A Southern Progress veteran returns to his Yankee Roots

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March, 2002 by Sarah Gonser

Following a 12-year run at AOL Time Warner's Southern Progress Corporation--most recently as editorial director of Southern Living and editor of Coastal Living--Michael Carlton moved North in October last year to become the fourth editor of the New Hampshire-based Yankee.

Under his editorship, the 66-year-old monthly will continue to reflect on life New England style, but with a contemporary twist. Folio: spoke with Carlton about his reasons for leaving the AOL Time Warner fold and his plans for Yankee.

Birmingham, Alabama to Dublin, New Hampshire--that's quite a move. Why were you interested?

I felt that I'd accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish at Southern Progress. I helped reposition Southern Living and repositioned and redid Coastal Living. And I was, quite frankly, a little concerned about the future of AOL Time Warner. It's a whole lot of bottom line journalism--which I understand--but I wanted to get into an environment that's a little more creative, that allows you a little more freedom. Yankee is privately held, so the emphasis isn't on proving yourself to stockholders every quarter. And trading Birmingham for the beauty of New Hampshire is kind of like going from a used pickup truck to a top-of-the-line Saab. There's no comparison in terms of lifestyle.

What did you know about Yankee prior to becoming its editor?

Some time ago, Time Warner looked at buying Yankee. So then they would have owned Southern Living, Yankee and Sunset--really the three major regional magazines in the country. But fortunately, the family thought otherwise.

What are your plans for the magazine?

It will be more contemporary, but it won't be jarring. Yankee has always had a little bit of food, a bit of travel, and it touched on a house once in a while. But I think 60 percent [of the redesigned issue, which appears in July] will be new in the sense that we will be writing about today's New England, rather than yesterday's. We're hoping for a younger demographic--the average Yankee reader is 49--so the writing will be livelier and more active.

Any plans to change the six- by nine-inch format, the paper stock, etc?

Initially, we plan to keep the same format. I would not rule out growing it to a larger size down the road. But, again, because we're making so many changes now in terms of sections and look, we don't want to be too jarring.

What do you bring to Yankee?

I think I bring a deep knowledge of magazines and a good knowledge of writing and editing. And I know how to reposition a magazine, I know what service journalism is all about, and what serious journalism is all about. Yankee is very unusual in offering both. I'm also kind of coming home, because I was always the "damn Yankee" in the South--that's a Yankee who comes and stays. But now I'm back home, so I'm just a plain Yankee again.

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