BY TRACY DIETLIN, PUBLISHER
And in the blink of the eye, it’s been 13 years since I started Coachella Valley Weekly on March 29, 2012. I had big dreams for CV Weekly, but never did I imagine it would become what it has.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many amazing business people, philanthropists, charities in need of support, and talented musicians and artists in this beautiful desert.
We have tried to bring you coverage of everything going on here in the valley and Hi Desert so that as readers, you could broaden your horizons and enrich your lives. I, myself, have learned to appreciate all that this desert has to offer.
I have not done this alone. My husband Phil has been a huge support and we became a solid team doing this together. We also had the help of many great people over the years and especially our current team. We are in good hands with our Art Director, Robert Chance who designs the amazing covers every week, builds ads and assists with the layout of the publication. We refer to him as our #2. Then there is our #3 Bobby Taffolla, who also designs ads and handles updating our website every week. For the last several years we have been in the capable hands of our head Feature Writer, Crystal Harrell Schawacker, who brings us quality articles from interviews and coverage she does here in the Valley.
I also want to give a shout out to my incredible daughter, Michelle Brewer, who has been a huge support to us and CV Weekly over the years.
Next, I must mention my very talented writing team, many of them have been with us from day one such as Janet McAfee our Pet columnist, Dale Gribow on the Law, Haddon Libby on business and politics, Eleni Austin’s Consider This music column, Rick Riozza the Vino Voice and Ruth Hill the Cannabis Corner. Others that joined soon after are Marissa Willman on Travel, Michelle Mc Laughlin on Health, Nadi Popova’s Send Me A Trainer, Aimee Mosco with Swag for the Soul, Stan Popovich on Mental Health, Amir with the Tiara’s column on businesses, Madeline Zuckerman with her Society Scene column, Sam Di Giovanna on Safety and Evan Pivnick bringing our Firebirds coverage. We also have additional feature writers that include Esther Sanchez, Craig Michaels, Denise Ortuno, Noe Gutierrez, DeAnn Lubell and Rich Henrich.
I want to also thank our Sales team Jean Kirby, Tommy Westley and Christian Perez.
A big thank you to our photographers over the years Kurt Schawacker, Laura Hunt Little, Esther Sanchez and Chris Miller for providing us quality photos and videos to accompany the articles and for our covers.
They say it takes a village, and these people are our village. I am forever grateful for their hard work and loyalty.
As a result of CV Weekly I started the CV Music Awards shortly after the start of the paper. We took some time off after Covid, but the CV Music Awards will be back in full swing bigger and better than ever in Spring of 2026 as will our CV Music Showcases.
NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS! Much like the San Diego Reader, who after 52 years in print has decided to go online only, printing their last issue in February, CV Weekly is following suit. Moving forward we will be an online publication only, much like you are reading this now.
We have anywhere from 15,000- 18,000 people every week that come to our website to read the full issue. We have an additional 7500+ subscribers to our weekly eblast. If you are interested in being on that list, you can email philip@coachellavalleyweekly.com.
EVEN BIGGER NEWS! In a few weeks, we are getting ready to launch our CV Weekly YouTube TV Show/ podcast. It will be set up much like the Tonight show format as we will be having guests come into our studio for interviews to talk about whatever they are promoting. We will also have a weekly musical guest such as a solo artist or duo, even trio. We will also have a Pet of the Week that needs adopting. If you are interested in getting your business or event on the show you can email me at publisher@coachellavalleyweekly.com. We are so excited about this new endeavor as it, along with the digital issue, will take the place of the printed issue.
You will be able to access it through the tab on our website or go directly to our CV Weekly YouTube channel. Stay tuned for Launch date coming soon.
And finally, I want to thank all our advertisers over the years that have kept this ship running and of course, you, our readers, that we do all this for. Thank you to everyone that has made this wild, fun, crazy, exhausting and exhilarating 13 years a successful adventure!
