Magazines in Houston

The Houston area has various local magazines. Around 1991 the Houston area had various small interest magazines established to fill niches not represented in other publications. Many typically had small numbers of employees and had freelance writers write all of their articles. Many relied on advertising revenues, with copies of the magazines being distributed for free.[1] Each year, some magazines start business and some go out of business. Greg Hassell of the Houston Chronicle said "Because of their limited resources, the odds are against them lasting more than a few years. But there always seems to be a few optimists who believe they can break through the barriers."[1]

After the 1980s oil bust various small magazines went out of business. Around 1991 an economic expansion allowed several small magazines to begin business. In addition increases in computer technology helped lower publishing costs, as page design could be done on a computer. In a six-month period before January 1991, five small interest magazines had been established.[1]

Companies

Creneau Media Group

Creneau Media Group ("Creneau" means niche in French), a company headed by Kevin Clear, produced magazines catering to residents of wealthy neighborhoods such as River Oaks, Memorial, and Tanglewood.[1] The company was headquartered in New Mexico.[2]

Kevin Clear founded the company in 1987.[2] As of January 1991 Creneau published five magazines in Greater Houston.[3] The company had individual neighborhood magazines, with ones for Bellaire, the Memorial Villages, River Oaks, and West University Place.[4] Under Creneau the magazines were published in tabloid layouts of various sizes, and were in black-and-white formats.[5]

In October 1991 the company had 14 employees.[6] During that month the University of Houston Small Business Development Center ranked the company as being No. 50 of the "Houston 100,"[7] the fastest-growing companies in the city based on increases in percentages of sales from 1988 to 1990. In 1990 the company had 936,000 sales and a 350% growth.[6] Lisa Collins, Creneau's former associate publisher, said that in 1993 the six community magazines had a combined sales of between $1.5 million and $2 million.[2] After Clear sold the six community magazines to Media Ink on August 1, 1994, he had plans to pursue publishing opportunities in New Mexico.[2]

Media Ink

The company Media Ink, L.C.,[8] headquartered in the Old Sixth Ward area of Houston,[9][10] was founded by Lisa Collins. She began acting as a managing partner, co-owned the company with advertising director Carol Casperson Moffett and circulation and marketing director Linda Saville. On August 1, 1994, Kevin Clear sold the six community-based magazines owned by Creneau, including five neighborhood magazines and the Downtown Voice, to Media Ink.[2] Collins said that Clear could have sold the magazines to a national conglomerate, but he desired that the magazines remain locally owned.[5] The operations and employees of the six magazines were transferred. 15 full-time employees and several contract employees worked on the magazines. Downtown Voice had a circulation of 14,000 and the five neighborhood magazines had a combined circulation of 38,500. Clear worked as a consultant to Media Ink.[2] On August 23, 1994, Media Ink had 18 employees.[11]

After the handover, one new neighborhood magazine, Boulevards, had been established by Media Ink. Under Media Ink the neighborhood magazines had focuses on citywide calendar listings, historical events, lifestyle columns, local events, and people. In 1996 Media Ink changed the six monthly neighborhood magazines into a new format.[12] The company began using large, high-quality photos frequently and adopting a magazine-style format described by Walker C. Wooding, Jr. of the Houston Business Journal as "more sophisticated".[5] 1999 Wooding said "Media Ink has transformed the design with a more sophisticated, magazine-style format and the extensive use of large, high-quality photos."[5] He added that "In conceptualizing and styling the covers, Media Ink took the approach of treating black and white photography as high art rather than a limitation in printing" and that it slowly became "the publication's feature photography."[5] Collins said "We feel that black and white photography should be treated as art, not as a limitation of printing."[12] Media Ink had considered establishing other neighborhood titles, but it chose not to. Media Ink chose to distribute its magazines on newsstands to increase circulations. In its neighborhood magazines Media Ink established a new contents page "Grapevine" section that was distinct from its other regular-running columns. The company began cross-posting stories to various neighborhood publications, so that a story occurring in one neighborhood that would be of interest to another appeared in the other neighborhood's magazine.[5]

In July 1998 Collins, now named Lisa Perry, decided to reorganize the regional neighborhood magazines. The magazines, previously under six separate mastheads, were now under a single masthead, Houston City Life. The six regional magazines continued to remain separate editions.[13] In 1999 Lisa Perry was now known as Lisa Johnson.[5] During the annual The Association for Women Journalists annual banquet on the evening of Thursday May 13, 1999, Dawn Dorsey, a Houston City Life Bellaire journalist, was nominated a finalist for the 1999 Vivian Castleberry Awards.[14]

Magazines

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Hassell, Greg. "PUBLISH OR PERISH/Small magazines born every year with big dreams." Houston Chronicle. Monday January 28, 1991. Business 1. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Houston group buys neighborhood magazines from New Mexico owner. (Media ink; Creneau Media Group Inc.)" Houston Business Journal. August 12, 1994. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  3. "New Publications Emerge in Houston." Associated Press at the Victoria Advocate. Tuesday January 29, 1991. 11A. Retrieved from Google News (6 of 14) on October 14, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Houston Chronicle News Services. "Business briefs." Houston Chronicle. Wednesday July 18, 1990. Business 5. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wooding, Walker C., Jr. "Media Ink's media maven." Houston Business Journal. Sunday October 31, 1999. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "The Houston 100." Houston Chronicle. Thursday October 10, 1991. Business 5. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  7. Boisseau, Charles. "Tanknology tops Houston rankings/Survey lists the 100 fastest- growing of area's small, private companies." Houston Chronicle. Thursday October 10, 1991. Business 1. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  8. Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, Volume 35, Part 2. R. R. Bowker, 1997. p. 3225. Retrieved on October 16, 2012. "Media Ink, L.C., Box 3388, Houston. TX 77253."
  9. Gale directory of publications and broadcast media, Volume 2. Gale Research, 2000. ISBN 0787634484, 9780787634483. p. 1863. Retrieved from Google Books on October 16, 2012. "Media Ink 2007 Lubbock Houston, TX 77007"
  10. "Old Sixth Ward Historic District Map." (Archive) Old Sixth Ward. Retrieved on October 16, 2012.
  11. Rust, Carol. "Not Exactly 8 to 5/Exploring windows of the soul." Houston Chronicle. Tuesday August 23, 1994. Houston Section Page 1. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  12. 1 2 Elder, Laura Elizabeth. "Shop talk." (within "Kuhlmann adds another chapter to Administaff's radio story line") Houston Business Journal. Sunday October 27, 1996. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  13. Carroll, Chris. "Media ink pubs become City Life." (under "Miller Lite sniffs out the aromas of Houston in local PR campaign") Houston Business Journal. Sunday July 12, 1998. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  14. Staff, Wire Reports. "'Morning News' writers win awards Journalists group honors coverage of women at annual banquet." The Dallas Morning News. May 14, 1999. Retrieved on May 16, 2012. "Finalists were Michele Weldon of West Suburban Living magazine in Houston for three columns and Dawn Dorsey of Houston City Life magazine, the Bellaire[...]"
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Rosen, Pat. "Bellaire throws the book at door-to-door magazine. (Creneau Media Group and Bellaire-oriented monthly)." Houston Business Journal. April 15, 1991. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  16. 1 2 Apte, Angela. "Local publishers launch new magazines to cover recipes, rap scene." Houston Business Journal. August 22, 1999. Retrieved on April 15, 2014.
  17. Staff. "People in business." Houston Chronicle. Sunday November 10, 1991. Business 8. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  18. Foxhall, Nene. "Magazine co-owner enters mayoral race." Houston Chronicle. April 11, 1989. A16. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  19. 1 2 Foxhall, Nene (Political Editor staff). "Other mayoral hopefuls push plans for city." Houston Chronicle. October 9, 1989. A9. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  20. Ely, Jane. "Mayoral hopeful Walker targets zoning." Houston Chronicle. Thursday June 29, 1989. A34. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Pope, Tara Parker. "Last issue for Downtown." Houston Chronicle. Saturday January 19, 1991. A35. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  22. Bernstein, Alan. "Major obstacles confronting proverbial `minor candidates'." Houston Chronicle. Sunday July 14, 1991. C3. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  23. Bernstein, Alan. "Whitmire neutralizes zoning as a key issue." Houston Chronicle. Saturday January 5, 1991. A25. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  24. 1 2 Carmody, Deidre. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; In Houston, a Monthly Magazine Finds a Home in a Sunday Newspaper." The New York Times. March 28, 1994. 1. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
  25. Hall, Christine. "Job boards finally punch up as industry heads out of downturn." Houston Business Journal. Sunday March 7, 2004. Last modified March 4, 2004. Retrieved on October 14, 2012.
  26. Cook, Allison. "Down House brain trust, Leftwich to launch new food mag." 29-95 (Houston Chronicle). June 26, 2013. Retrieved on April 15, 2014.

External links

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