Week 3 EOC: Rolling Stone

“In 1967, a 20-year-old Jann S. Wenner dropped out of the University of California Berkeley to start a quirky rock-music-oriented biweekly called Rolling Stone—and changed American culture. Treating the interests of America’s increasingly vocal youth with seriousness unknown before, Rolling Stone spoke to—and for—an entire generation. Throughout its illustrious history, Wenner’s commitment to quality journalism has kept Rolling Stone fresh and dynamic—the magazine’s success has proved a new readership is always ready to respond to definitive music coverage, provocative interviews, award-winning photography and important investigative and political reporting.”  http://www.jannswenner.com/Biography/

To get the magazine off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his family members and from the family of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a cover date of November 9, 1967.Rolling Stone magazine was initially identified with and reported on the hippie counterculture of the era. However, the magazine distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de facto motto of the magazine. During the 1980s the magazine began to shift focus towards being a general "entertainment" magazine. Music was still a dominant topic but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, movies and the pop culture of the day. The magazine also initiated its annual "Hot Issue" during this time.

“The printed format has gone through several changes. The first publications 1967-72, were folded tabloid newspaper format, no staples with black ink text, and a single color highlight that changed each edition. From 1973 on, editions were done on a 4 color press with a different newsprint paper size. In 1979 the bar code appeared. In 1980 it became a gloss paper large format 10 x 12 magazine. As of the October 30th, 2008 edition, Rolling Stone is a smaller, standard-format magazine size. (USA Today, Associated Press Anick Jesdanun)” http://cecilbuffington.com/photo3_40.html

"It is absolutely impossible to predict what newsstands sales are going to be," Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana told NPR after the anger erupted. "... It's something you have to be mindful of, but at the same time, put out of your mind on a case-by-case basis. ...We really go with our gut on these things, usually." http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/23/us/rolling-stone-sales/