Innovative Black magazine publisher James "Jim" Blount dies at 80

Robert Bell, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·2 min read

When James Blount, co-publisher of the long-running magazine for Rochester's Black community about...time, reflected on its five decades of impact earlier this year, he said its goal had always been to share positive news that wasn't easily available elsewhere.

Together with his wife, Carolyne, Blount worked tirelessly to create a space for authentic conversations about Black life.

“We talked about the issues at hand,” Blount, known as Jim, told a Democrat and Chronicle reporter earlier this year for a retrospective on Rochester's pioneering Black publications. “We highlighted people (who) were making a positive contribution to this community.”

James Blount died Thursday. He was 80 years old. The Democrat and Chronicle has yet to confirm details on funeral arrangements.

Carolyne and James "Jim" Blount in 2007. The Blounts have been stewards and leaders of about...time magazine, which has highlighted stories for and about Rochester's Black community.
Carolyne and James "Jim" Blount in 2007. The Blounts have been stewards and leaders of about...time magazine, which has highlighted stories for and about Rochester's Black community.

The Black Press: Black news outlets in Rochester told the stories others didn’t. And that work isn’t over.

His legacy as a champion of journalism began after he and his wife moved to Rochester in 1970. Blount got a job at IBM.

Together, they took over ABOUT…TIME in 1972. The magazine had only been around two years and had printed two editions.

Under the Blounts' stewardship, about...time celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Blount told the Democrat and Chronicle that they pushed through the initial skepticism of advertisers who were reluctant to invest.

“We kept saying and kept telling people that Blacks in this country spend a lot of money on the consumption of goods and services,” Blount said during his 2023 interview with the Democrat and Chronicle. “People now are beginning to realize — look what the companies are doing with advertisements."

In this undated photo, James Blount, co-publisher of the magazine about...time, interviews Colin Powell. Blount, a long-time advocate of journalism about Black people and for Black people, died at age 80.
In this undated photo, James Blount, co-publisher of the magazine about...time, interviews Colin Powell. Blount, a long-time advocate of journalism about Black people and for Black people, died at age 80.

At present, about...time still publishes quarterly in print and online.

Blount left reporting crime and poverty to the mainstream media, and so about...time focused on the Black community's accomplishments, explained current events, shared interesting profiles of movers-and-shakers and memorialized Black history.

According to Blount, there are "more good stories, more eventful things, more positive things that have gone unreported (and) underestimated in the Black community — for a long, long time."

Contact Robert Bell at: rlbell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @byrobbell & Instagram: @byrobbell.

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: James Blount, about...time publisher in Rochester NY, dies