Weekend magazines dwindling

A specialized sub-set of the magazine world is the weekend supplement to newspapers -- more common in U.S. papers than in Canada, but reminiscent of the long-gone Canadian and Weekend in Canadian papers. Those were said to be killed not only by demographic change and cost, but also by the end of the tobacco advertising that were their anchor.

Now, even longtime Sunday papers in the U.S. are going away, evidenced by the announcement that the Plain Dealer, Cleveland's dominant paper, announced today that it will drop its self-published Sunday Magazine. The syndicated Parade magazine will continue to be included. Among other things, quality colour printing within the main papers has rendered "rotos" (for the old technology of rotogravure) less relevant.

Word is also that Time Inc.'s LIFE magazine, transmogrified into a national Sunday newspaper supplement, is having difficulty attracting advertising, and there are questions whether it will long survive.