, a monthly newspaper providing news, business and feature coverage for the Tennessee gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community.

Meredith has been active with the volunteer newspaper since it began publishing in October 2002, and has served as an entertainment reporter, arts editor and managing editor/creative director. He is also a host on Out & About Today, a GLBT news and information show on   Nashville’s CBS affiliate, WTVF NewsChannel 5+.

Out & About Newspaper (O&AN) started with a small volunteer staff of six, and has expanded to include a state-wide volunteer staff of more than 35.

Meredith will be responsible for reporting breaking news, overseeing the staff of volunteer reporters, editorial content of the newspaper, and layout and design. He has previously worked for Audio Media Magazine and Business Tennessee Magazine (formerly Nashville Post).

“This move will allow O&AN to better support and coordinate our growing volunteer staff,” explained Jerry Jones, publisher. “This is an exciting time and will allow the newspaper to continue to demonstrate that we are firmly committed to the Tennessee GLBT community.

The monthly publication is printed by Gannett Offset at The Tennessean, and has a print run of 12,000 copies. It is the only GLBT publication in Tennessee that provides free home delivery, and has more than 3,300 homes which have signed up for free home delivery. The print run is expected to jump to 15,000 within the next few months.

“We have been working hard to add new distribution sites,” said Anita Hodge, circulation and distribution manager. “The heightened awareness of the newspaper from the exposure on the TV show Out & About Today has increased the number of sites that want to carry the newspaper. We’ve recently added quite a few in the Nashville area and are looking to add more.”

More than 150 distribution sites are located in Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Johnson City, Cookeville, Murfreesboro, Clarksville and Huntsville, Alabama. O&AN shares many distribution stands with the weekly Middle Tennessee GLBT entertainment publication Xenogeny (www.xenogeny.com).

The TV show,  Out & About Today, is available in more than 525,000 homes in Middle Tennessee on Comcast and Charter cable on cable channel 50.

“I’m delighted and honored to be the first full-time employee,” Meredith said. “This move will allow O&AN to provide the best news content to our more than 30,000 readers throughout Tennessee and help further our amazing growth.”  

Meredith will begin his full time duties on November 7.