ENTITY · PUBLICATION
Reggae Report
Well supported
Reggae news magazine founded in Miami in 1983 by M. Peggy Quattro and Michael "Zappow" Williams, reaching distribution in 42 countries at its peak before ending its print edition in 1999 and continuing as ReggaeReport.com.
At a glance
- Type
- publication
- Confidence
- Well supported
- Era
- Open era →
Connections
Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
commentary
The end of the specialist reggae magazine: critical loss or natural move online?
Long-running print titles that once anchored reggae criticism and reporting - The Beat (US, closed 2009 after 28 years), Reggae Report (Miami, ended print in 1999), Black Echoes/Echoes (UK) and Germany's Riddim (ended print in 2026) - have each given way to digital-only coverage. Some see the closures as a loss of edited, long-form criticism and advertising-supported reporting; others note that sites such as DancehallMag, United Reggae, LargeUp and Reggaeville have kept specialist reggae/dancehall journalism alive, and reach a larger, faster-moving global audience than print ever did. Sources: World Music Central; Reggaeville; Jamaica Gleaner; Wikipedia (Black Echoes).
Stance: a loss of edited long-form criticism vs a natural, more accessible move online
debate
Telling reggae's story: Jamaican domestic press or international specialist outlets?
Reggae and dancehall have long been documented on two tracks: Jamaican outlets such as the Gleaner reporting the culture as home news, and international specialist titles - Germany's Riddim, the US's Reggae Report, Britain's Black Echoes, and today's Reggaeville - interpreting it for overseas audiences. Some value the international press for the global visibility and dedicated column inches it gave the genre when mainstream music media largely ignored it; others argue the fullest, most contextually accurate account of the culture has always come from Jamaican journalists closest to it. Sources: Jamaica Gleaner; Reggaeville; ReggaeReport.com; Wikipedia (Black Echoes).
Stance: international specialist press expanding global visibility vs Jamaican domestic press's closer, more contextual authority