Author Archives: Wade Kwon

EXCLUSIVE: 4Love Magazine to launch in September

Posted on December 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

Birmingham photographer (and former Post-Herald shooter) Karim Shamsi-Basha has launched a Christian publication, 4Love Magazine.

4love magazine preview coverThe print and online publication features three former Coastal Living editors on the masthead.

A preview issue is available on the magazine’s Web site, 4lovemag.com.

The launch party takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Folk Art Gallery, located in the Young and Vann Building, 1731 First Ave. N. [map].

Scheduled to attend is magazine advisory board member Samir Husni, a magazine consultant known as Mr. Magazine. Husni will talk about “why Birmingham continues to lead in an industry rocked by the economic meltdown.”

Update: The actual bimonthly magazine launches in September 2010. (Note: We’ve changed the post title to reflect this update.)

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EXCLUSIVE – Magazine roundup: Portico, Shelby Living, Thicket

Posted on November 20, 2009 | 5 comments

From the world of Birmingham-area magazines …

• Birmingham lifestyle magazine Portico has recently relaunched its Web site, porticomag.com. What do you think?

• EXCLUSIVE: Shelby Living launched today. This quarterly lifestyle magazine on Shelby County, from the publishers of the Shelby County Reporter weekly newspaper, also has a site at shelbyliving.com.

• EXCLUSIVE: What’s up with Thicket magazine? We last reported in August that two of the four founding partners had left to run Birmingham Magazine. Since then, the September/October issue has been published, but no sightings of the November/December issue.

We asked senior editor and founding partner Todd Keith if Thicket had folded. Keith responded, “I wouldn’t say that. We are in discussions with several groups as well as individuals about the magazine and looking at a number of possibilities.”

When pressed further about the missing issue, the two partners who left but are still listed on the site, the current state and future of the magazine, and which groups or individuals were in discussions with Thicket, Keith responded, “We should have a more clear picture of where Thicket is going in the first quarter of 2010 and feel free to check back in at that time.”

Hmm …

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Video Made Easy wrapup

Posted on November 18, 2009 | 6 comments

Thanks to everyone who came out Tuesday morning for our video workshop!

A few special thank yous:

If you couldn’t make it, a few takeaway tips:

  • Matt and Dennis often use a Flip camera, one of the more popular and less expensive options out there.
  • You can use a digital still camera to shoot video, but keep in mind that the quality won’t be as high, since it’s primarily designed for photos.
  • Before going out on a shoot, check two things: battery life and available memory. You can’t shoot if your battery is dead or your memory is clogged with older videos. (The Flip has no accessible memory card — you must dump footage to your computer to free up space, delete it or no shoot.)
  • They use basic video editing software that usually comes standard with computers: Windows Movie Maker and iMovie for the Mac.
  • With the Flip, proximity is important for good audio. The model Matt showed off had a mono microphone (Flips have no audio input jack).
  • Besides YouTube and Vimeo and other video sharing sites, you can also post your videos to AL.com to reach the hometown audience.
  • Breaking a long video into a series of shorter ones (around 2 minutes or less) can yield higher numbers of views.
  • To have a home for each video, embed it on one of your Web pages or within a blog post. Then, you can write a headline and some explanatory text for maximum search engine optimization (how users find it through Google).

Also, MOBster Lisa Isbell shares her insights from the presentation.

What should we present at a future seminar or workshop? What do you as a media professional want to learn?

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Commercial to feature former ABC 33/40 reporter Chris Osborne

Posted on November 16, 2009 | 1 comment

Red Cross officer lost part of leg to motorcycle accident

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Video: Chris Osborne’s aha moment
for Mutual of Omaha commercial

Chris Osborne lost part of his left leg following a 2004 motorcycle accident. Instead of slowing down, he went to physical therapy and learned to use a prosthetic leg. Osborne also visited other amputees in the hospital to help them in their recovery.

His story is featured in a new series of commercials for Mutual of Omaha to air in the spring. The insurance company visited 25 cities, including Birmingham, to record inspirational stories for its aha moments campaign. Osborne’s commercial made it to the Top 10.

Osborne is chief branding officer for the Birmingham chapter of the American Red Cross. Before, he worked as a reporter for ABC 33/40.

He told the Birmingham News:

“I’m extremely honored that so many people thought enough about me and my story to vote. There were some really incredible ‘Aha Moments’ from people here in Birmingham and around the country.”

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EXCLUSIVE: Cooking Light adds to Southern Progress layoffs

Posted on November 11, 2009 | 8 comments

The bloodshed continues at Southern Progress Corporation.

cooking-light-nov-2009-coverThe fall layoffs continued into week 2 at the Birmingham-based publisher: Media of Birmingham has learned from company sources that five Cooking Light editorial staffers were laid off Tuesday.

Update Nov. 12: We’re revising the total to six laid off Thursday. Worth noting: Editor Mary Kay Culpepper left in September; executive editor Billy Sims is leaving voluntarily; and managing editor Maelynn Cheung was laid off in this round. Which means all three top positions at the mag have been vacated in the last 2 months.

The Time Inc. outfit laid off 48 employees Thursday, including 13 in Southern Living’s editorial department, eight in SPConnect (formerly Custom Publishing) and three in human resources.

The news comes as Time Inc. reports a third-quarter ad revenue drop of $129 million, or 22 percent, compared to the same quarter in 2008. And yet, despite that gloomy news, Cooking Light had a 27 percent increase in December ad pages, while Southern Living had a 34 percent increase. Both figures for the Southern Progress titles are self reported to the Publishers Information Bureau.

With additional reports coming in, the count for this round stands at 54 people laid off.

Update Nov. 12: The Birmingham Business Journal reports two possible but opposing outcomes. First, Time Inc. spokeswoman Debra Richman said the company will hire back “a number of positions” but did not elaborate on how many or which jobs. Second, the story concludes with, “Southern Progress sources said they expect layoffs to continue through December.”

If you’ve been laid off from SPC, or know someone who has, please let us know via our contact form. We’ll keep your personal information confidential.

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Birmingham reporters cover Langford trial with Twitter

Posted on November 6, 2009 | 2 comments

fox-6-coogler-interview

Trial coverage to a big step forward in October, thanks to a federal judge and tech-savvy reporters. During the corruption trial of then Birmingham mayor Larry Langford, Twitter became a primary source of live updates throughout the eight days in session.

Federal law prohibits broadcasting from within the courtroom. And a sign just outside the courtroom instructs that cell phones must be turned off. But Judge Scott Coogler allowed members of the media to use their phones to send updates to their Twitter accounts.

Followers were able to read live accounts of testimony, arguments and the mechanics of a high-profile trial from their computers and phones. It’s likely the first time a major trial received this level of scrutiny.

Coogler told Fox 6:

“The difference is Twitter is like a reporter taking notes, if you will, instead of having to take the notes back to their office, they’re writing them on a device which then goes out.

“It’s their own interpretation of what’s going on in the proceeding, and when I looked at it, it seemed pretty clear to me.”

During the trial, Coogler instructed jurors to isolate themselves from media coverage, but also included blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other sources of information. But he also took time to praise reporters for handling the coverage with decorum in and out of the courtroom.

Trial Twitterers included:

It’s clear that for citizens and for reporters, Twitter has changed how trial news is reported and consumed.

For more, see the story and video from Fox 6.

How would you grade the media’s coverage of the Langford trial? Did you follow along on Twitter? Leave a comment at the beep. Beep.

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EXCLUSIVE: Dozens laid off this morning at Southern Progress

Posted on November 5, 2009 | 4 comments

southern-progress-corp-logoAs part of Time Inc’s plan to lay off 6 percent of its workforce, Birmingham-based publisher Southern Progress Corporation began laying off dozens of employees this morning, according to our sources.

Update: The total number of people laid off today stands at 48, or a 12 percent to 13 percent reduction in workforce at Southern Progress.

The hardest hit groups appear to be accounting and Southern Living’s editorial staff. Others in support roles and on the business side were laid off. Several Cooking Light staffers reportedly took buyouts.

Coastal Living, Health and SPC Digital appear to have escaped this round with no layoffs.

Southern Progress magazines continued to see declines in advertising revenue in the third quarter.

Time Inc. filed notice Wednesday with the New York Department of Labor that it plans to lay off 280 workers within New York State between Nov. 2 and Jan. 31.

Update: The Birmingham News has an official statement from Time Inc.

Update: Southern Progress is also closing its corporate library and has plans to lease one of its three buildings after moving staff into the other two buildings.

Update Nov. 6: The New York Post reports that in addition to the cuts in the Lifestyle Group in Birmingham, three Real Simple staff members were laid off in New York.

If you’ve been laid off from SPC, or know someone who has, please let us know via our contact form. We’ll keep your personal information confidential.

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EXCLUSIVE: Hoffman’s Cooking with Paula Deen drops 14.1 percent in 3rd quarter

Posted on November 3, 2009 | 4 comments

3Q-birmingham-magazine-ad-sales

Birmingham-based magazines continued their ad sales slump when comparing their third quarters of 2008 and 2009. The most surprising drop came from Hoffman Media’s Cooking With Paula Deen, which fell 14.1 percent according to figures from the Magazine Publishers of America. The magazine had increased 3.2 percent between the first half of 2008 and 2009.

Meanwhile, with layoffs imminent at Southern Progress, the decline in ad sales continued among the five remaining titles. Coastal Living saw the biggest slump, dropping 13.6 percent, while Health Sunset remained nearly steady with a 0.3 percent drop. Southern Progress magazines saw a 6.9 percent drop overall.

U.S. magazines lost 18.6 percent average in ad sales from 2008 to 2009 during the third quarter.

Also:

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Do Birmingham publications suffer from a lack of diversity?

Posted on November 2, 2009 | 17 comments

Do Birmingham publications suffer from a lack of diversity? Do they reflect the city they serve?

The questions were prompted by a glance at the redesigned landing Web page for the Birmingham News. Granted, these are just the columnists, but the News and AL.com decided these are the ones to feature prominently with mug shots.

birmingham-news-columnists

Birmingham News columnists

All white, with two women out of eight columnists. The city population itself is 73.5 percent African American.

Compare that with the recently launched B-Metro magazine, which also features its columnists on the front page of its site …

b-metro columnists

B-Metro magazine columnists

We see a little more diversity, with three men out of nine contributors, one African American.

birmingham magazine columnistsAt Birmingham Magazine, the four columnists featured are all women, all white. (See graphic at right.)

(The Birmingham Business Journal doesn’t include writers’ photos on its site.)

The questions we have:

  • Should the writers featured on a Web site (and in the publication, too) reflect the diversity of its audience and market?
  • Do advertisers care about staff diversity? Do readers care? Or publishers?
  • Does diversity make a difference to the bottom line?
  • Can publications diversify, even as they’re cutting resources and staff members?
  • Are smaller publications — Birmingham Weekly, Black and White, Birmingham Times — facing the same issues?

Your comments are welcome below.

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‘Biggest mass firing’ in 2009 coming to Southern Progress, Time Inc.

Posted on October 30, 2009 | 6 comments

Next week likely to determine who goes at Birmingham operation

southern-progress-corp-logoTime Inc. plans to cut 6 percent of its 9,000-member workforce before Thanksgiving, according to a report today in the New York Post. Its Birmingham-based Southern Progress is expected to dole out pink slips as soon as Thursday, say company insiders. Time Inc. will release third quarter earnings on Wednesday.

The scale of the layoffs means Time Inc. holds the distinction of the biggest mass firing in publishing this year, outpacing the 460-plus involuntary terminations at rival Condé Nast.

As previously reported, Southern Progress has cut 41.4 percent of its Birmingham staff in the past 12 months, eliminating 290 positions. However, this quarter’s cuts are expected to go deeper …

The Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Progress, whose flagship title is Southern Living, escaped major hits in the round of layoffs unveiled in the fourth quarter of last year. The division … will not be so lucky this time around, sources predicted.

Southern Progress also oversees Cooking Light, Health, Coastal Living and Sunset magazines and Myhomeideas.com and Myrecipes.com. It closed Cottage Living and Southern Accents magazines and sold Southern Living at Home.

Time Inc. cut 6 percent of its 10,000-member workforce in 2008. All Southern Progress titles lost ad revenue between the third quarter of 2008 and 2009.

Read more stories on Southern Progress.

Update Nov. 3: The New York Times reports Time Inc. has begun layoffs at Sports Illustrated, and that layoff meetings begin Wednesday morning at other titles.

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