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Bridging Boundaries
With A Big Voice
An outspoken former lawmaker launches an apolitical magazine.
JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER
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MEM
WE LISTEN. WE UNDERSTAND.
WE MAKE IT WORK. FM
30
er bumper sticker might worst for any publication, we've
say, "I'd rather be in the held steady. The summer months
are notoriously worse for ad
U.S. Senate."
And that would be an sales," she said.
Starting a newspaper wasn't
understatement. But Lana Pol-
lack insists she is happy in her a secret ambition — "My burn-
new role as private citizen and ing desire was to be in the U.S.
publisher of a magazine that has Senate," she laughed — although
Michigan Monthly dovetails with
no political agenda.
The former state senator — Ms. Pollack's political and social
Ms. Pollack served three terms sensibilities.
"It appeals to my sense of com-
before resigning her seat to run
for Congress last year — divides munity and my belief that if peo-
her time between caring for
her mother, who suffers
from Alzheimer's disease,
and overseeing business op-
erations at Michigan
Monthly.
Ms. Pollack said the third
issue of the Ann Arbor-
based magazine is selling
well. About 54,000 copies
are printed of each edition.
Ms. Pollack, who was
known in Lansing as a
feisty liberal, is at the edi-
torial offices every day look-
ing at budgets and fretting
about skyrocketing
newsprint costs. Along with
editor Don Hunt and the
Ann Arbor Observer, part-
ners in the endeavor, she is
also talking to at least a
half-dozen striking jour-
nalists from the Detroit
News and the Free Press
who are looking for work.
Michigan
Whether
Monthly will capture ad-
vertisers who defected from
the dailies in sympathy
with strikers remains to be Publisher Lana Pollack
seen. Ms. Pollack said the
fourth issue is a few weeks away ple are well-informed, they make
and the strike is too young to see better decisions. The communi-
ty I'm talking about is the state.
any impact.
And generally, it's radio and There is no other magazine that
the suburban newspapers that serves the state of Michigan with
experience an advertising wind- information as broad, as eclectic,
as inclusive and diverse."
fall during a strike, she said.
The latest edition of Michigan
"In one case the strike actu-
ally cost us a potential advertis- Monthly carried ideology-free ar-
er. It was an advertiser who ticles on subjects ranging from
primarily depends on radio and the poaching of endangered
was going to add Michigan plants in northern Michigan to
Monthly as a supplement. Radio the future of the two striking
costs have gone up 30 percent newspapers to the evolution of
since the strike and that ate up three furniture-making compa-
the budget of this particular ad- nies in Grand Rapids.
"In spite of my passion for pol-
vertiser and precluded the ad-
vertiser from adding any print," itics - and my strong and clearly
identified political values, this has
Ms. Pollack said.
But the monthly has gone be- not been a vehicle to express that.
yond its sales target already, a The editor has complete control of
good sign in an intensely com- the editorial side and I have com-
plete control of the business side.
petitive media market.
"While everybody said the sec- We, of course, speak often.
"Don Hunt is not political. He's
ond and third months are the
H
(313) 453-7500
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very, very interested in a host of
things," Ms. Pollack said.
Broad in its editorial viewpoint
it is, but it is still in the catego-
ry of "niche" publications, which
are corning out of the woodwork
and seem to be finding an audi-
ence, said Dr. Stanley Soffin, di-
rector of Michigan State
University's School of Journal-
ism.
And, "these are not neophytes
running this operation. They are
experienced in this business.
What it's trying to do is dif-
ferent from what dailies are
doing," he said. "In one way
it's a state version of what
used to be the National Ob-
server. It provided in-depth
coverage of national issues."
Michigan Monthly is pub-
lished 14 times yearly and
sells for $1.50 at newsstands
or $10 for a year's subscrip-
tion.
`The business plan of this
magazine is to reach people
in Michigan who are pri-
marily responsible for mak-
ing most of the public sector
and private sector decisions.
We reach a number of peo-
ple involved in state gov-
ernment who are not elected
or appointed, a large num-
ber of accountants and what
we consider the top 10 per-
cent of the attorneys," Ms.
Pollack said.
"We have not invested,
nor do I think we will, in a
large circulation drive," she
continued. "We'd like to see
paid circulation grow, but
we've not made the kind of in-
vestment to cause it to happen.
If we write a great magazine
about Michigan, people will buy
the magazine."
She wouldn't reveal startup
costs, but said the magazine is
selling well.
It has also defused some of the
enmity Ms. Pollack the lawmak-
er reserved for corporate behe-
moths like Consumers Power
and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
They've applauded her journal-
istic efforts.
"The response from major cor-
porate Michigan has been excel-
lent. Many of these people did
know me, but knew I fought with
them on different issues. All un-
derstood the importance of a
Michigan magazine," she said.
Aside from Ms. Pollack and
Mr. Hunt, there are six full- and
part-time employees on staff. D