JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • Home
  • Portugal 2023
  • About
  • Gallery
    • This Was STC Santorini 2023
    • This Was STC Miami 2021
    • This Was STC Santorini 2018
    • This Was STC Miami 2016
    • This Was STC Santorini 2015
    • This Was STC Miami 2015 – Temple House
    • This Was STC Miami 2014
    • This Was STC L.A. 2013
    • This Was STC Bahamas 2013
    • This Was Miami – STC Oct 13-14, 2012 Seminar / Workshop
    • This Was STC Miami 2012
    • This Was STC Vegas 2011 – 2
    • This Was STC Vegas 2011 – 1
    • This Was Miami 2011
  • Model Search
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog

PRINT IS DEAD – OR IS IT? – Gary Cole

Posted on: 05-4-2015 Posted in: Photography

I first heard the phrase “Print is dead” at least 25 years ago uttered by Playboy’s own Business Manager Jim Radtke. He would stroll through the editorial offices, a scowl on his face, a pencil and paper in hand. We didn’t appreciate his visits or the sentiments he expressed. We were believers in magazines, especially Playboy Magazine. We all understood the job of selling magazines was getting tougher and tougher but hearing the bell being tolled by one of our own had a very demoralizing effect.

Office-CartoonHowever, Jim was a numbers guy and the numbers were increasingly against Playboy and the men’s magazine lifestyle market in general. In order to do our job, we pushed Jim and his bad news out of our minds as soon as he wandered back to the corporate side of the offices.

Playboy’s circulation from its first issue in 1953 until September of 1972 was on a consistently upward trend. The September 1972 issue sold over seven million copies, 90% of the copies printed for newsstand distribution. From that moment forward, there began a slow and consistent decline only interrupted when we had what we called a “blockbuster” pictorial or article—a nude pictorial on a hot movie or TV personality, a timely article or interview such as the John Lennon interview published almost simultaneously with his murder.

There were lots of reasons for the decline, many of them out of Playboy’s control. Censorship pressure from the Meese Commission and radical right wing religious groups, a dramatic decrease in the number of newsstand outlets, the dreaded “PC” term in which it was not longer deemed acceptable to read or look at a men’s magazine that featured nudity. And, of course, the internet. The list goes on and on.

iPad--ad-290And Playboy made its own share of mistakes. Accustomed to years of selling 90% of its print run, panic hit the corporate minds when that percentage began to drop. The solution offered, cutting the print run, only meant fewer magazines in the market place, and did nothing to increase the percentage of sale.

Playboy was not alone. Magazines, always subject to the whims of cultural change, began to fold at an increasing rate. Recently we saw the demise of Newsweek, The Sporting News, Spin, Professional Photographer. Even MacWorld folded its print edition. And most recently, American Photo announced it was ceasing publication.

In 2012, 82 US magazines went digital or out of business altogether. That was actually a bit better than 2011 when 152 print titles bit the dust. However, the magazine industry is far from dead. There are 7,240 US titles at last count generating over 15 billion dollars in ad revenue. However, as any visit to your local Barnes and Noble or supermarket newsstand will tell you, with few exceptions, magazines have become a niche market, catering to special and very specific interests.

And let’s face it.

There haven’t been any magazine geniuses such as Hugh Hefner or Jann Wenner lighting up the market place with innovative ideas for new magazines.

Let’s hope there’s another Hef lurking around the next corner, dummy magazine under his arm as he pursues financial backing and a printer willing to take a gamble.

Everyone predicted that movies would kill radio and that television would kill them both. Now it’s the internet that looms as the potential old media killer. However, radio, television and the movie business didn’t die; they simply morphed into something else, perhaps not as good at times or not as big but still viable media businesses. The same will be true for magazines despite the fact that my college age boys rarely if ever pick up a magazine or newspaper. I predict they will when someone puts some ink on paper that is sufficiently interesting to them.

In the meantime, photographers just keep shooting, whether it is film or digital, whether for print or the internet. And there’s both beauty and hope in that effort. So hang in there and don’t listen to the Jim Radtkes of the world. Print is suffering but it is not dead.

~ Gary Cole

shop-stc-click-pointer-2-568

STC-LA-seminar-568-banner
© 2015 Copyright ShootTheCenterfold.com. All rights reserved.

  • Popular Posts
  • Related Posts
  • Write for us sponsored posts
    Write for us sponsored posts
  • Learning how to take the best photography
    Learning how to take the best photography
  • Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model
    Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model
  • How Your Photography Portfolio Can Help You Avoid Rejection
    How Your Photography Portfolio Can Help You Avoid Rejection
  • Write for us sponsored posts
    Write for us sponsored posts
  • Learning how to take the best photography
    Learning how to take the best photography
  • Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model
    Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model
  • How Your Photography Portfolio Can Help You Avoid Rejection
    How Your Photography Portfolio Can Help You Avoid Rejection
  • (2) Comments
  • (0) Trackbacks
  1. Bill05-04-15

    Say you wouldn’t happen to know how deep some of those canals in the Lincoln Park area are. Just South of where everybody moors their motor boats for the summer. Have some of the Chicago photographers for Playboy have some great stories about boating & fishing in these areas? As I was going to the Jeff Cohen Photography event but the Metra conductor wouldn’t allow me to take my folding bike on the 3:50 (rush hour) train at Ravenwood station coming from that Newsstand on Irving Park. Hence, getting back to the Hostel in Lincoln Park and then try and make the 5:20 train from Clyborne up to Highland Park at 6pm. Just to hear him give a photography instruction class for about 3 hours for $100. I really want to hear about the pranks and foolery that went on. As will Hef and countless bunnies that show up to hear about these tall tales.

    (reply)
  2. Bill05-04-15

    Naturally, there was probably no foolery going on at the work place. As it should be a professional environment. But, on your days off the chance meeting of future playmates. Well, when was the last time you saw a movie that was just so simple and fun to watch like a comedy of errors. But, how thing just fell together and worked.

    (reply)

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Twitter Feed

    Twitter not configured.

Archives

  • February 2025
  • August 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • April 2022
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • September 2010

Search Blog

Recent Posts

  • Write for us sponsored posts Write for us sponsored posts
    02-20-2025
  • Learning how to take the best photography Learning how to take the best photography
    02-20-2025
  • Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model Sarah Lyons - From STC Attendee to FHM Cover Model
    08-17-2023

Popular Posts

Every photographer has a story to tell …
© 2011-2023 Shoot The Centerfold. All Rights Reserved
  • Privacy Policy
  • Customer Support
  • Ordering Details FAQ
  • Payment Methods
  • Return Policy FAQ
  • License Agreement
TwitterStumbleUponRedditDiggdel.icio.usFacebookLinkedIn