• by February 10, 2006

Mag buffs will have to check out Jim Brady's new column at Forbes.com. It's only a couple of weeks old, but Jim's off to a good start. It's his latest gig following his departure from Advertising Age--where he worked for the last 20 years or so as a columnist, in addition to his other duties at Parade, his books, and all the other things Jim somehow finds time to do. Jim's a terrific guy, always friendly to everyone, and, as the old saying goes, has forgotten more about the magazine biz than most of us will ever know. (Full disclosure: I worked with Jim for six years at Ad Age and have always been a fan). His column this week is a min-profile of Magazine Publishers of America Chairman Jack Kliger, CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media, in which Kliger reiterates his complaints about the time-honored tools of his profession. He wants the industry to adopt new audience measurements that go beyond paid circulation as the foundation upon which rate cards are built--a system he labels as outdated. Jack tells Jim that ad rates should be based on readership, not circulation.

Casualties

It's always sad to report the demise of a magazine, but when two titles fold it becomes almost unbearable. That's what happened earlier this week when Travel Savvy and Business Traveler, both published by Frank Publishing, announced they were shutting down. The move has put 25 people out of work, each of them receiving at least a three-month severance package. The titles were owned by the late vodka billionaire Sidney Frank, and were forced to close because of "the legal rules of charitable trusts," according to a source inside the company. Turns out the magazines--each of which was bleeding red ink--were owned by a trust, and money-losing ventures simply don't fly in such circumstances. "Once a trust owns a property, it better be a very stable business," the source said. "And this is a risky business."

76 Page Sixes

Reading the New York Post's new full-color, glossy Page Six Magazine, I was reminded of something another famous gossip once said. Walter Winchell, who some say invented the gossip column, used to say that Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club was the "New Yorkiest" place in New York. And while the Post's new mag is likely to be compared to nationally distributed books like US Weekly, In Touch, the Star, and others of that ilk, the big difference is that it's the New Yorkiest of them all. And that's no accident. Page Six maestro Richard Johnson told the New York Observer that the 76-page magazine purposely focused on its home turf. "We tried to make sure we have a lot of New York content that wouldn't fly in a national supermarket tabloid," he told the Observer. "We focused on New York stories. There are certain people that people in New York care about." The mag is loaded with photos, and vacillates between short-hit items like those on the original Page Six (covering celebrity peccadilloes) and slightly longer features (covering entertainment and fashion), although no single entry exceeds two pages. It's a total home run for lovers of celebrity dish--complete with 38 ad pages from the likes of Banana Republic, BMW, Coach, Paramount Pictures, HBO, Jill Stuart, and American Express. For only 25 cents as an insert to Thursday's Post, you can't possibly go wrong. No word yet on how often, or when, the magazine will be published.

At The Movies

In an era when filmmakers concentrate almost exclusively on creating entertainment that appeals to teenagers, it took a magazine to salute movies made for more mature audiences. AARP The Magazine recently filled the ballroom of the ultra-swank Hotel Bel-Air with about 200 Hollywooders to present its fifth annual Movies For Grownups Awards. Recipients included Jeff Daniels (Best Actor, "The Squid and the Whale"), Joan Plowright (Best Actress, "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont"), Steven Spielberg (Best Director, "Munich"), Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Best Screenwriters, "Brokeback Mountain"), and "Capote" (Best Movie for Grownups). "Baby Boomers make up America's largest demographic--there's 77 million of us, and we're all hungry to see movies and characters we can relate to," said AARP The Magazine Editor Bill Newcott, host of the "Movies for Grownups" radio show and creator of the awards. "We're delighted with the terrific films and performances we got to choose from for this year's awards--and thrilled to be at the head of the movement to create movies for the growing 45-and-up audience."

Making Waves

Wave magazine, a South-Florida-based bimonthly that says it covers "things to do in, on, and around the water--including boating, fishing, and diving, water sports, waterfront living/development, dining and travel"--is going monthly. The title is backed by newspaper publisher Knight Ridder and edited by Ken Millman, the former sports and special publications editor at KR's Miami Herald. Publisher José Chao says the move will increase readership to more than 250,000.

Fortune Probes GM

How's this for an apocalyptic headline: GENERAL MOTORS DECLARES BANKRUPTCY. According to a current Fortune cover story, it could happen. "Bankruptcy isn't going to occur next week," says editor-at-large Carol Loomis. "But down the road--say, past 2006--its probability is high." Her story points out that the once-great automaker lost a staggering $8.6 billion last year, and its North American auto unit owns a paltry 26 percent of the market. Those problems and a myriad of others make the future look more than bleak for GM. Here's what one Wall Streeter told the magazine: "I would say that turning GM around is a harder logistical and managerial task than the invasion of Iraq." A scary, cautionary tale.