The centenarians - 100-year old magazines

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb 15, 1993 by Michael Winkleman, Meryl Davids

Reaction from one colleague to his plan: "Your project can not live, quit in time to save yourself a lot of worry."

How many owners: Two. Bruce Publishing Company and, after 1967, the National School Boards Association.

Circulation: 41,000.

Topics covered: Despite its staid name, American School Board Journal doesn't shy away from covering such hot issues as school violence, sex education in the era of AIDS, and curriculum censorship.

National Magazine Awards: Runner-up, two times.

Misleading moniker: Called a journal, actually a magazine.

Why it's successful: "Because it's written by journalists, not educators," says Sally Zakariya, managing editor. Also, the association stays out of American School Board Journal's editorial direction.

THE NATION

Founded: 1865.

Home: New York.

Ideology: Founded as an outgrowth of the abolitionist movement--in support of the newly freed slaves--by E.L. Godkin as a magazine of opinion and dissent. Today it rests somewhere between liberal and radical.

Current owner: Arthur Carter, former Wall Street wizard, plus a group of limited partners, bought the magazine from editor Victor Navasky and other investors in 1986.

Why Carter bought the magazine: "Certainly not to make money," says Navasky. "This magazine has a 127-year-old tradition of not making money."

How the magazine survives: Carter, like the half-dozen philanthropist-owners before him, makes up the annual deficit. Plus, 15,000 very dedicated subscribers send in annual donations on top of their subscriptions.

The Nation's circulation low: 20,000 in 1978, the year Victor Navasky became the magazine's editor.

Circulation high: 95,000, today.

Editors with 12-20 years' tenure: Five.

Competition: The New Republic, until it went moderate in the 1970s. Now, its main competition for the reader's time comes from such comrade publications as Mother Jones, Utne Reader and The Progressive.

Famous writers: James Baldwin and Ralph Nader published their first pieces in the magazine. Other stars who have written for The Nation: Willa Cather, Ezra Pound, Emily Dickinson, E.L. Doctorow, W.H. Auden, Sylvia Plath.

Advice Navasky gave to publisher during the Reagan years: "Increase your investment in the magazine, because people on the outside need a voice."

When the magazine might break even: It's in better shape now than it ever was, says publisher Neil Black, with new ad categories, including music companies. "The break-even point is about two years away," Navasky says. "But it was two years away in 1978, too."

BANKERS MAGAZINE

Founded: 1846.

Home: New York, after early stints in Baltimore and Boston.

Hiatus: 20 years; revived in 1964 by Ted Lamont Cross, later co-founder of current owner Warren, Gorham & Lamont.

Target audience: CEOs, top bank executives.

The magazine's mission during bankers' hours years: Educate and entertain; carry cartoons, history, bank-robber stories.

Magazine's mission during current meaner, leaner years: Cover practical information for helping people succeed at--or at least hold onto--their jobs.