Ch. 3Magazines

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Ch. 3--Magazines
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Categories

• Unit specialized
• Internally specialized

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Unit specialized magazines

• Stereo Review
• Car Driver
• Midwest Living

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Internally Specialized Magazines

• News magazines
• Readers Digest
• Womens magazines

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Todays magazines succeed by

• Finding an overlooked market
• Reflecting personality of publisher
• Changing as reader tastes change

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Magazine History

• 1741 Andrew Bradford publishes American Magazine
• 1821 Saturday Evening Post founded, appealing to
  both men and women.
• 1857Harpers Weekly becomes first magazine to
  use engravings.

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• 1865Start of magazine boom. In 20 years,
  number increases from 700-3,300.
• First news magazine, The Nation, founded.
• 1879Postal rates decreased to encourage
  circulation under Postal Act of 1879.

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• 1880sWomens magazines flourish, such as Ladies
  Home Journal and Good Housekeeping.
• 1893McClures becomes first cheap mass
  circulation magazine at 15 cents.

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• 1903-1912Era of muckrakers, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln
  Steffens, Upton Sinclair.
• 1922DeWitt and Lila Wallace found Readers
  Digest.

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DeWitt Lila Wallace

• Believed magazine was needed to highlight the
  best of magazine writing.
• Refused advertising.
• Today, Readers Digest has largest circulation in
  world.

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Henry Luce

• 1925--With Briton Hadden, founded Time magazine
• Departmentalized news
• Developed Fortune, Sports Illustrated and others.
• Last of the great lords of the press.

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• 1925Magazine sales shift from subscription to
  newsstand.
• Metro. Magazines begin with New Yorker.
• 1930Magazines sold in grocery stores.

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• 1933Esquire founded. Most expensive magazine of
  time at 50 cents per copy.
• Newsweek and U.S. News begin.

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• 1936Life magazine starts. First photojournalism
  publication
• 1937Look, an imitator of Life, begins.
• 1940sConsidered golden age of general interest
  magazines.

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John Johnson

• 1942An African-American publisher, he starts
  Negro Digest, the forerunner of Ebony.
• Johnson fills needs of an overlooked market,
  providing articles and ads for African-American
  readers.

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Walter Annenberg

• 1948Founds TV Guide for New York viewers. Later
  takes magazine national as TV networks grow.
• Sold Triangle Publications to Rupert Murdoch in
  1989 for 3 billion.

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William Gaines

• 1952Starts Mad magazine, aimed at the adolescent
  market.
• Throughout most of its history, Mad did not have
  advertising.
• Spawned imitators, such as Cracked.

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Hugh Hefner

• 1953Founds Playboy, the first mens magazine to
  depict nude women in somewhat wholesome, ways.
  Tries to depict girl next door.
• Creates first issue, with Marilyn Monroe as
  centerfold, single-handedly.

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• 1954Henry Luce starts Sports Illustrated.
• 1967Look publishes first breakout editions.
• 1972Ms. Magazine founded by Gloria Steinem and
  other feminists.

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• People magazine is spun off Times popular People
  section.
• 1980sNearly 20,000 magazines in print, most
  targeted at specialized audiences.
• 1988Francis Lear starts Lears, a magazine aimed
  at women over 40.

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• 1993Time creates an online version via America
  Online.
• 1994Newsweek and other magazines begin Web
  versions of print publications.
• 1995George, a nonpartisan political magazine is
  started by JFK, Jr.
• 2000Thousand of magazines now occupy the Web,
  including zines.

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Extreme examples of demassification in magazines.

• Veterinary Economics Magazine (22,000)
• Police Product News (50,000)
• Fertilizer Progress (22,000)
• Reincarnation Report (25,000)
• The Celibate Woman (10,000)

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Magazine Trends

• City magazines increasing
• Controlled-circulation magazines grow in
  popularity.
• Industrial press growing with business prosperity.