Geographically Specialized Magazines of the South / Sam G. Riley.

A study was undertaken to gather information on magazines published in the southern United States in general and on southern city and regional magazines in particular. Data were collected for 25 southern city magazines, 24 southern regional magazines, and 21 speciality magazines from the region. The primary means of data collection was a questionnaire mailed to editors of such magazines. Among the findings of the study are the following: (1) Approximately half of the magazines were founded after 1970. (2) Specialized southern magazines typically had modest circulations. (3) Southern regional magazines were not realizing their potential, apparently because they were insufficiently focused. (4) Starting a new city or regional magazine in the South could be a risky venture. (5) In most city and regional magazines, freelanced articles outnumbered staff written articles, while the reverse was true for the speciality magazines. (6) City and regional magazines received approximately 70% of their revenue from advertising and 30% from subscriptions. (7) The most pressing problems facing the magazines included rising production costs, high interest rates, and postal rate increases. (8) Approximately half of the editors surveyed felt that geographically specialized magazines would increase in number through the 1980s. (FL)

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