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Andrew HeiskellAndrew Heiskell
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Session:         Page of 824

So we launched. And, when was it, March of 1974, I believe. I should know. And, by God it was an instantaneous circulation. Wow. The tests turned out to be quite correct. We were selling eighty, ninety percent. Although, I have to admit, in the first quarter we guaranteed a million circulations which is pretty ambitious for a launch in the news-stand world. And, about six weeks before the end of the first quarter somebody came to me and said, “Well, I don't think we'll make the million, or come close.” And I looked him coldly and I said, “My friend, we'll make the million.” Period.[laughs] And we did by a hair.

The advertisers' response was somewhat similar to that of our fellow editors. Low brow, cheap, “Oh, we wouldn't think of putting our fine product in that crummy magazine.” And that continued until the success in circulation became so wide-known in practically every circle. And then the first audience figures came in. Audience being how many people per copy. And the first audience figures came in-- these are done, not by us, but by other people of all magazines. And I think we had something like eight readers per copy. When you divide a low advertising price by eight readers per copy and it became irresistible to the advertisers. And after, oh, a year and a half, they suddenly flocked in and we literally-I believe we went into the black in October or November, 1975, ie. eighteen months after launch. And from then, the line was straight up, forty-five degrees, practically continuously. They kept insisting on raising the price over my dead body. I always thought it was a mistake, but as it turned out, they may have been right. This thirty-five cent magazine now costs-what is it, a dollar fifty, a dollar ninety or





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