American general audience science magazine
Discover
is an American
general audience
science magazine
launched in October 1980 by
Time Inc
. It has been owned by
Kalmbach Media
since 2010.
History
[
edit
]
Founding
[
edit
]
Discover
was created primarily through the efforts of
Time
magazine editor
Leon Jaroff
. He noticed that magazine sales jumped every time the cover featured a science topic. Jaroff interpreted this as a considerable public interest in science, and in 1971, he began agitating for the creation of a science-oriented magazine. This was difficult, as a former colleague noted, because "Selling science to people who graduated to be managers was very difficult".
[2]
Jaroff's persistence finally paid off, and
Discover
magazine published its first edition in 1980.
[3]
Discover
was originally launched into a burgeoning market for science magazines aimed at educated non-professionals, intended to be easier to read than
Scientific American
but more detailed and science-oriented than
Popular Science
.
[4]
Shortly after its launch, the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) launched a similar magazine called
Science 80
(not to be confused with its flagship academic journal,
Science
), and both
Science News
and
Science Digest
changed their formats to follow the new trend.
During this period,
Discover
featured fairly in-depth science reporting on "hard science" and avoided fringe topics like
extraterrestrial intelligence
. Most issues contained essays by well-known scientists?such as
Stephen Jay Gould
,
Jared Diamond
, and
Stephen Hawking
. Another common article was a biography, often linked with mentions of other scientists working in the field. The "Skeptical Eye" column sought to uncover
pop-science
scams, and was the medium where
James Randi
released the results of
Project Alpha
. Jaroff said that it was the most-read section at its launch.
[4]
Competition and change
[
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]
The sudden appearance of so many magazines in the same market space inevitably led to some falling by the wayside, and
Discover
was left largely alone in its market space by the mid-1980s; it nevertheless decided to appeal to a wider audience by including articles on
psychology
and
psychiatry
. Jaroff told the editor-in-chief that these were not "solid sciences", and was sent back to
Discover'
s parent,
Time, Inc
.
[5]
"Skeptical Eye" and other columns disappeared, and articles covered more controversial, speculative topics (like "How the Universe Will End"). The new format was a great success, and the new format remained largely unchanged for the next two decades.
Gilbert Rogin, a
Sports Illustrated
editor, was brought in 1985 to revive
Discover
. In 1986, Time purchased the subscription lists of the shuttered magazines
Science Digest
and
Science 86
from their publishers. Circulation for the magazine reached 925,000 by May 1987 with revenue for 1986 being $6.9 million, but annual net loss was $10 million.
[6]
In January 1987, Time appointed a new
Discover
publisher, Bruce A. Barnet, previously publisher of
Picture Week
test magazine from August 1985 to replace James B. Hayes, who was appointed publisher of
Fortune
.
[7]
The magazine changed hands several times. In 1987, Time, Inc. sold
Discover
to Family Media, the owners of
Health
,
Golf Illustrated
,
Homeowner
,
1,001 Home Ideas
and
World Tennis
, for $26 million. From January to July 1991, Discover magazine lost 15% of its advertising while still remaining profitable. Family Media closed down while suspending publication of all its magazines and placing them up for sale. Family Media's last
Discover
issue was August 1991, with a circulation of 1.1 million copies.
[8]
In September 1991,
The Walt Disney Company
bought the magazine for its
Disney Publishing
's Magazine Group. The magazine's main office was moved to the Magazine Group office in Burbank while leaving one third behind in New York in a small editorial and advertising office. Disney was able to retain Family Media's editor-in-chief for the magazine, Paul Hoffman.
[8]
Disney doubled the magazine's photography and its content budget to overcome skipping two issues in Family Media's shutdown and ownership change. In 1993, Disney Magazine Publishing Inc. decided to launch a trade advertising campaign designed with advertising firm Ziff Marketing to raise awareness in the advertising field that the magazine is an accessible general interest magazine in the science category.
[9]
In October 2005,
Bob Guccione, Jr.
, founder of
Spin
and
Gear
magazines, and some
private equity
partners purchased the magazine from Disney. Guccione was CEO and oversaw a redesign for the April 2006 issue. However, Guccione was ousted as CEO in October 2007 in what was described as "a falling-out over philosophical differences with his financial backers".
[10]
Henry Donahue, Discover Media's chief financial officer, became the new CEO. In 2008, he also assumed the role of publisher. In October 2008,
Corey Powell
,
Discover'
s executive editor, became editor-in-chief.
[11]
As of April 2009,
[update]
the magazine published combined issues in January/February and July/August, for a total of ten issues a year.
[
citation needed
]
In 2010 the magazine was sold to
Kalmbach Publishing
, whose books and magazines are generally about
craft
and hobby subjects such as
modeling
(
Model Railroader
,
FineScale Modeler
,
Scale Auto
,
Classic Toy Trains
,
Garden Railways
,
Model Retailer
),
beadwork
(
BeadStyle
,
Bead&Button
,
Art Jewelry
), and the outdoors (
Birder's World
,
Cabin Life
,
American
Snowmobiler
). It has one other science magazine,
Astronomy
.
[2]
In August 2012 Kalmbach announced that
Discover
would be moving from
New York City
to Kalmbach's headquarters in
Wisconsin
in January 2013. In December 2012, Stephen C. George became the editor-in-chief.
[12]
Becky Lang was the editor-in-chief until mid-2020.
On May 1, 2024, Kalmbach Media announced the sale of most of its titles to Firecrown Media, as well as its Kalmbach Books division and related e-commerce sites, leaving
Discover
magazine as its sole remaining publication.
[13]
Blog portal
[
edit
]
The
Discover
website includes a collection of blogs related to science, including
Cosmic Variance
,
Carl Zimmer
's The Loom, and
Melissa Lafsky
's Reality Base.
TV series
[
edit
]
From 1983?1990,
PBS
aired
Discover: The World of Science
, a monthly hour-long
news magazine
featuring topics from the publication and hosted by
Peter Graves
.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"eCirc for Consumer Magazines"
.
Alliance for Audited Media
. 31 December 2012. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2014
. Retrieved
28 June
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Hevesi, Dennis.
"Leon Jaroff, Editor at Time and Discover Magazines, Dies at 85"
,
The New York Times
, 21 October 2012
- ^
Bruce V. Lewenstein (1987).
"Was There Really a Popular Science" Boom"?"
.
Science, Technology, & Human Values
. Retrieved
24 June
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Garfield, Eugene.
"Introducing Discover"
,
Essays of an Information Scientist
, Vol:5, 16 March 1981, pp. 52?56
- ^
"Interview with Editor/Writer, Leon Jaroff"
Archived
7 September 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Teen Ink
- ^
Richter, Paul (22 May 1987).
"Time Will Sell Discover After 7-Year Struggle"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
4 March
2015
.
- ^
"People Nation"
.
Los Angeles Times
. 7 January 1987
. Retrieved
4 March
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Mulligan, Thomas S. (6 September 1991).
"Disney Will Keep 'Discover' on the Racks"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
20 December
2012
.
- ^
Elliott, Stuart (15 October 1993).
"THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; The selling of Discover magazine hasn't been an exact science, but Disney will try a new approach"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
4 March
2015
.
- ^
"Guccione Jr. Goes From Penthouse to the Outhouse"
,
New York Post
, 10 October 2007.
- ^
"Discover Magazine Builds New Staff in Wisconsin"
.
Discover
. January 2013
. Retrieved
8 May
2014
.
- ^
Welsh, Jennifer (17 August 2012).
"Discover Magazine Is Moving to the Middle of Nowhere"
.
Business Insider
.
- ^
Fuller, Craig (1 May 2024).
"Firecrown Media Grows Again with Addition of 'Trains,' 'Astronomy'
"
.
flyingmag.com
. Firecrown Media
. Retrieved
1 May
2024
.
External links
[
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]