TV Guide magazine
TV Guide magazine is a prominent publication that provides television listings and entertainment content, catering to audiences across the United States. Launched in 1953 by Walter H. Annenberg, the magazine was inspired by the success of a local publication and aimed to create a national platform while customizing local programming listings for different regions. This innovative approach combined consistent editorial content with varying local advertisements, marking a significant shift in the publishing industry. Despite initial skepticism from critics regarding its viability, TV Guide quickly gained popularity, with its debut issue selling over one and a half million copies. The magazine continued to thrive, particularly during the fall television season, and by 2004, it boasted a readership of more than 28 million, making it one of the most widely read magazines in the country. TV Guide not only offered viewers essential information about television programming but also played a role in shaping the television culture of the era.
TV Guide magazine
Identification Weekly digest containing entertainment articles and regional television listings
Date Began publication on April 3, 1953
Publisher Triangle Publishing (1953-1988)
When television was in its infancy, the publishers of TV Guide used a previously untried format to provide viewers with the information they needed to get the most out of the new medium.
The concept behind TV Guide originated in November, 1952, when Triangle Publishing president Walter H. Annenberg noticed an advertisement for a local publication, TV Digest, in a rival newspaper. According to the advertisement, TV Digest provided the television listings for local Philadelphia stations and had a circulation of 180,000.
Inspired by these numbers, Annenberg proposed a similar publication on a national scale. In a first for the publishing industry, the framework of articles, reviews, columns, and advertisements would remain the same in all editions throughout the country, but the television listings would vary from region to region to reflect differences in local programming. The new magazine would also feature both national and regional advertising, another first.
Critics considered it impossible to produce a weekly magazine that was both national and regional and claimed that potential subscribers and customers would not pay for a digest of television listings, because the television listings already were printed in newspapers. Annenberg was willing to take that risk. In preparation, Triangle Publishing purchased the regional competitors: TV Digest, TV Guide in New York City, and TV Forecast in Chicago.
The debut issue was released four months after the magazine’s conception and featured one of the first photographs of television star Lucille Ball’s baby, Desi Arnaz, Jr. There were ten regional issues, and the initial week’s publication sold more than one and a half million copies.
Throughout the summer, each successive weekly issue sold fewer copies. By August, the sales figures were down by 200,000 from the initial printing. Despite their financial losses, the publishers blamed the downturn on typical summer viewer habits. In September, with the first Fall preview issue, the trend reversed. The September 4, 1953, edition sold 1,746,327 copies—even more than the first issue.
Impact
Taking advantage of the growing medium of television, Annenberg defied critics by creating a magazine that would go on to become one of the most-read publications in the United States. Television gave early viewers a new window on the world, and TV Guide gave the information required to take advantage of that window. By 2004, TV Guide would have more than 28 million readers. Nearly one out of seven American adults read TV Guide, which covered eight regions and published ninety-eight local editions.
Bibliography
Altschuler, Glenn C. Changing Channels: America in “TV Guide.” Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1992. A scholarly look at the effect TV Guide has had on American culture.
Harris, Jay S., ed. “TV Guide”: The First Twenty-five Years. New York: Triangle, 1978. A compilation of articles that appeared in TV Guide from its inception in 1953 to 1978.
Reddicliffe, Steven, ed. “TV Guide”: Fifty Years of Television. New York: Crown, 2002. A collection of essays on the history of television programming and articles that appeared in TV Guide throughout its fifty-year history.
Thumin, Janet, ed. Small Screens, Big Ideas: Television in the 1950’s. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2002. A compilation of essays on the early days of television and its relationship to other forms of media.