Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 22, 2008 at 15:56:23:
Get your bright, shiny StreetWise magazine
StreetWise is going glossy. Beginning Nov. 5, the not-for-profit weekly street newspaper founded in 1992 will transition from a tabloid newspaper to a glossy, four-color magazine format and raise its suggested cover price to $2 from $1.
The moves are the biggest in the newspaper's 16-year history, but they mirror a recent trend toward magazine formats at other street newspapers domestically and around the world.
StreetWise's management and board of directors believe the changes will eventually net the newspaper more advertisers and a larger, more involved readership base. Editorially, the publication's content will include more feature-type articles, including a new focus on health and fitness.
The publication's management also hopes that philanthropic organizations will look kindly on efforts to boost advertising revenue and decide to increase their financial contributions to the publication. That could help StreetWise add more intern positions to assist the full-time four-person editorial staff headed by Editor-In-Chief Suzanne Hanney. In its new magazine format, StreetWise will continue to be sold by some 200 street vendors, but StreetWise spokesman Lee Barrie said there will also be a concerted push to boost revenue by selling more individual and bundled corporate subscriptions beyond the city limits.
A stronger StreetWise means the publication can help more people at a time when the economy is faltering and homelessness is on the rise. Since its founding, StreetWise has assisted more than 8,000 homeless or near-homeless Chicagoans. The marketing theme for the launch of the new magazine format is: "A Better StreetWise, A Better Life."
(Lewis Lazare, Chicago Sun-Times)