Back on Your Radar

It’s ba-a-a-ck! Next week the much buzzed-about, now better-financed new issue of Radar magazine hits the newsstands. Though it’s called the “premiere issue” in its official Radar magazine “Fact Sheet,” it is, in fact, the third issue of the magazine that Editor Maer Roshan has been trying to start for the past three years.In the spring of 2003, Mr. Roshan scraped together enough money to produce two test issues. The first was compared to Talk, where he had been the editorial director and, during that magazine’s last, troubled year, had improved the magazine’s content, organized the staff, and cut the budget. The second test issue was compared to Spy magazine, which has been edited by Kurt Anderson and Graydon Carter.In fact, Mr. Roshan says, both test issues of Radar were very much alike. “I don’t care what people compare the magazine to as long as they like it,” he told me. “Of course, there are bits and pieces of other magazines, but overall I think Radar is a new idea. It has a different voice. It is aimed at young, urban readers with a special sensibility. That’s why I wanted to start it.”Mort Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and U.S. News and World Report, is a backer of the current incarnation of Radar, along with partner Jeffrey Epstein. “It has a little bit of an Internet sensibility and it is a little bit like Vanity Fair for a younger audience,” Mr. Zuckerman said. “But it is different than anything out there. I was thrilled with the first issue – for a first issue.”What’s in that issue? A bright primary color design, sans serif type, and lots and lots and lots of attitude. Paris Hilton and President Bush share the composite cover, which was conceived by veteran magazine-cover designer George Lois. Ms. Hilton and Mr. Bush figure prominently in the cover story as well, which is called “Famous for What?” and is about “faking it.” Author Daniel Radosh claims this has become the new, safer path to success: “Paris Hilton can never be exposed,” he writes, “because we know that under the surface there is only more surface.”Still, Ms. Hilton is interesting enough to the editors of Radar to not only be a major part of the cover story, but also be pictured throughout the magazine. She is quoted on page 31, and just a couple of pages later, on page 33, Julian Niccolini, a managing partner of the Four Seasons, picks the perfect Grill Room table for her. Once again, on page 53, in a taste test of bogus brands of bottled water, a panel finds that Paris’s H2O had more appeal than Star Jones’s Star Mist, which alas is “too full-bodied.”On the Radar Internet site, which gives you a daily dose of the same attitude, there is Ms. Hilton once again in a Paris vs. Dubya face-off. Both are quoted on a variety of subjects and come out sounding eerily alike. Ms. Hilton is even cited in the subscription ad for the magazine.Other features include an assessment of television anchors called “My Big Dumb TV Anchor” with an industry poll of who is “TV’s dumbest, meanest and vainest.” In case you were wondering, Ann Curry is among the dumbest, Lou Dobbs is among the meanest, and Aaron Brown is one of the vainest.Other snarky bits and pieces include an analysis of Kim Jong Il and other dictators by Dr. Joyce Brothers. (Their fathers didn’t love them.) And a “Field Guide to the New Fame” gives instructions on how you too can fake your way to press coverage and fortune (just like Ms. Hilton) in various endeavors including business, politics, magazines, and blogging. There are also reports on the gay children of conservative politicians, a desert plant that may or may not keep African bushmen slim and trim, and the backstage life of those who must trudge around Disney World impersonating Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.The longest feature in the magazine is a serious, newsy report about our troops in Iraq by Bartle Bull. It is, Mr. Roshan said, his favorite piece in the magazine.For the first issue, the magazine is guaranteeing a modest circulation of 150,000 and includes a modest 37 pages of advertising, including advertising from Calvin Klein, Grand Marnier, and HBO. The magazine will publish four issues in 2005 and slowly increase frequency in 2006, depending on advertiser and reader response.When discussing the business prospects for the magazine, Mr. Zuckerman said: “Have you ever met a publisher who was satisfied with the number of ads in a magazine? But we did it in a hurry, and we wanted to get it out there and show what we were doing.”Bonnie Barest, executive vice president and managing director of Optimedia, who placed advertisements for Garnier and Armani fragrance in the magazine, said, “I think Radar looks good. It is young, for a dual audience, and for people who see themselves as fashion leaders. And I like Maer. You want to give him the benefit of the doubt.”Yet some observers – including the editors of the press-watching blog Gawker – seem to find taking daily potshots at Mr. Roshan and his staff irresistible. But Mr. Roshan has many admirers in the publishing industry, including Caroline Miller, the former editor of New York magazine (Mr. Roshan was deputy editor there for six years). “Maer has a restless, insatiable appetite for what’s new, what’s happening right now, what’s the buzz,” she said. “And he’s wired to be provocative, which I think is valuable, and rather rare.” Mr. Zuckerman said he backed Radar primarily because “I wanted to work with this editor.”Being a magazine that is of such interest to others in publishing is both an advantage and a disadvantage. “It’s good if you do it right,” Mr. Zuckerman said, “not so good if you don’t.” He also explained why he was backing a magazine for the most difficult and critical of audiences – young, affluent, highly educated readers who are already inundated with information: “Because I am insane!” he said. “I have been in the magazine business for 30 years. And wanting to be in this business is not rational. But I love it.”Mr. Roshan’s savings were depleted after he struggled to find backers for Radar, and his commitment to starting the magazine is even more intense and emotional. “I think magazines today are much too serious and much too soulless,” he said. “I feel there is another voice that needs to cut through, a voice that really needs to be heard.”

Back on Your Radar

Back on Your Radar

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