Silverglate wrote on legal matters Lita Lepie, author of the murder mystery Black Lotus, wrote one of the country's first Lesbian columns under the pseudonym Lilith Moon movie critic Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote about classical music, among other subjects Fred Hapgood covered science. As freelancers, the noted civil rights attorney Harvey A. Notable hires included reporters Joe Klein, Bo Burlingham, Anita Harris, Burt Solomon and Ed Zuckerman, the late movie critic Stuart Byron, and columnists Kay Larson, aka Nora Lasky (art), and Mark Zanger (food, as 'The Red Chef'), and music writers James Miller and Dave Marsh.

Two years of growth followed, accompanied by some employee turnover. Though no capital was ever invested, The Real Paper cooperative became self-sustaining within several months. Paula Childs, the listings editor, became a television reporter. David Chandler was the first design director, succeeded by Ronn Campisi and later Lynn Staley, who later became the head of design at The Boston Globe and Newsweek and Lucy Bartholomay, who succeeded Staley at 'The Globe.' Photo editor Peter Southwick also went on to 'The Globe' as photo editor and now directs the Boston University College of Communication photojournalism program. The editorial staff included women's columnist Laura Shapiro, former editor Harper Barnes, rock critics Jon Landau and James Isaacs, reporters Charlie McCollum and Chuck Fager, cartoonist David Omar White, and writers Stephen Davis, C. The Real Paper staff elected Robert Rotner as publisher, the late Jeff Albertson (a well-known staff photographer) as associate publisher, reporter Paul Solman as editor and Robert Williams as advertising director. Oliver, The Real Papers founding art director, was responsible for editorial and advertising graphic design from July 1972 to July 1973 and designed the paper's logo based on the original Phoenix type style. Because of the solidarity developed before and during the strike, the Cambridge group decided to continue publication as The Real Paper (by implication, 'The Real Phoenix') and organized themselves as an employee-run cooperative. The entire former staff of The Phoenix was now unemployed, the lone exception being the late sportswriter George Kimball, who went to work for Mindich. Mindich renamed his paper The Boston Phoenix After Dark, later shortened back to The Boston Phoenix. Hoping to eliminate his direct competition.

Soon afterwards, the staff was informed of the purchase of the paper – its name and goodwill – by Stephen Mindich, owner of the more established (and more commercial) competitor Boston After Dark. An agreement was reached within two weeks, without Barnes' reinstatement. A union was formed and almost all of the staff went on strike. In the summer of 1972, Richard Missner, owner of what was then simply called 'The Phoenix,' fired editor Harper Barnes in a journalistic dispute. The Cambridge Phoenix was born on October 9, 1969, founded by Jeffrey Tarter.

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