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Farewell, teen magazine queens |
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Written by asap
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Friday, 18 August 2006 |
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 They were our roadmaps, our guides to life, holding the answers to our most pressing concerns: How do I know if so-and-so likes me? How can I make this pimple go away?
But one by one, the all-knowing teen magazine is disappearing.
Time Inc. announced last month it would stop publishing Teen People, moving everything to the magazine’s Web site. Elle Girl made a similar announcement earlier this year, saying it was going digital because that’s where the teens are. Other cultural bibles -- Sassy, Teen Screen, Teen Beat -- have died entirely, artifacts of teen angst past.
“These magazines were unable to adapt to the changes in society and the needs of the teenagers,” says Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni, chair of the journalism department at University of Mississippi. “They were still talking to teenagers as though there was no Internet, no 24-7 television, no MTV in place, and they were still trying to give them pinup pictures, talk down to them, and tell them how to behave on their dates. Those are things teenagers can get from a gazillion other places.”
It’s not that teens are only reading online, says Husni. He points out that teens read celeb weeklies, such as Us and In Touch. Why read a teen magazine for gossip on Britney when she is in the “grown-up” magazines?
Cosmo Girl and Teen Vogue are successful, he says, because their focus is on service -- not celebrities: “How do I wear footless tights?” and “What to wear on the first day of school.”
asap selected eight teen magazines and looked at their demise.
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 NAME: Teen magazine
STARTED: 1957
STATUS: Down to four issues a year and one prom special, only on newsstands. Online at www.teenmag.com.
THE BIG STORY: “He’s hot as a bullet... and the sky’s the limit... Fired-Up Frankie” (Frankie Avalon, May 1959)
PRICE: 25 cents
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 NAME: YM (Young Miss, Young & Modern, Your Magazine)
STARTED: 1950s
STATUS: Subscribers received Teen VOGUE starting in February 2005, after YM went online only in 2004 at www.ym.com.
DO YOU REMEMBER? A television commercial for the magazine featuring a young woman, clutching a magazine, crossing a dark street. She avoids crashing cars labeled with issues, such as “drugs,” “guys,” “sex” and “dad.” (1993)
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 NAME: Elle Girl (Younger sibling to Elle magazine)
STARTED: 2001
STATUS: Available only online at www.ellegirl.com since the June-July 2006 issue.
QUOTE: “They’re not reading magazines,” said Marta Wohrle, vice president of digital at Elle Girl’s publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media. “They’re on their cell phones all the time. They’re online.”
DID YOU KNOW: Christina Kelley, the editor-in-chief of Elle Girl, was editor of YM and a founding editor of Sassy magazine. She also helped Jane Pratt, former editor of Sassy, launch Jane.
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 NAME: Sassy Magazine
STARTED: 1987
STATUS: Collector’s item. Sold to Petersen Publishing in 1994. Stopped publishing in 1996.
SOME DIRT: Dirt, the male counterpart to Sassy, lasted seven issues. Sassy has been credited with changing the tone of teen magazines with an injection of irony and irreverence.
THE HEADLINES: “Losing Your Virginity: What You Need to Know Before You Decide.” “Thirteen Reasons to Stop Dieting.” “My Brother’s Gay. Big Whoop.”
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 NAME: Teen People
STARTED: 1998
STATUS: The September 2006 issue is the last for print. Now online at www.teenpeople.com.
QUOTE: Ali Zelenko, a Time Inc. spokeswoman, cited a “challenging” advertising market in the company’s decision to close down the magazine.
SPENDING POWER: According to Teen People, there are 22.3 million teen girls (ages 13 to 24) in the United States. The teen population is growing faster than that of the nation as a whole, and on average teens earn $369 per month.
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 NAME: Ingenue for the Sophisticated Teen
STARTED: 1959
ENDED: April 1975
SOME CONTROVERSY: Dell Publishing sold the magazine in 1973 to Twenty First Century Communications, who changed the name to New Ingenue. Twenty First objected to a Dell-produced April 1973 issue that contained an overly explicit article about teenage sex (it was about petting) and shut down the magazine two years later.
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 NAME: Teen Beat
STARTED: 1974
STATUS: Gone. It was sold in 2003 to Laufer Publishing, which continues to publish Tiger Beat and Bop.
THE SCOOP: “Known as Michael on TV’s ’Good Times,’ Ralph Carter is on his way to superstardom in the music world with the release of his album ’Young and In Love.”’ (December 1976)
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 NAME: Teen Screen
STARTED: 1960
STATUS: History.
THE TEEN PROBLEM CLINIC: “I’ll soon be 21 and I’m still not married... Is there anything wrong with me?” “I am 13 years old and like a boy who is 22... All my girlfriends say I should forget him, but I can’t.” (November 1965)
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Megan Scott is an asap reporter.
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