Life magazine to cease monthly publication

NEW YORK (AP) -- The American magazine industry will lose one of its oldest and best-known titles in May when Life publishes its<br>last monthly issue.<br><br>Parent company Time Inc. will continue to

Friday, March 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) -- The American magazine industry will lose one of its oldest and best-known titles in May when Life publishes its
last monthly issue.

Parent company Time Inc. will continue to put out occasional issues for special events and books that carry the Life brand, the company said Friday. The decision marks the second time the company has pulled the plug on Life.

Started as a weekly in 1936 by publishing pioneer Henry Luce, who also founded Time and Fortune magazines, Life was suspended
from regular publication in 1972 and brought back as a monthly in 1978.

During the intervening years, it put out special issues such as year-end collections of photographs.

The magazine had been "modestly profitable" for the past several years, said Time Inc. editorial director Henry Muller. But poor growth prospects in coming years as well as the need to reallocate resources to new magazines led to the decision to retire Life from regular publication.

Life's circulation has hovered around 1.6 million for the past several years.

"Ever since Life was relaunched, it's been a difficult business proposition," Muller said. "It was a general-interest magazine at a time that most others were going toward special interests. It was a magazine launched for nostalgic reasons rather than a clear
conception of who the audience for that magazine was."

Time Inc. has an aggressive program of magazine launches this year, with four new titles: Real Simple for women; eCompany Now, a technology and business publication; a large-print edition of Time; and an Australian edition of InStyle, the celebrity gossip title.

Muller also attributed the decision to suspend Life on recent changes in the circulation industry, such as consolidation of wholesalers, that put further pressure on the magazine's profits.

A former publisher of the magazine, however, said Life began to go downhill in the late 1980s with weaker editorial product and a
smaller format that robbed the magazine of its unique feel.

"It wasn't the terrific, elegant magazine it should have been as a monthly," said Chuck Whittingham, who was publisher of the
magazine from 1978 to 1987. "When they reduced the size, they made a huge mistake. They didn't really follow the concept."

"They had been looking a lot healthier," said Melissa Pordy, the director of print advertising at Zenith Media Services Inc. "They have such a strong franchise name and it's really
unfortunate that it couldn't sustain itself."

Time Inc., which also puts out Sports Illustrated, Money, People and InStyle, is one of the largest magazine companies in the
nation. It is part of the Time Warner media conglomerate, which agreed earlier this year to be acquired by America Online.
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On the Net:
Life magazine at http://www.lifemag.com