The cancellation fallout continues...it was just a matter of time before the soap press would start to fold:

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/04/digest-weekly-expect-to-lose-half-their.html

Friday, April 15, 2011

Two soap magazines are expected to lose half their staff following the cancellations of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE, according to a new report in The New York Post.

The cast and crew of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN aren't the only ones losing their jobs when the shows go off the air.

Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly are expected to drastically trim their staffs, the New York Post's Keith Kelly reports. As many as half of the 70 employees in the New York office will be laid off.

Publisher Source Interlink is turning the magazines' operations over to National Enquirer and American Media Inc. in a licensing deal.

Entrepreneur Jerry Ritterman bought Soap Opera Digest from News Corp. for $70 million in the 1980s.

After changing hands several more times, it was included in a $1.2 billion sale of Primedia enthusiast titles to Source Interlink.

In the 1980s, Soap Opera Digest was published every other week and had a circulation of 1.2 million. Now, it has a readership of 150,000. Soap Opera Weekly pulls in 500,000 readers.

Kelly says AMI is preparing reality TV show special issues on the Kardashians and Bravo's HOUSEWIVES franchise to take the soap magazines' place in checkout counters.

It a shame how many people are losing their jobs because of a very stupid decision by a network executive. :mad:

Sickening but not surprising. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Sad, but yeah it's expected.
With less soaps to write about you don't need as many writers.

^ Very true - it's a snowball effect. Having been unemployed but actively searching for work myself for so many months, my heart really aches for all these people - actors, crew (makeup, wardrobe, hair, lighting, sound, etc.) and now the press...We're talking upwards of HUNDREDS of people losing their jobs. :( :( :( :( :(

Yeah, because the people who are going to be unemployed can find work, right? I mean the economy is good, right? Note the sarcasm. Instead of Frons and his cronies being unemployed, its going to be everyone else. Typical.

I knew this was coming, unfortunately. These magazines will go the way of the soaps themselves... :(

I was looking through Soap Opera Weekly at the grocery store tonight and couldn't help but notice how thin it's gotten. Must have been last week's edition, so it will be interesting to see what the magazines have to say about this latest bomb.

:( is all I can offer to this thread.

I think media magazines in general are having a very rough time of it. Obviously in this case the cancellations are the major factor, but print mags just are going the way of the dinosaur, what with all the online news you can get for free. Wizard Magazine, the premiere comics news magazine for decades, recently went out of business as well.

It's very sad, though. I love reading a physical magazine and treasure many memories of buying stacks of them and going back to my room and pouring through every little detail, even dreaming of working for one someday. The remaining magazines are being forced to raise their prices due to increasing costs, too, so that's not helping either.

:(

Besides, when you can read so many magazine articles in general online for free - why bother going out and buying one? Unless, of course, it's a collector or commemorative issue (like with Michael Jackson's death or the upcoming royal wedding).

Yeah, because the people who are going to be unemployed can find work, right? I mean the economy is good, right? Note the sarcasm. Instead of Frons and his cronies being unemployed, its going to be everyone else. Typical.

Just one more reason why life is so unfair. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I still like to buy magazines on occasions. It just isnt the same reading it online.

Do the majority today who don't read magz. online go out and buy individually or do they just subscribe to it?

I haven't went out and bought an individual magazine in some time cause I subscribe to everything I'm interested in. I'm given the option on some magz. to get it by mail (printed) or electronically and I choose to get it printed cause I hate reading them electronically.


The magazine industry seems to be going through a tough time as well, except for the adult magz. They will always be around.

Sigh. Once again the Rich get richer, at the expense of the poor.

How much longer are people going to take this? :mad:

Its different buying magazines than reading the same articles online. Some people just like to relax reading articles and sometimes sitting at a computer isnt that relaxing. Also, believe or not, I think some people are not internet savvy so its easier for them to read a newspaper or buy a magazine intstead of reading it online.

I think magazines shouldnt go out of business, because people will lose there jobs. Whether the economy is good or bad, people will and have lost there jobs because of the internet.

Besides, when you can read so many magazine articles in general online for free - why bother going out and buying one? Unless, of course, it's a collector or commemorative issue (like with Michael Jackson's death or the upcoming royal wedding).

That's really true. I admit I have found myself getting the bulk of my news online so there's little point in shelling out bucks for it at the newsstand.

I guess what we all should ask is, if we really miss magazines and want them to thrive, how many magazines have we bought in the last year? For me, the answer is, "not many". I can rationalize it by talking about price etc, but if these things are to survive maybe the sacrifice is worth it? I worry that someday all that "free" online content might not be so free, and then where will we be?

I still get TV Guide delivered to my house because I've been collecting them since 1983 but half the time I don't even read it. It isn't even the same magazine I used to love. I get all my news from the internet. I don't buy newspapers anymore. I used to get USA TODAY all the time. Magazines and newspapers are probably the next to vanish.

I worry that someday all that "free" online content might not be so free, and then where will we be?

Right back where we started!! :eek: :crazy:

I still get TV Guide delivered to my house because I've been collecting them since 1983 but half the time I don't even read it. It isn't even the same magazine I used to love. I get all my news from the internet. I don't buy newspapers anymore. I used to get USA TODAY all the time. Magazines and newspapers are probably the next to vanish.

So I guess you didn't like it when they "updated" TV Guide by making it more like a standard magazine?

I remember when TV Guide used to be smaller and thicker.

So I guess you didn't like it when they "updated" TV Guide by making it more like a standard magazine?

I remember when TV Guide used to be smaller and thicker.
It's like a tabloid magazine anymore. It doesn't have any local listings or anything. About the only good issue is still the annual fall preview edition.

I remember when TV Guide used to be smaller and thicker.

I liked it better that way!!! :cool: :D :wave:

I liked it better that way!!! :cool: :D :wave:

Me, too. It was much more personal, local and honestly, much more informative and less gossipy. Nowadays everthing is visual so you have an over reliance on photos to keep people's eyed glued to the magazine and not much news, besides silly "sound bite" junk and "lists" which take about five minutes to read (and probably about as long to write).

Besides, there were actually shows worth watching at the time TV Guide was smaller and thicker. No wonder Frank Costanza loved to collect the back issues!! :crazy: :lol:

I'd be better off trying to collect back issues instead of front issues. :lol: I'd love to get some TV Guides from the 1970's. I only have one that I got when my family went on vacation to Myrtle Beach in 1976. :lol:

Besides, there were actually shows worth watching at the time TV Guide was smaller and thicker. No wonder Frank Costanza loved to collect the back issues!! :crazy: :lol:

Talking about this brings back a weird memory. I don't know if everyone else subscribed to the mag or not, but if you did you had your address label stuck to the front of it with some kind of glue. When I was young I always peeled it off because I wanted to see what was behind the sticker (sometimes they'd use original artwork on the cover, and often photos of stars, etc.) because it was in the way of the picture.

Anyway, my mom would sometimes give me grief when I did this because on that sticker was also the date that the subscription expired and she wanted to save it in case it was running out! :lol:

I'd be better off trying to collect back issues instead of front issues. :lol: I'd love to get some TV Guides from the 1970's. I only have one that I got when my family went on vacation to Myrtle Beach in 1976. :lol:

I actually know a guy who actually did collect old TV Guides!! (I don't know if he still does, I'll have to ask.) I myself have an issue from 1994, with the men of Frasier on the cover. :cool:

I actually know a guy who actually did collect old TV Guides!! (I don't know if he still does, I'll have to ask.) I myself have an issue from 1994, with the men of Frasier on the cover. :cool:

I have some of the Fall Previews from the early 80s, and the issue that featured the Diana and Charles wedding.

Man, I lived for those Fall Previews back then. :cool:

There used to be quite a few soap mags out there, especially in the 60s and 70s. (SOD didn't debut until 1975 - dunno about SOW). Here are some examples:

There used to be quite a few soap mags out there, especially in the 60s and 70s. (SOD didn't debut until 1975 - dunno about SOW). Here are some examples:

Yep, I remember seeing most of those at the local supermarket. :)

Those same racks are pretty empty, these days. :(

Sad but true - a sure sign of the times. :(