POP Magazine

POP magazine (originally titled People of Peoria) was my idea of a local magazine for Peoria, Illinois when I still lived there. My idea was to combine two parts People magazine, one part Mad magazine, one part National Lampoon and a dash of Creem magazine. Then I added in some local writers (including myself), artists and photographers and POP magazine was born.

The first issue came out in the fall of 1989 and the cover story was on morning radio in Peoria, written by yours truly. This meant the first issue would get major coverage on every station (I was slowly learning to become the media whore that I am today) and it sold out. We even had some ads, but not many. The magazine had distribution through the Illinois News Service and we were the top selling magazine locally. Unfortunately the advertising community didn't understand cover stories on WIllie York, a homeless man who survived on road killl, marijuana and cheap wine, a local biker gang and features and columns that included stories on strippers, punk rock bands and a teenager who "nuked"  different items in her microwave (hi Megan!)

POP got some decent press, first locally in the Peoria Journal Star and on the local news and radio stations. By this time I had been back to New York and had a contact with a writer named Mark Blackwell (thanks for the introduction, Susie!) who put POP on a page in Spin magazine. From that came a front page story in the metro section of the Chicago Tribune (thanks Wes Smith) and a full page feature in Advertising Age magazine (which was ironic considering the magazine's advertising woes.)

So while the magazine was popular it was bleeding money (the money I had made off the Idiot Trivia game) and after three fun-filled years and about 15 issues I had to cease production because I was broke and no ads were forthcoming. I always tell people publishing and editiing POP was like going to magazine college, so I don't view the money I lost wasted, more like I paid for an edcuation in writing, editing and handling a staff of writers, photographers and artists who were all a little, well, let's just say eccentric. And myself being one of the more eccentric, after the magazine folded I cashed in my pension fund at work and moved out here to New York and I've been here ever since. And so far I'm living happily ever after.