Wayne T. Lewis might not be a household name to Ohio State students, but his publication certainly is.
UWeekly, a well-known newspaper of his, reaches thousands of people around the OSU campus area every week.
While Lewis has crafted a niche in the market for college-aged people, he, and some others, have noticed a void in publications reaching out to a slightly older demographic – Columbus’ 150,000 25-35 year old residents.
“We really just saw a hole in the market,” he said.
Beginning April 1, 2009 that void will close with the debut of 614 Magazine, a free monthly publication, on news stands around the city.
Photo courtesy of Wayne T. Lewis614 Magazine, which is published by Wayne T. Lewis, publisher of UWeekly, will launch april 2009.When they spoke with advertisers and people in the community, many expressed great interest in the idea of a publication like 614 Magazine.Soon, plans for the magazine started coming together.
Lewis said the magazine is not a general interest magazine and definitely not a young professional magazine.
“You’re not going to be seeing stories about local nursing homes or child care,” he said.
Lewis said the strong point of the magazine will be the layout and editorial quality.
Lewis and Gaines meet regularly with an advisory board of sorts, discussing story ideas to reach the magazine’s intended demographic.
Lewis said the magazine currently has about 12 writers and a couple photographers, but he hopes to expand these numbers in the near future.
“The magazine is kind of a hybrid product, like UWeekly. … We’re producing a product we could charge for,” Lewis said.
The new magazine, like Lewis’ other publications, UWeekly and Tiger Weekly, an independent publication at Louisiana State University, will follow a free distribution model.
To find funding for 614 Magazine, Lewis sent a 104-page pilot issue to potential advertisers.
Walker Evans, founder of Columbus Underground, an online news source aimed at a similar demographic, had a chance to read through the pilot issue. He said he thought it was well done and was impressed by the content.
Evans said he thinks the magazine will help fill the 25-35 demographic gap in Columbus print media, a mission he has personally taken on as a new writer for the magazine.
Gaines, a long-time fan of Columbus Underground, thought Evans would be a perfect fit for the fledgling magazine.
Evans said he always wanted to expand Columbus Underground into different media formats, but has never had adequate funding. Now, thanks to Lewis and Gaines, he is getting his wish.
Evans will be writing two news features for the magazine: one detailing urban development news and the other dealing with restaurant news.
Even though the content is aimed at the 25-35-year-old demographic, Evans said it is “appealing and accessible to a wider audience.”
At launch, 614 Magazine will have an expected circulation of 25,000. The magazine will be spread strategically around Columbus in areas frequented by the target demographic.
Evans said that although the magazine will be available at some campus locations, it will not be as widespread as UWeekly.
Matt Hancharick can be reached at [email protected].
