Magazines: Early History

First Magazines in London: 1704 The Review

(Defoe) 1709 Tatler, later The Spectator (Addison and Steele)

First Magazines in the colonies:1741 American Magazine

(Bradford) General Magazine (Franklin)

Failed due to rural population who had no need for the magazine, postal costs and delivery problems.

Economics of Magazines

RevenueNews StandSubscription

Advertising

CirculationOpenClosed (0ften

subsidized)

The Economics of Magazines

RevenueNewstandSubscriptionAdvertising (display

and classified

Circulation and DistributionOpen Circulation Closed Circulation(Often subsidized)

Magazines: 1820-1840

. Magazines established as a general interest medium (Saturday Evening Post, 1821; Sarah Godey Hale’s Ladies’ Magazine, 1828)“The whole tendency of the

age is Magazineward. The magazine in the end will be the most influential of all departments of letters.”

Edgar Allen Poe

Magazines: 1840-1865

. Magazines established a medium for national reporting and comment:

Harper’s (1850)Atlantic Monthly (1851)

The Nation (1865)All these magazines continue to publish to this day.

The Modern American Magazine: 1890-1940

1. Postal Act of 1879: lower rates

2. Improved technology: mass production

3. Lower overall cost: more accessible to mass audience

4. Therefore: greater ad revenue

Ladies Home Journal (Cyrus Curtis, 1883)

The Muckrakers

These “rakers of muck” were at the forefront of the Progressive Reforms: their work was published in magazines such as McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, and Collier’s.

Lincoln Steffens: Urban issues Ida Tarbell: Standard Oil Trust Upton Sinclair: Meat PackingFrank Norris: Wheat Trust

Magazines: 1920s-1930s

Major Developments:

•News Magazines (Time, Newsweek)

•Photo Magazines (Life, Look)

•Digests (Reader’s Digest)

•Apex of General Interest Magazines (Saturday Evening Post under Cyrus Curtis)

Magazines: 1950s onward

•Death of the general interest magazine at the hands of television

•Rise of TV Guide

•Rebirth of general interest magazines with a celebrity focus (People, 1974)

•Specialization by subject:regional editions

split runsdemographic

emphasis

•Fragmented marketplace

Magazines: Structure

Production & Technology

Editorial

Advertising & Sales

Circulation & Distribution

Magazines: Current Trends

•Magazines for cultural minorities

•Popularity of supermarket tabloids

•Chain ownership (concentration)

•Independent ‘zines

•Internet magazines (Salon, Slate)

•Role of magazines in public discourse: Are they still viable and vital?