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Music & Entertainment 1953 Style… The Magazines And I Book. Chapter 12, Part 4.

December 14, 2021

Music and Entertainment Magazines … is the 12th chapter from the serialized book I am writing on the magazines of 1953, specifically March 1953, the month I was born.  This is chapter 12 part four.  Feel free to back track for chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven in previous blogs.  Enjoy.

In March 1953 magazines that covered music and entertainment offered a great service to fans by providing current gossip of their favorite actors, singers, heartthrobs, many song lyrics and melodies, plus other pertinent information for people clamoring to be in-the-know. 

We have to remember that at this time, television was still in its infancy, basically still a “talking piece of furniture” that many were trying to adjust to and get to know. And while TV Guide was published in April 1953, and was a very big title, it did have regional predecessors that covered the infant television scene before the launch of the national edition on April 3, 1953. 

Music and entertainment magazines were the eyes and ears for fans, doing what the Internet and television does today for many people. In March 1953 there was a “channel” for every aspect of a fan’s interest, from honing their own musicality by learning lyrics to their favorite songs to enhancing their knowledge of popular movies and their stars. Magazines were the Internet of the times once again…and March 1953 had some of the best.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

PHOTOPLAY

As one of the first American film magazines, Photoplay knew its spot was at the top. It was founded way back in 1911 in Chicago and for the most part was published by Macfadden Publications. In 1921, the magazine created the first significant movie award and became worthy of its tagline: America’s Largest-Selling Movie Magazine. Unfortunately, the title folded in 1980. 

The March 1953 issue had the lovely Jane Powell on its cover and an article by James Dougherty, a former Los Angeles police detective, entitled Marilyn Monroe Was My Wife, which she was for four years when she was still Norma Jean Baker and not the iconic sex symbol that she became. The issue also announced its Gold Medal Award Winners and was filled with a plethora of images of stars famous during that time. It was and is a very enchanting issue.

PHOTOPLAY ANNUAL

Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. Photoplay Annual was a yearly edition that offered color portraits of famous movie stars of the times. The 1953 issue was complete with Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Tony Curtis and many, many others. For most of its existence, Photoplay was published by Bernarr Macfadden. The 1953 issue gave us pictures of famous weddings of the year, divorces, and births. It was a must-have for fans.

PREVUE

Prevue, the pocket size movie review, was published monthly by Madison Publishing Company, Inc. in Atlanta, GA with the editorial, advertising, and executive offices in Carmel, NY. The magazine promised its readers that  “every month, from January through December, you’ll be up on every major movie to be released plus exclusive features on what the stars are doing…thinking…wearing.”  Stephan L. Saunders was the publisher and Barbara Reingold was the managing editor.

The March 1953 issue featured Cyd Charisse on the front cover and Shelley Winters on the back cover.  The cover line was “The Taste of Fame, by Rita Gam,” and the inside of the magazine was divided into two sections, Prevue Presents and Prevue Previews.  Needless to say there was no movie magazine in 1953 without the obligatory picture of Marilyn Monroe who was the Pin Up of the Month in that issue.

POPULAR SONGS

This magazine was another title published by Charlton Publications, known for its song lyrics publications, (as we saw with Hit Parader) and also its comic books published under the Charlton Comics umbrella. It had its own distribution company called Capital Distribution. 

The March 1953 issue was another reflector of great music of the times, with lyrics to songs like A Stolen Waltz and My Baby’s Coming Home. On the cover was the inimitable Danny Kaye and showcased the titles to the many different songs that’s lyrics lived upon its pages. 

RADIO-TV MIRROR

Bernarr Macfadden had a hand in this early entertainment magazine – you know it was television’s infancy when Radio got top billing. Macfadden Publications published this title on a monthly basis and offered an inside look at radio, TV, and records. It had some full-color features and lots of articles about the “people on the air.”

The March 1953 monthly had Julius La Rosa and Lu Ann Simms on the cover, two singers who appeared on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends regularly. There were stories about some local New York stations and many extras that fans found interesting, I’m sure, such as a story about Art Linkletter written by his son and why Patti Page was so lucky.

SCREEN STORIES

A Dell publication, Screen Stories brought yet more Hollywood entertainment information to life, with articles about all your 1950s favorites, from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Ann Miller. The magazine joined Dell’s other titles, such as Modern Screenand Who’s Who In Hollywood. The March 1953 issue featured the wholesome Jane Powell on the cover as everyone’s favorite Small Town Girl and offered 21 other stories and features. Great title with lots of celebrity information.

To be continued…

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Magazines And I Book | Leave a Comment »

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Quick: The Innovative Magazine That Fleur Cowles, Of Flair’s Fame, Left Behind. From The Mr. Magazine™ Vault… Part 1.

December 9, 2021
Quick magazine Vol. 1, No. 6, June 27, 1949. From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

If you mention Fleur Cowles’ name, Flair magazine will immediately come to mind.  The artsy, short lived (Feb. 1950 to Jan. 1951), and probably ahead of its time magazine, that Ms. Cowles edited and became famous for, is still the talk of the town when people refer to her journalistic history. In an interview in Vanity Fair magazine, she refers to a hardbound set of the original Flair magazine as her obit. She is quoted saying, “people ask me, if you could read your obit, what would it say? My answer is that I would like it to be about Flair.”

However, there was no mention in the entire in-depth interview with Ms. Cowles about another magazine she launched before Flair.  The magazine that she left behind (although some believed she was the brainchild behind it) was a newsweekly that was modeled in size after the mini devotional magazines published in that era like Daily Word (since 1924), The Upper Room (since 1934) and Our Daily Bread (since 1938), and set the stage for what so to be called “pocket” mass distributed magazines.  

Flair magazine Vol. 1, No. 1, Feb. 1950. From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

She and her third husband Gardner (Mike) Cowles launched Quick magazine in 1949. It was a weekly that dealt with people, pictures, and predictions. The magazine was 4 X 6 in size, small enough to fit in a man’s shirt pocket or a woman’s purse.  Ms. Cowles was the associate editor of the magazine and her husband was the editor, the same roles they had at the more famous Cowles publication Look. Quick’s concept was to give its readers “all the news and inside information you need to be well informed; its predictions will tell you of events to come. Carry it in your pocket or your purse – and read it wherever you are.”

The first few issues of the magazine, starting with the May 23, 1949 issue, were tested locally in New York City. The gradual national launch started with Vol. 1, Number 6 in June of 1949. It continued to grow until it reached national circulation with its July 18, 1949 issue. This is why the magazine celebrated its first anniversary with the the July 17, 1950 issue.

Quick magazine Vol. 1, No.9 , July 18, 1949. From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

The editors of Quick wrote in the first anniversary issue, “Just one year ago this week we launched Quick across the nation. At the time, we didn’t know how you would accept it.  But the growth has been strong, rapid and continuous – greater than anybody had dared to hope for.  We started that week, a year ago, with about 290,000 copies.  Now, Quick is selling nearly 900,000 every week.”

Quick magazine Vol. 3, No. 3, July 17, 1950. From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

They go on to describe the content of Quick, “Each issue of Quick contains 11,000 words, giving the most significant aspects of the biggest and latest news in 27 fields of current interest.  There are about 100 photographs in each issue – the best news and feature photographs available in the world.”

As for the idea behind the launch of Quick, the editors go on to say, “Quick gives you a short, clear, easy-to-read summary of the week’s news – just what you need to keep you informed.  We want to make Quick your most useful magazine by so editing it that you will absorb the news you need in the shortest possible time.  We know your time is valuable.”  Sounds like the Mr. Magazine’s™ tagline, “more information in less time and less space.”

But alas, like the famous song says, “only the good die young,” Quick died shortly before it celebrated its fourth anniversary.  The last issue of Quick under Cowles was published on June 1, 1953.  Editor Gardner Cowles wrote addressing the readers of Quick, “This is the last issue of Quick.  Despite the fact that 1,300,000 people have been buying and enjoying this unique news magazine, publishing costs continued to exceed revenues.”

Quick magazine Vol. 8, No. 22, June 1, 1953. From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

He added, “A good many advertisers found that Quick, used ingeniously, produced good results.  Too many other advertisers felt that the small page-size was too much of a handicap.  Without a substantial volume of advertising Quick could not continue as a quality news magazine. So we decided to merge Quick with Look, and thus preserve many of the news weekly ‘s most popular features.  These will be in Look, beginning with June 30 issue – on sale June 16.”

Look magazine Vol. 17, No. 13, June 30, 1953. (To give you an idea of the difference in size between Quick and Look magazines, I shot a picture of Quick on top of Look for illustration purposes). From Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s collection.

However, in its four years span, Quick magazine was innovative on many fronts in content, advertising, marketing and sponsorships. In future blogs I will address those innovations one at a time, and later will write about the return of Quick under another famous publishing figure from that era.

So stay tuned, there is much more to be written about Quick magazine… 

Posted in From the Vault, Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | Leave a Comment »

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InPickleball Magazine: Celebrating & Enforcing The Joy Of the Game. A Q&A With, The Man Behind The Magazine, Richard Porter.

December 7, 2021

From the CEO of a media company who launched a new magazine with a 9.2 million circulation to president of media sales at a national media group of the largest magazine media company in the world, to the launch of an ultra-niche new magazine,  Richard Porter has done it all and he is not done yet.

From the CEO of the Publishing Group of America (PGA) to the President of media sales for the Meredith Corp., Mr. Porter’s new venture is In Pickleball, a lifestyle publication that reinforces the joy of the game.  A game that is seeing both an uptake in its practitioners and devotees.

I had the chance to ask him a few questions about this latest launch and he was gracious enough to answer them.

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni:  In a nutshell, tell me what is In Pickleball ?  When was it started and how often it is going to be published? Why now and why it is necessary, sufficient and relevant in today’s marketplace?

Richard Porter:  InPickleball launched this summer.   Our third issue will be in market next week.  This is a “media brand” launch that includes a magazine, a website, social media, video, and ultimately ecommerce.  The magazine will be published 10x a year.  Subscription prices are being tested from $24.99 per year to $39.99 per year.  We are testing a variety of sources for circulation — we will be on newsstands in Barnes & Nobel, will test FSIs and Direct Mail, also Facebook ads and other sources/locations where active pickleball players congregate (local clubs, resorts, tournaments, etc).    InPickleball is designed as a lifestyle publication — it reinforces the joy of the game — attributes of pickleball include:

* Social —  usually four people play together.

* Accessible —  The game is easy for all generations to learn — and be pretty good! — quickly compared to other sports.  

* Inclusive not Exclusive — unlike tennis or golf, pickleball really allows all kinds of people from all socioecomic strata, to play together.

* High Engagement/High Passion — but NOT divisive.  Pickleball players are typically on a spectrum from AVID to OBSESSED….people love it! So engagement is high, but content is not divisive (so much of our media/social content today is “hot takes” or “left vs. right” stuff, we feel GREAT about how pickleball is happy for all! — if I was a preacher, I would say this game is good for America and the world!  Social, healthy, fun, accessible, inexpensive…. nice attributes to bring us all together.

Richard Porter

S.H.:  Your background is in big magazine media companies and launches in the millions, how is this launch different from your previous ventures?  

R.P.: I have led a media company with only 50 employees, and worked in executive positions in companies of thousands.  One difference in today’s market, sadly, is the amount of great magazine talent that can’t find a place in the diminished staffing of larger magazine companies.   That has been a wonderful opportunity for InPickleball to hire freelancers, contract workers…the gig economy.  So we were able to launch a beautiful products with a team of top-credentialed people — backgrounds from Entertainment Weekly, The NY Times, The New Yorker, and many other top brands are represented in our ranks.    My very first job was at Ziff-Davis Publishing — at special interest sports magazines like Fly Fisherman, Backpacker, Sport Diver, Adventure Travel, Ski X-C…..I also spent some time at Rodale (Runner’s World, Bicycling).   So while I am known in many quarters for working at some of the largest magazine brands — Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, Meredith Corp — my training was in titles that share some characteristics with InPickleball — vertical, how-to, passionate, active participants for example.

S.H.:  Who is the audience of In Pickleball and how do you plan to reach them?

R.P.: The audience for InPickleball magazine is active pickleball enthusiasts.  It’s the fastest growing sport in the country, so finding pickleball players to become readers will get easier for us every day!  There are “hot beds” of pickleball — California, Texas, Utah, Florida, Minnesota to name a few states….and within those states, there are certain cities/towns that really over-index.  Resorts like Marriott is ripping out tennis courts that are not being used by their guests, and replacing them with pickleball.  Retirement communities are now often built with pickleball courts.  There are many local clubs of players who have organized themselves (in Connecticut, one group built courts on the train station parking lot, as the lot was empty due to the pandemic!   Today — about half of all pickleball players are over 50 years old, typically affluent, high HHI.   But the sport is growing fast with younger people —  at least 28 colleges have club teams; it’s becoming a varsity sport at high schools.  The game was originated by three dads in 1965 for their kids to play, the whole family can play.

S.H.:  What are some of the obstacles, if any,  facing you with this venture and how do you plan to overcome them?

R.P.: Obstacles are plenty for any start-up business.  And maybe more so for media businesses.  And even more so for a magazine in 2021.   It isn’t for the faint of heart.  In the case of our magazine, the approach is to rely on the reader, not so much the advertiser, for revenue — as you know “secular decline” has found its way to magazines.  The pickleball market today is fragmented when it comes to media voices, many small ones — nobody has yet become the “megaphone” for the market.  That’s our objective.  To earn robust subscription revenue, which is critical, from readers — we have bet on quality.  I mentioned the great credentials already.  Look at a copy and you will also see and feel the quality — 60 lb paper stock, very white (not gray or yellow) that really holds saturated inks to make the graphics and photos pop!  Cover stock is 100 lb matte UV — we think of the sport as a tactile experience, and an aspirational one (people want to improve of course) so the magazine resonates that too — it’s a great tactile experience.  

S.H.:  Some say we don’t have a print problem, we have a business model problem in the magazine media industry, what do you think?  What is the role of print in today’s media landscape?  What is the future of print?

R.P.: I think we do have a print problem, not just a business model problem.  The business model can be really attractive actually — recurring revenue, first party data, quality content, subscriptions….streaming services have this model, and it’s  a good one.   But lowering quality to lower price and hope you sell enough ad pages to cover it, well, that’s just not a good idea.  Part of the print problem is simple:  Today, many ad agencies have great expertise in digital, video, social, data, etc. — ten years ago the leaders at those agencies had great print experience and passion for the medium.  Finding those knowledgeable advocates …. well, there are fewer of them, so the advertising decline can be a spiral….fewer resources evaluating/recommending the medium will lead to fewer magazines, leading to fewer resources, and around we go….

S.H.:  Anything else you’d like to add before my typical last question?

R.P.:  Well … sure!   I am very proud to have led two teams that won Launch of the Year honors from you!  Relish and Spry.  My goal?  I want to win a third time, Samir!!   InPickleball has a chance to be a really magical ride….I liken myself to an old rocker who was sitting around with his acoustic guitar, quietly writing his own songs, not recording or performing….and then, got together with some other really strong players….put together a band…and…whoosh!  Maybe we have some great new tunes that people will love, and we do an album, hit the road supporting it.     It’s a fun vision!

S.H.:  What keeps Richard up at night?

R.P.: What keeps me up at night?  I am pretty reliant on “to do” lists …. I try to write my list before I hit the pillow, so I can rest at ease knowing my path is charted for the next day.   If I have a day where I forget to make that list, or just don’t do it, I often wake in the middle of the night thinking about something I need to do.   I often then text or email myself that reminder, and go back to sleep…or try to…..I am an advocate of the podcast — one earbud in, the other ear on the pillow.   If I really cannot sleep, I will learn about ecommerce, or sports, or history….or sometimes the droning voices will put me to sleep, so that’s great too!

Thank you so much for your interest.  Cannot wait for Issue 2 to be in your hands….as I said it’s a tactile experience that you will love.  And with a pickleball player already in your family, you have a new reader at the ready for us! Cheers…

S.H.: LOL and Thank you.

Posted in A Launch Story..., Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | Leave a Comment »

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“Print Magazines, Not Money” & 27 Other Reasons For The Power Print In Bitcoin Magazine…

December 6, 2021

The relaunched Bitcoin magazine (Fall 2021) published a team letter from the publisher celebrating the necessity of print and why print is needed today more than ever. I rarely reprint someone’s else work, but in this case I am going to make an exception and reprint some of Bitcoin magazine’s the power of print reasons… Enjoy.

You can read the entire reasons for the power of print by clicking on the image below, but here are three of my favorites:

“Every revolution had a magazine.” Mike Germano

“Like proof of work, a paper magazine inextricably links a negatively digital innovation with the physical world, supporting a technology built with humanity in mine.” David Zel

“With the print magazine, all the worlds most important stories on bitcoin can be held in your hand and in your possession. Unhampered and uncensored by the internet.” Will Heckman

And what is good for Bitcoin magazine in print is good for the majority of the magazines out there. So, head to the nearest newsstand or bookstore and pick up a magazine or two and feel the power of print in your hands…

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, New Launches, News and Views | Leave a Comment »

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From Content Providers To Experience Makers In Seven Easy Steps… A Mr. Magazine™ Musing.

December 3, 2021

Almost every magazine and magazine media company today has a Chief Content Officer and Chief Revenue Officer.  I think those media companies need to have a Chief Experience Maker instead.  Don’t misunderstand me, content is important. I will venture to say revenue is even more important.  However, if you are in, and plan to stay in, the magazine media business, you will need to, without delay, appoint a Chief Experience Maker.

Magazines have always been experience makers. Take a look at some of the titles of the “mini pocket magazines” of the 1950s. Experience making at its best. From the collection of Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D.

What role does the Chief Experience Maker play?  Here are my seven steps to change from a content provider to an experience maker:

Step 1:  Know your audience. Let me be clear: really know your audience.  We live in the digital age; that means the audience data is at your fingertips.  Study the data, make it priority number one.  Find out everything and anything about the audience your brand is going to engage with and carry on a long-lasting relationship.  Audience first means your audience is your customers. Customers always want to be heard, whether right or wrong, so study and analyze the data. Experience makers are matchmakers.

Step 2:  Humanize your magazine media brand.  Your brand needs to be much more than ink on paper or pixels on a screen.  Your brand needs to be humanized, i.e., having the magic touch that changes the brand to a living breathing human being.  If your brand is a human being, who will it be?  What type of person will it be?  Determine the voice, the values, and the vision that person has in mind.  People engage with people.  It will make the experience much easier to start, continue and last for a good amount of time.

Step 3:  Create and curate habitual addictive content that is edited, vetted, and presented in a time and energy saving manner.  This is where the editor, a good editor, is needed to combine the creation with the curation. As I always advise my clients and anyone else who is willing to listen, “If your audience can find the information on Google, that piece of information does not belong in your magazine media.”

Step 4:  Focus on what I call the MVP of the magazine media business:  meet and exceed the audience expectation, validate all the information, and preview the near future to them.  Achieving that expectation through the creating and curating will help you take a step in the right direction of becoming an experience maker.

Step 5:  Make sure that your content is relevant to the audience, necessary to the audience, and on top of it all, sufficient to the audience.  Your audience should not need another brand or platform to finish, fulfill, or lose themselves in that experience.  No one would enjoy a movie if you keep asking them every few minutes to change from theater 1 to theater 3 and then back to 1 or 4.

Step 6:  Once the aforementioned steps are secured, you can start with step 6:  Dating your audience.  No relationship or experience exists in vacuum, and in order to start an experience or a relationship, you need to think about it as if you are dating.  Start with one date, then another, and once the relationship develops, you are ready now for your engagement, and long-lasting partnership.  The experience making is just starting.

Step 7:  What is an experience without a dash of luck?  Well, you always need that dash of luck in any relationship and in any experience.  So, here’s some good luck wishes to you and yours. We look forward to a great magazine media experience making business that only the Chief Experience Maker can deliver.  Are you ready?  

So, what are you waiting for?  Go for it, you can easily be the Chief Experience Maker.  Good luck!

Questions or comments, feel free to reach out to Mr. Magazine™ at samir.husni@gmail.com

Posted in A Mr. Magazine™ Musing, Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | 2 Comments »

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Music & Entertainment 1953 Style. The Magazines And I Book. Chapter 12, Part 3.

November 28, 2021

Music and Entertainment Magazines … is the 12th chapter from the serialized book I am writing on the magazines of 1953, specifically March 1953, the month I was born.  This is chapter 12 part three.  Feel free to back track for chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven in previous blogs.  Enjoy.

In March 1953 magazines that covered music and entertainment offered a great service to fans by providing current gossip of their favorite actors, singers, heartthrobs, many song lyrics and melodies, plus other pertinent information for people clamoring to be in-the-know. 

We have to remember that at this time, television was still in its infancy, basically still a “talking piece of furniture” that many were trying to adjust to and get to know. And while TV Guide was published in April 1953, and was a very big title, it did have regional predecessors that covered the infant television scene before the launch of the national edition on April 3, 1953. 

Music and entertainment magazines were the eyes and ears for fans, doing what the Internet and television does today for many people. In March 1953 there was a “channel” for every aspect of a fan’s interest, from honing their own musicality by learning lyrics to their favorite songs to enhancing their knowledge of popular movies and their stars. Magazines were the Internet of the times once again…and March 1953 had some of the best.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

MOVIE PIX

Movie Pix was a bimonthly magazine that was published by Astro Distributing Corporation and offered up great photographs of all the Hollywood legends and stars. From Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner to Rory Calhoun, this entertainment magazine had the pictures you must see and the stories you must read if you were a Hollywood fan.

The February/March 1953 issue had Betty Grable and her notorious legs on the cover, taking a bubble bath in an old-fashioned ornate bathtub. The stories inside featured Ava Gardner, Donald O’Connor, Gregory Peck and a host of others. Celebrity entertainment at its best.

MOVIE PLAY

This magazine had the inimitable F. Orlin Tremaine as its editor in chief. Tremaine had been the editor for the influential Astounding Stories for many years. Movie Play was yet another celebrity title that offered film reviews, information on television, fashion and gossip that couldn’t be missed. 

The March 1953 issue had Piper Laurie and her “Lucky Bunny” on the cover and proclaimed that it was open season on Hollywood Bachelors. And of course ten years with Elizabeth Taylor was a given. One just had to read the magazine cover to cover. 

MOVIE STARS PARADE

Ideal Publishing and William Cotton couldn’t be outdone when it came to the Hollywood celebrity magazines as Movie Stars Parade was another of their titles. With the tagline: the magazine for smart young moviegoers, the magazine’s mission was to be savvy and upbeat, interviewing and photographing everyone who was anyone in Hollywood.

The March 1953 edition had Ann Blyth on the cover and declared they had the man who knew her best inside the covers. Another star confesses her angst over why men jilt her. It’s a bit of a repeat performance here with some of the other celeb titles, but there seemed to be room for one more. 

MOVIE WORLD

Another bimonthly magazine devoted to the world of movies and movie stars, Movie World was published by Interstate Publishing Corp. in New York City under the editorship of Bessie Little and publisher Martin Goodman.  In her letter from the editor Ms. Little encourages the magazine readers to stay interested in films by buying the sister publications of Movie World, Screen Stars and Filmland.

Movie World describes itself as “Hollywood’s Intimate All-Picture Magazine,” and the March 1953 features Doris Day, staring in the movie “April in Paris,” on the cover. However the big cover line, touts Marilyn Monroe’s own glamour secrets in addition to Lana’s greatest love. The magazine was divided into four sections: Hollywood Hilites, Hollywood Works, Hollywood Plays, and Hollywood at Home.

MUSIC JOURNAL

This magazine was founded by songwriter Al Vann and Choral Director Fred Waring in 1943, although only Vann was listed as publisher and advertising director. Vann had been a young Broadway actor and composed several songs throughout his lifetime: “Forever More,” “I Never Care About Tomorrow,” and “Old Man Moon.” The magazine was a look at the world of music from an educational viewpoint, in fact music educator Ennis Davis was the magazine’s editor.

The March 1953 issue was filled with articles about church festivals in Atlanta, the lowdown on orchestras, and movies and music. It had a musical crossword and a music quiz. Just a fun and informative magazine with an educational slant that couldn’t be ignored, yet didn’t make it stodgy at all. 

MUSIC OF THE WEST MAGAZINE

Joining together, many western music teachers associations, such as in Arizona, Oregon and Washington State, were featured in this educational tool used to inform and instruct on musicians of Western America. Founded in 1945, the magazine was `inspirational in connecting music teachers out west.

The March/April 1953 issue had Californian and Mezzo-Soprano Ruth Reynolds on its cover, a Coronado native who made a name for herself in the musical world during the ‘40s and ‘50s. There were letters from Europe and music and book reviews, along with all kinds of ads for music classes, pianos and other things of musical interest. The issue had a savvy look and a nice feel to only be 15 pages.

To be continued…

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Magazines And I Book | Leave a Comment »

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What If Digital Was First And Print Became The Revolution? A Mr. Magazine™ Musing…

November 19, 2021

What if… 

A Mr. Magazine™ Musing…

What if I tell you that regardless of what area you’re interested in, I can save you time, money, effort, energy, and provide you with all the information you want at your fingertips? What if I tell you that I can save you an entire week of Googling and digitally searching and sifting through all kinds of information to give you what you’re looking for? 

What if I tell you that there’s an invention that will put all the information that you’re looking for at your fingertips at a fraction of the cost that you would pay for an iPad or an iPhone or any other smart digital device? 

What if I tell you that this invention needs no batteries, no electrical connections, no solar power; nothing whatsoever except your hands to activate its power? What if I tell you that this new device is portable; it will fit in your purse or your coat pocket and you can take it anywhere with you? You can engage with it without worrying about losing power or anything else. 

What if I tell you that with this device you can mark it, clip it, tear it, read it and use it at your own pace? What if I tell you that this device is so innovative that it can surprise you with even more information than you originally wanted to know about? It will not only give you what you need and what you want, but also will give you things you didn’t know you needed or wanted. 

What if I tell you that once you engage with this device, you will have the time of your life because you’ll lose yourself, you’ll escape into a world that immerses you? There will be no popup moments; no uninvited content, everything in this device will be coherent and relevant, necessary and sufficient. 

What if I tell you that this device will become a longtime friend, something that you have been anticipating forever? So enough with the What Ifs, I can tell you now that this device is already here and it’s called a magazine? You can name the subject that you’re interested in and you will find a title on that topic with this new device, this magazine. It will answer and provide everything you’re looking for on that subject matter and so much more.

Is it a dream of the future? Lucky for you, no it’s not. It’s actually something current; something that is now and available. So what are you waiting for? Head to the newsstand, pick up a magazine, sit down and enjoy. Then let me know your thoughts on what if magazines were not invented until after the digital age…don’t you think print would start a revolution?

Mr. Magazine™ sits, reading a magazine, and waiting on your response…

Until the next time…

Posted in A Mr. Magazine™ Musing, Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | Leave a Comment »

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RACEWKND magazine: Delivering the Culture & Lifestyle of Formula 1 to Your Home. The Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Magnus Greaves, Founder And Publisher.

November 18, 2021

“So a beautiful, oversized print product that is delivered to your home can have the effect of connecting you to the sport.” Magnus Greaves, Publisher, RACEWKND

Never give up trying new ideas. The aforementioned can easily describe Magnus Greaves, the man coming from the world of finance and an entire Wall Street driven media magazine venture, Double Down Media, that went belly up when the entire market, and the American magazine business model that was based on that market, went belly up too! Magnus, the ever-dreaming and planning financier, found yet another way in this digital age to enhance print and ensure its success in a completely different way than his previous ventures at Double Down Media, MyMag, and Rev.

In 2021 Magnus Greaves founded RACEWKND, a magazine that celebrates the culture and lifestyle of Formula 1 and delivers the racing experience right into your home.

I asked Magnus seven questions about his new venture. My questions and his answers are below. Enjoy…

Q1:  In a nutshell, tell me what is RACEWKND?  When was it started and how often it is going to be published?
RACEWKND celebrates the culture and lifestyle of Formula 1, the highest level of motorsport which is also seen as one of the world’s most glamorous sports. Back in 2015 I started a similar magazine called Rev Journal but was inspired during the pandemic to make significant changes to the branding, packaging, distribution and overall business model. This resulted in RACEWKND which has been extremely well received and we are now on a schedule to publish four issues per year. 

Q2:  How is this launch different from your previous venture MyMag?
MYMAG was a personal publishing platform for famous people but was sadly a bit ahead of it’s time (which I know sounds odd for a print product!) The innovation was in how we worked with the individual and I’m actually revisiting that concept again as I feel it ties in extremely well with social media. RACEWKND is much different as the original premise was more about filling a void in the market (this sexy global sport had no media product that celebrated its sexiness) and the innovation this time comes through the business model and distribution plan. 

Q3:  Who is the audience of RACEWKND and how to you plan to reach them?
Formula 1 has been extremely popular globally for decades but it’s never been able to crack the US market. In recent years the sport was also having a very hard time attracting new fans. That all changed quite dramatically with the Netflix show “Drive to Survive” which explores Formula 1 through the personalities, drama and locations. As a result, F1 is now exploding in the USA and is attracting a far more diverse audience. RACEWKND is created to appeal to this new audience as our editorial approach and design sensibility is a perfect next step for these new fans which, given the size of Netflix, now outnumber the size of the old-school F1 fan base. 

Q4:  What are some of the obstacles, if any,  facing you with this venture and how do you plan to overcome them?
The biggest obstacle we face is in connecting with the American F1 fan base in an efficient way. I will never, ever go down the newsstand route again and that simply wouldn’t be effective with this audience anyway, particularly in the USA. And unlike sports such as basketball, there are no stadiums that host multiple home games and no chains like Foot Locker that sell team merchandise, snaking it hard to find alternative channels to fans. So we had to come up with a completely new plan and that lead to a genuine breakthrough- RACEWKND has adopted the modern direct-to-consumer business/distribution model that’s been so successfully implemented for products such as eyeglasses, clothing, mattresses, etc. I figured if this approach works for mattresses, then certainly a light, flat product like a magazine should be perfect and the results have been amazing. We start the process with targeted advertising and affiliate partnerships which connect us to F1 fans. We then sell every subscription on our Shopify platform and send magazines out very efficiently using AmazonFBA. In fact, I’m thinking about working with other magazines to show them how to implement this great business model which brings so many benefits. 

Q5:  Some say we don’t have a print problem, we have a business model problem in the magazine media industry, what do you think?  What is the role of print in today’s media landscape?  What is the future of print?
Well I 100% agree with this statement!! Per my answer above, studying the direct-to-consumer business model (as well as the subscription box business model) completely changed how I perceive the magazine business, and it’s completely changed the economics of running a magazine company. As for the role of print, I feel it’s more relevant than ever for publishers that use it in a way that truly takes advantage of the medium, which unfortunately not many do. But the flip side of that is that many publishers have done an amazing job of adapting their offering to beautiful new tablets, so growth for magazine brands can come in many forms. As for RACEWKND, a tangible print product has enormous value as Formula 1 hosts 23 races in 23 different countries resulting in 95%+ of fans not attending a race during the season. So a beautiful, oversized print product that is delivered to your home can have the effect of connecting you to the sport. When there is only one shop in the USA that is dedicated to selling F1 merchandise, having a product like RACEWKND come to your house is a nice experience that is hard to replicate. 

Magnus Greaves, publisher, RACEWKND

Q6:  Anything else you’d like to add before my typical last question?
Operating in this new direct-to-consumer business environment has really highlighted to me the value of print as a product in a fresh way as well as the need to create a brand that reflects your overall goals rather than simply what you aim to achieve with a magazine. As a result, I feel less exposed to the various direct threats of the traditional publishing industry and more connected to the innovative companies that are being launched and celebrated in different arenas. And you will have noticed there is not one ad in our magazines- this new business approach eliminates that hassle!!

Q7:  What keeps Magnus up at night?
I go to sleep every night thinking of new ways to connect with the potential RACEWKND audience and making sure that we are doing a good job communicating the attributes of our great print product across digital channels. The tools are in place to achieve all of this but you have to continuously seek out best practices (from outside the publishing industry!) to stay on top of it all. 

Indeed, and thank you…

Posted in A Launch Story..., Innovation in print, Magazine Power, New Launches, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | Leave a Comment »

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A “Mr. Magazine™” Conversation With Tom Florio, Founder & CEO, ENTtech Media Group. Part 2.

November 12, 2021

The News: “PAPER and Google Shopping have partnered to transform the trends of 2021 into an innovative shoppable magazine. Celebrities and influencers Jennifer Coolidge, Bella Poarch, Bretman Rock, Bia and Law Roach are featured. The shoppable magazine packages 21 of the most boundary-pushing trends in an editorial feature conceived by cultural disruptor PAPER. The trend list, including ‘cottagecore’ and TikTok Beauty was curated based on Google trends data.”

The Interview: Having seen the aforementioned press release, I decided to reach out to Tom Florio, of Vogue & Condé Nast’s fame and currently the founder & CEO of ENTtech Media Group LLC, which owns PAPER, and engaged in a Mr. Magazine™ conversation about ENTtech Media Group, 21of21 Shoppable magazine, the past, present and future of magazines and media brands.  Here is part two from our conversation presented in a new Mr. Magazine™ interviews format.  Hope you will enjoy…

On the Genesis of 21of21: I was in conversation with Stephanie Horton, the head of marketing for Google Shopping. And we had this idea about how to take information that’s coming from the consumer and curate it and create viral stories. And we have done it with the Demi Lovato story after NASA put out all this data about UFO.  Demi Lovato was all over her social media talking about UFO’s. So the editors of Paper, based on what was coming through social media, created this piece around Demi Lovato, where we actually made her an alien and shot it, and it went viral over the internet. 

So with Stephanie Horton we started to talk about how we could work together. And she said we have a lot of data in our Google trends and it would be really interesting to have your editors look at the data that’s coming through fashion, entertainment, and social, and have them curate what they think are the kind of coolest trends and create an editorial strategy that could be completely shoppable. And that’s what we’ve done. So when we looked at the trends, we studied the data and then we did what we do best: matched some of the content and some of the data with personalities, like taking Jennifer Coolidge and putting her with “cottage core,” which was kind of funny. With Google we built an entire new site around it from scratch, and the idea is to curate what the consumers are searching for and to add an entertainment quality to it, which we’re able to do as Paper, because we understand where the internet and pop culture come together, but then add this other layer of shoppability to it. And this was our first one out. 

On His Future Plans: I could say Google is amazing to work with. I mean they’re just so smart and fun to work with.  For me, it’s just consistent with where I’ve wanted to go with what a magazine is. It’s all about pushing everything forward. I’ve never used technology to hold on to an old way of doing media. And I think it’s one of the big mistakes larger companies have done. In 2004, we had shopvogue.com before there was a smartphone. You were able to scroll over things and click it and go to a URL. Neiman Marcus was the backend. So, even back then, you could shop the September issue of Vouge and we had 250,000 people spending 70,000 hours online shopping. 

So, so I’ve never been interested in using technology to support an old way of doing business. I’ve always been interested in taking magazine brands and pushing them out beyond the magazines. Let the magazine do what it does best that, and push it out beyond even its dot.com site. 

For me right now, taking ENTtech to a new level, doing shoppable magazines, doing NFTs, creating a record label because we produce a lot a of young talent like Dorian Electra.  These are the ways to take a content strategy with a, with a tech distribution platform, and just continue to communicate in different areas of entertainment for an audience. 

On ENTteck Media and Diversity: I launched ENTtech from scratch with one investor, and we grew five times in two years. And we’re taking a profit. We didn’t take profit last year, but we will break even or profitable one year after COVID. I actually spoke to a larger media company about investing in us because one of the things we do particularly well is we normalize diversity. It’s not like we’re trying to retrofit elitist with diversity. We did an issue with Colin Kaepernick on the cover of the September 2019 issue. The theme was “Know Your Rights.” 

We do the same with the LGBT community. We normalize; we don’t get wise. A lot of the work that we do is with big brands quietly behind the scene, advising them on their campaigns, to the LGBT community, to diverse audiences, and we help them create content strategies around them. So I think that’s a space that we have a lot of cultural legitimacyin, and we have a significant group of young, creative, and diverse contributors that enjoy working with Paper because we let them do the kind of work that’s important to them because it’s important to us. That’s part of our unique point of view in the world. 

The Future of ENTtech and 21of21: I’ve already had a little bit of feedback, um, that they liked it and they want to do it again, and we’ll probably move it up to September. I think there’s a lot of learning that took place. Stephanie and I met on this in July, we pulled the trigger on it in August and we delivered it in October. So our teams collectively worked really hard and furious to execute this. I could see an opportunity to take the entire Paperplatform and make it all shoppable. I don’t see any reason why a content platform shouldn’t be shoppable; people want to buy things.

I think our ability to amplify and target and deliver an audience for as little as a penny a view right now can compete with any major social entertainment company in the world. 

What Keeps Him Up at Night: My dog. (Laughs). What keeps me up at night? I think it’s very different Samir, when you’re an entrepreneur. I was a senior executive in a big successful company at the time. I was at the top of that food chain. When you own your company you worry about your staff, you worry about keeping everybody excited, and you worry about wanting to pay people more than you’re paying them. So I think what keeps me up at night is being an entrepreneur and thinking about all the things I want to do and wanting to take care of the people that work for me more than I’m able to do probably. I think about that a lot. 

One Final Word of Wisdom: If you’re part of the change, you don’t feel the change. So, all right, take care and thank you. 

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | Leave a Comment »

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A “Mr. Magazine™” Conversation With Tom Florio, Founder And CEO Of ENTtech Media Group. Part 1.

November 4, 2021

The News: “PAPER and Google Shopping have partnered to transform the trends of 2021 into an innovative shoppable magazine. Celebrities and influencers Jennifer Coolidge, Bella Poarch, Bretman Rock, Bia and Law Roach are featured. The shoppable magazine packages 21 of the most boundary-pushing trends in an editorial feature conceived by cultural disruptor PAPER. The trend list, including ‘cottagecore’ and TikTok Beauty was curated based on Google trends data.”

The Interview: Having seen the aforementioned press release, I decided to reach out to Tom Florio, of Vogue & Condé Nast’s fame and currently the founder & CEO of ENTtech Media Group LLC, which owns PAPER, and engaged in a Mr. Magazine™ conversation about ENTtech Media Group, 21of21 Shoppable magazine, the past, present and future of magazines and media brands.  Here is part one from our conversation presented in a new Mr. Magazine™ interviews format. Hope you will enjoy…

The concept of ENTtech Media Group: I don’t approach what I do with the parameters of a magazine or not a magazine. I think that what we’ve built is an entertainment technology company (ENTtech Media Group). The foundation of the company is the distribution part, right? Like you talk about magazines, you have content, you have distribution and you have an audience. And I think when you come from the media world with that point of view, you create content for an audience, as opposed to what we see a lot of. Many brands and many agencies think they’re in the content business, but they’re not really creating content to bring in an audience. They’re creating content with a brand in mind to communicate to an audience like a group of people, a consumer. 

Defining a magazine: So my answer to your question is magazines have a connection with a consumer base and they’re creating content for that consumer base to, to accept, to take it in. So, I think that the first step is there needs to be a content strategy and there needs to be an audience. Then, with some regularity, you’re communicating with that audience, but that could also apply to Tik Tok, right? You have multiple infinite numbers of creators that have created an audience, but they’re not magazines, like the D’Amelio girls have 25 million followers bigger than Vogue, you know? But to me, when I approach a magazine, it’s to create content for like-minded people, and to communicate it with a certain curated informed point of view. That’s the idea of ENTtech Media Group. It is to let the creative process drive the content, but to use technology, to identify and distribute the content. 

Circulation vs. Advertising:  Unlike the old days of magazines, where you basically bought your audience with the lowest price, a dollar a name, and we know how it worked. You sell a bunch to the airlines and the airlines would send you a check. You create a circulation base and then you charge a CPM against that circulation base with the rare situations of like the People magazines of the world, or like The New Yorker, which I actually was the one who pushed The New Yorker from $16 a subscription where we were losing $16, because it costs $33 initially to break even on that subscription, to $50. Right. And this is back in 1995, The New Yorker was able to actually raise the subscription price and not lose any circulation at all. 

Usually, as you know, there is a relationship between how much you raise the subscription price and the fall out in circulation. There was none.  But if you looked at that field, looked at the circulation of The New Yorker, pre Tina (Brown), people like up here who has been subscribing for 10 plus years, and we drop the subscription to $16 to bring in all these other people over here because they wanted to make it cool and like a Condé Nast magazine. Right. But, in reality, the consumer should always pay for The New Yorker and the advertising should be secondary. So you have The New Yorker, you have People magazine, you have a handful of publications that were making money on circulation, but most weren’t.

The genesis of ENTtech Media Group: So what I wanted to do is to use technology to identify audiences and serve audiences messages based on their interests. And you don’t need a subscription strategy to do that. I took the team out of a company called The Audience. 

The Audience was a social architecture company, started by Sean Parker, Ari Emanuel and Oliver Lockett. The Audience was one of the first social media companies that could identify groups of people and serve them messages via social media, like using Facebook and such. What they wanted to do then was build these audiences around celebrities for the purpose, not of today’s influencer marketing was way too soon, but to drive movie viewership and things like that.

The approach that they used ended up failing. Not the technology, but the approach and I took the team out of that and were actually one of the founders of ENTtech. So my idea was if I could create a content strategy that’s highly creative and curated, and now I could identify people out there in the world, I could just push my content out to these people and then build my website. And that what was interesting about Paper specifically when I acquired it. Paper had just broken the internet with that famous Kim Kardashian cover. In fact “break the internet” is now a phrase trademarked by Paper. So I had seen that while I was interested in this new business model for media. And I was like, well, that was interesting because if we look at Paper’s Kim cover versus the Vogue’s Kim cover that was shot by Annie Leibovitz, which was four months apart. Let’s say that the Vogue cover cost $200,000 because it is Annie’s, right. Jean-Paul Goude shot the Paper cover for $10,000. The Vogue cover generated 750,000 uniques to the Vogue website. The Paper cover generated 30 million uniques to the Paper site, which nobody knew about Paper.

What I found to be very interesting is, here’s this social architecture that is really not being exploited across media properties. You had politicians using it very successfully, as we saw for this last election, you had brands buying it and using it on Facebook, but you really didn’t have media properties going in and using it to find audiences. So, I had this Paper that knew how to make content for the internet, which was really low budget content that would go viral.  The idea of ENTtech was to bring these two things together and to use it that way and to see if we could repeat it. And we did.

The changing business model: The print magazine, which I would have closed anyway, even without COVID, was more like marketing and merchandising PR, but nobody is buying print advertising really. It didn’t make sense and it wasn’t part of the strategy. It didn’t matter how much circulation Paper had or even its three and a half million uniques across our social platforms. 

Take for example AT&T; they were sponsoring the Jennifer Lopez Super Bowl Saturday concert. We just created all the meme marketing around it, and white labeled our social architecture. We went into the market by doing AB testing and everything else with our content. We went back to AT&T and said I know you are using this other company out there to do your social buying, a very big one that also does Procter & Gamble. I said, but I can tell you right now, Jennifer’s real fans are not going to tune in to Super Bowl Saturday on Facebook at 10 o’clock at night and watch her video. And they were like, what are you talking about? And we came up with this whole strategy that was kind of content. And then using our social architecture and with a $2 million budget delivered 7 million live streams, bigger than Taylor swift the year before who had a big social presence and actually gave AT&T a million dollars back. And they were like, wait a minute. Guess what, I did it with three people. 

So that’s when I knew we were onto something. That’s when we first launched ENTtech; it was three months into the company. And they were like, wait a minute. You know, like this other company, you outperform them two to one. And, and so we as a brand, the Paperbrand sits at this intersection of internet culture and pop culture. We amplify internet culture in a pop culture way. So, for example, Paper covered Billie Eilish five years ago and then it pushed that content out through the internet. So now we get to this project and we, this long history of doing this including all the social media for the BTS concert in Riyadh globally.  We also did the social media for the 20th anniversary of Target and delivered 16 million live streams, bigger than CNN’s Trump debate. 

To be continued…

Posted in Innovation in print, Inside the Great Minds of Magazine Makers, New Launches, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 1 Comment »

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