0:05

Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm not going to

0:07

steffone ever told you production of iHeart Radio.

0:18

And we are back with our

0:22

unfortunate minute miniseries that I have created

0:25

again. Damn it. I knew. I said

0:27

I wouldn't do it, and it ended up doing it. It came

0:29

from one single idea about southern

0:31

living and then it just spiraled as per

0:33

usual. But anyway, we

0:36

are back, and this is our ode to

0:38

teen magazines and its history

0:40

and impact, because y'all it's pretty pretty

0:44

big. The impact is big. Maybe it's because Annie,

0:46

you and I were from the era of

0:48

teen magazines. And I say this because

0:51

we had a moment in between before

0:53

social media, y'all, Oh my god, where

0:56

we took a lot of advice.

1:00

I had a lot of our education when it came

1:02

to like sex and makeup and

1:05

fashion and movies. Even

1:07

that came from big publications

1:10

that are now collectibles. Apparently I

1:12

should have known this. Why didn't I do this?

1:15

Yeah?

1:15

Yeah, old school magazines. I have all the like

1:17

centerfold outs. There are actually

1:20

some of them are worth the money. I

1:22

came upon an article which I don't really mention

1:24

in here, young young

1:26

women Today and when I say young in like early twenties

1:29

who loved these and try to collect

1:31

them and talk about how much they wish they

1:33

existed today in its

1:35

format. And of course I don't

1:38

talk about we don't talk much about about the zines,

1:40

but that was a part of that scene as well, when

1:43

they could not get the content they that they

1:45

wanted, so they created their own very

1:47

niche content. And we've already talked about that. Go

1:50

back to see that episode. But

1:52

that is a part of that world as well, and why we

1:54

were so heavily the zines came around because

1:57

we were so heavily influenced by

1:59

magazine send this complications and teen magazines

2:02

are at the top, and

2:04

I didn't I didn't personally get

2:06

too mini magazines. They were expensive, expensive

2:09

for me in that term. I think I would

2:11

rather had books, but because I was nerdy

2:13

nerdy, but I definitely have memories

2:16

of sitting in my friend's bedrooms

2:18

as sleepovers, which, by the way, I want to come

2:20

back and talk about sleepovers

2:22

and how that is not not so well anyway.

2:25

But looking through different magazines

2:28

which had all these amazing quizzes

2:31

like who is your perfect match? And

2:33

so many others what is your colors? As in fact, I

2:36

went to seventeen magazine, which we are talking

2:38

about pretty good deal in here because they were the

2:40

first actual teen magazines, and we'll get

2:43

into that, but I wanted to go see

2:45

what their content looked like, because yes, they exist

2:47

and they are thriving. Their medium has changed

2:49

into being online only. I think

2:52

I think I could be wrong. Tell me if there's actual

2:55

hard copies, because there may be. Who knows.

2:57

I said hard copy, Yeah I did. But

3:00

they still have quizzes on here, and they have some

3:02

from twenty eighteen, including the

3:04

ultimate Justin Bieber Quiz, which I

3:07

don't think us aged well. As

3:09

a recent They have

3:12

a quiz on how to become an Instagram

3:14

influencer, how to be famous. They

3:17

even have one about Hannah

3:19

Montana, also at

3:21

this point in time, has not aged well. And we'll come back to

3:23

that later because not in this episode.

3:25

That's a whole different episode and it's like a rah anyway,

3:28

But that was from twenty eighteen. And there's other quizzes

3:30

which I did pull one that

3:33

if we have time, we'll do it one at the end because

3:35

we did these before, where we you and I Annie did

3:38

some quizzes, and I did link one earlier.

3:40

We're gonna buy pass that one. But like I'm wondering,

3:42

like if we can pass

3:45

the best friend quiz, which they have. Oh

3:47

no, I'm interested to see because I haven't even opened

3:50

it. I was like trying to wait for the surprise. So if we have more

3:53

time, we'll do it. If not, we'll put it as an

3:55

extra like happy hour maybe maybe

3:58

on the next Happy hour. Even but they

4:00

still have these quizzes. And y'all when we

4:02

say we love these quizzes, I

4:05

don't know about you, but my age group loved

4:08

these quizzes.

4:09

Yes, yes, I feel because

4:13

you know, Samantha alluded to

4:15

this is what the fourth third episode

4:18

judgment. Magazine not

4:20

mini series, definitely mini series. So I

4:22

talked about this before. I didn't really have magazines

4:26

either, and especially not in this realm,

4:28

but I had friends that did, and I

4:30

have friends that still do. Like

4:33

when we go on a trip, like to the beach or something,

4:35

we'll bring these magazines and we'll

4:37

still take the quizzes kind of jokingly,

4:40

but like they were when

4:42

we were younger. It was like, oh, what is

4:45

it gonna say about who all ended up

4:47

with? The real like it was very it

4:49

was a fun kind of community

4:53

activity amongst yes, so because we were all

4:55

answering and kind of giggling about it and like,

4:57

oh, yeah, that's so you or whatever.

4:59

But I mean there's a quiz.

5:01

Yeah, those a quiza says what kind of flirt are you? And

5:04

I was tempted to send it to you, but

5:06

I didn't. I didn't But yeah. So

5:09

obviously with all of that, the

5:12

content has so

5:14

much uh to and beyond

5:17

the hair and love advice, uh, there would

5:19

be intriguing articles explaining how to get through

5:21

a bad day, and I specifically

5:23

remember one about a young girl talking about

5:25

her experience in trauma from the years

5:27

of abuse at the hands of her uncle. It was real

5:30

personal, it was real in depth, and

5:33

the amount of information that

5:35

teens and young adults were able to get from these

5:37

publications are vast. All

5:39

of it is, ranging from the good, the bad, and

5:41

the educational and not so educational.

5:44

I will say I have heard stories

5:46

and upon stories about girls learning about

5:48

their periods or how to handle a period, or what

5:51

to use when they start their period,

5:53

like trying to figure out what is normal what is abnormal?

5:56

Like Magazine's really taught us,

5:59

and I say us as in yeahmi too,

6:01

a lot that we did not

6:03

learn at

6:05

schools that we did not learn from our parents,

6:08

much like podcasts now Hello that

6:11

gave us so much information that

6:14

we were missing as teenagers. And

6:17

as good as it is, there's also the bad. But

6:19

it had a huge impact. Teen magazines,

6:22

to me, was one of the forefront of

6:26

developing young minds in

6:28

a way that was actually

6:31

smart and very consumable.

6:35

So we're going to jump into the historical

6:37

context of teen magazines, and

6:40

much like the beginning of women's

6:42

magazines, teen magazines first started

6:44

out as special forums or sections

6:47

or columns within other magazines,

6:49

such as the subdeb a page

6:51

for girls, which was introduced in the Ladies Home

6:53

Journal in the nineteen twenties. There

6:56

were other specific publications but not necessarily

6:58

available for everyone, such

7:01

as magazines created by the Girl Scouts. They had

7:03

like two or three publications that was specifically four

7:05

Girl Scouts, and there were other magazines

7:08

with sections for teens and women's

7:10

magazines as well. They kind of had little pamphlets

7:12

that could be taken out of those

7:14

magazines, and the magazines started with general

7:17

beauty and domestic advice and

7:20

soon led to larger sections that would

7:22

move to fashion trends for young girls, comics,

7:24

advice columns. And it was in nineteen

7:27

forty four that seventeen magazine

7:29

debut in the US. And by

7:31

the way, according to one source, the

7:34

idea of teenagers was also

7:36

starting around at the same time, meaning

7:38

the concept of teenagers as a demographic

7:42

right.

7:43

So yeah, just a quick explainer on

7:46

this concept of teenagers. Many

7:48

do you point to the nineteen forties at the beginning

7:50

of the use of the term teenagers with

7:53

a hyphen in between soteen majors.

7:56

The word is thought to have been first in print

7:58

in a nineteen forty one ishue You Have Popular

8:00

Science monthly, but was actually highlighted

8:03

in the December nineteen forty four edition of Life

8:05

with Photos by Nina Lene in

8:07

an article titled teenage Girls they

8:10

live in a wonderful world of their own. In

8:13

it, they write, quote, there is a

8:15

time in the life of every American girl when

8:17

the most important thing in the world is to

8:19

be one of a crowd of other girls

8:21

and to act and speak in dress exactly

8:23

as they do. This is the

8:25

teen age. Some six

8:28

million US teenage girls live

8:30

in a world all their own, a lovely,

8:32

gay, enthusiastic, funny, and blissful

8:34

society almost untouched by the war.

8:38

It is a world of sweaters and

8:40

skirts and bobby socks and loafers,

8:42

of hair warn long of eyeglasses,

8:45

rooms painted red with nail polish, of

8:47

high school boys not yet gone to war.

8:49

It is a world still devoted to parents who

8:52

are pals, even if they use the telephone

8:54

too much. It is a world of virgils,

8:56

aided second year French and plain

8:59

geometry, of last place, peeled hockey,

9:01

moron jokes and put on accents.

9:04

It is a world of slumber parties in the hit

9:06

parade of peanut butter and popcorn,

9:08

and the endless collecting of menus and

9:11

match covers and little stuffed animals.

9:13

I love the descriptor, like I'm not gonna lie.

9:15

I think it's such a great descriptor. Peanut

9:19

butter and popcorn. Was that a thing? I guess? So,

9:22

I guess this is like the late Depression era, like

9:24

the I think in the middle of So

9:26

they wanted something much like southern

9:29

living, something idyllic, and

9:31

for some reason, teenagers really

9:33

hit that nail on the head and it's

9:35

interesting to note when we're talking about this idyllic

9:38

and interesting, awkward life of teenagers, they're

9:40

typically talking specifically about

9:42

young girls and whether or not they're

9:45

representing the society appropriately because

9:47

apparently there was the usage of this term teenagers

9:50

in the nineteen twenties, which accompanied

9:53

the idea of young rebellious girls who

9:55

smoked specifically oh no,

9:58

dear, oh dear. So

10:01

there is an interesting context with that, right.

10:04

But Yeah, with the birth of this new

10:06

demographic, it's not surprising that publishers

10:09

wanted to jump into the marketing towards young

10:11

women slash teenagers at the time.

10:14

With seventeen leading the way, the new market

10:16

jumped straight in going after these

10:19

new age groups, specifically targeting girls

10:21

in the thirteen to nineteen years age

10:23

range. And with the fact that seventeen

10:26

still exist today, outrunning

10:28

so many other publications, they are one

10:30

of the longest and more successful teen

10:32

magazines to date.

10:34

Yeah, and here's a bit of history

10:36

with seventeen magazines specifically, and

10:38

we want to note that seventeen wasn't necessarily

10:41

the first magazine for young women, but

10:43

the age range for the other magazines like Mademoiselle,

10:45

which was published in nineteen thirty five, was

10:48

still geared toward young women in college

10:51

and not to those who were considered teenagers

10:53

so prett much in high school or middle school. But

10:55

it is something to remember that similar strategies

10:57

were used to pull in subscribers and

10:59

they realize the potential in consumership and

11:01

capitalism with their teenage readers. So

11:04

seventeen magazine, which is owned by Hurst

11:06

Magazine, was originally suggested by editor

11:08

Helen Valentine, who helped give young

11:11

teen girls working women role

11:13

models and gave helpful information to

11:15

improve themselves personally, professionally

11:17

and socially. Before its first publication, they

11:20

used the then popular comic strip titled

11:22

Tina, which was created by cartoonist

11:24

Hilda Terry. So the comic ran from nineteen

11:26

forty four to nineteen sixty three and was

11:28

a huge proponent on Sunday comic

11:31

Strip and was successful for the almost

11:33

twenty year run. Apparently she's

11:35

done like actual TV shows,

11:37

I think, so interesting

11:41

fact out there and when I say

11:43

Tina is tee Ina

11:45

and yes it is a play on the word teens.

11:48

So with the help of the comic,

11:50

the company was able to promote the magazine to

11:53

advertisers and was able to secure them

11:55

for their publication, and they made sure

11:57

to take the time to try to understand their audiences

11:59

by surveying teen girls from nineteen

12:01

forty five to nineteen forty six, and were

12:04

able to use that information to make the magazine

12:06

more successful for the audios and the advertisers.

12:09

In an article written for Sammy's World dot com,

12:11

they write seventeen was successful from

12:13

the onset because it tapped into teenage anxieties

12:16

and vulnerabilities while delivering its ideal

12:18

reader to massive advertising companies.

12:21

Through seventeen, Helen Valentine, its

12:23

founder, hoped to create a magazine that

12:25

would quote treat teenage girls

12:27

seriously and respect their emotional and

12:29

intellectual needs in addition to helping them choose

12:32

their first lipstick. In

12:34

its first issue, seventeen vowed

12:36

to help teenagers make sense of their identity,

12:39

but before doing so, they introduced

12:41

businessmen and advertisers to American

12:43

teenage girl consumers. As

12:45

Masoni writes, seventeen also

12:48

promoted the teen girl through its education

12:50

of adults, particularly those in the advertising

12:52

and retail industries. Because the magazine

12:55

could not succeed without the financial support

12:57

of advertisers. Selling businesses

12:59

on the idea of the teen girl as

13:01

a consumer was among the first

13:04

task at hand. By

13:06

appealing to funders prior to teenage

13:08

audiences, seventeen positioned itself

13:11

to meet the needs of the markets movers

13:13

and shakers before establishing a relationship

13:15

with its readers. The foundation of

13:17

the magazine's success was built with full

13:20

understanding of the growing needs of businesses

13:23

to sell products coupled with

13:25

the growing emotional needs of teenage

13:27

girls. Seventeen methodically

13:29

and expertly knew how to harness

13:31

and hook the powerful consumers businessmen

13:34

and teenage girls alike among its

13:36

readership.

13:37

Right, And I feel like this has been a secret

13:40

that people keep forgetting and re relearning.

13:42

You don't know, it's

13:44

sook every time we do an episode about fangirls

13:47

and suddenly people are like, wow, oh,

13:49

yeah, they support stuff and make money.

13:51

Oh they buy things. I forgot it,

13:54

yes, because

13:56

this was in nineteen forties, and you know, even

13:58

before then, because we've had this common station when it comes to

14:00

women in the magazine's

14:03

and purchasing powered who has it,

14:05

It's been young girls. So it's kind of like we

14:08

have to relearn, reinvive the will here.

14:11

So the launch of the magazine was seen as a

14:13

success, and in its inaugural edition,

14:15

they did what many of other publications

14:18

didn't, which has introduced themselves and

14:20

their intent in giving teen girls

14:23

ownership of this magazine, so

14:25

allowing for feelings of being seen and understood

14:27

and given some credit to wanting to

14:29

be a part of something. Teen girls were

14:31

excited to see something that was tailored

14:34

for them that Samy's World article

14:36

rights. It takes reading only a few pages

14:39

of the original September nineteen forty four issue

14:41

of seventeen to see that, unlike Vogue

14:43

are Harper's Bazaar, the magazine

14:46

unabashedly tries to forge emotional

14:48

connections to teenage girls and teenage

14:50

girls exclusively, and.

14:52

It continues in the accompanying letter

14:54

of the first issue, entitled seventeen says

14:56

Hello, Valentine makes her intent with

14:58

seventeen very clear to readers. Quote,

15:01

seventeen is your magazine, high school

15:03

girls of America, all yours. It

15:05

is interested only in you and

15:07

everything that concerns, excites

15:09

a noise, pleases or perplexes you.

15:12

Valentine notes that while seventeen was

15:14

interested in how you dress, how you

15:16

feel and how you look, what you do, and what

15:18

you think, all of which became different

15:20

categories in seventeen's table of contents,

15:23

they were most interested in what you are.

15:26

Are you tense and ill at ease or comfortable

15:28

and relaxed. Have you a chip on your shoulder

15:30

or a smile on your lips? Are you interested

15:33

only in yourself and your closest family and

15:35

friends, or do you care what happens to people

15:37

you'll never see. You're going to have

15:39

to run this show, so the sooner you start thinking

15:41

about it, the better. In a world that is

15:43

changing as quickly and profoundly as ours

15:46

is, we hope to provide a clearinghouse

15:48

for your ideas.

15:49

So that is a brilliant, brilliant

15:52

scheme, especially in the nineteen forties

15:54

when women in general are being listened

15:56

to. But to have teenage girls who

15:58

are even less important.

16:01

Wow, this was screaming,

16:04

come here, you're welcome, buy

16:06

things from us, you can trust us.

16:09

And also just a reminder,

16:11

this was before the internet. I think a lot

16:13

of people sometimes we forget that, but at

16:15

the time this was like, oh wow,

16:18

other people like me. It was kind of like an early

16:20

version of that connection we get

16:23

through the internet.

16:24

Yeah, yeah,

16:36

I think it was important that we have focused

16:39

on specific magazines in each of our episodes

16:41

because they were kind of the

16:44

marker of the beginning of something huge,

16:46

obviously, and they were able to

16:49

establish

16:51

a concrete.

16:52

Base for this. But

16:56

it was interesting because see in that first article, they also

16:58

had a picture and which if

17:00

you ever get a chance to look it up, you should, and I

17:02

believe it depicts two young girls

17:04

with an older woman and

17:07

it says happy Birthday, seventeen. And

17:10

they did this on purpose again to show

17:13

you, to actually give you a

17:15

legit picture of what this looks

17:17

like with her welcoming you into their

17:20

family. So it's very, very, very fascinating.

17:22

Valentine was able to show advertisers

17:24

the freshew market of teens and how

17:27

they were ready for something that was created just

17:29

for them. So seventeen was only

17:31

the beginning. Many others soon followed,

17:34

but wasn't until really the fifties

17:36

that the magazines boomed. Get

17:38

it boomed, boomers, you get yeah, yeah,

17:41

we're good. And though magazines like seventeen

17:43

were successful with appealing to the young ladies

17:45

and teenagers in their search for fashion and society.

17:48

Other magazines soon appeared,

17:51

which were the gossip and celebrity

17:53

magazines, which hit the scenes quickly

17:55

after.

17:57

Here's a quote from Encyclopedia dot Com.

18:00

Nineteen fifties gossip magazines such as teen,

18:02

Parade and hebcats saw working class

18:04

readers, while seventeen emphasized

18:06

fashion, dating and early marriage.

18:09

And for some more details about the birth

18:12

of these magazines, here's what Mental

18:14

Foss wrote about it in their article titled

18:16

A Dreamy History of teen Idol Magazines

18:19

Just for You quote. The

18:21

idea of pandering to fans of clean

18:23

cut performers with breathless magazine prose

18:25

can be traced back to Elvis Presley. In

18:27

the late nineteen fifties, magazines like sixteen

18:30

went from printing song lyrics to relaying

18:33

details of what it might be like to date

18:35

the King Kruner, Pat Boone, or

18:37

actor Tap Hunter. When the Beatles

18:39

arrived stateside in nineteen sixty four,

18:42

the ensuing pandemonium flowed

18:44

into what was quickly becoming a subgenre

18:46

of publishing, teen idol

18:49

worship.

18:50

Right and they continue. Charles Laffer

18:52

took notice, a journalism and English

18:54

teacher at Beverly Hills High School. Laffer thought

18:57

a magazine devoted to teen interest

18:59

would be a success. He launched

19:01

Coaster, a regional publication for Long

19:03

Beach locals, in the nineteen fifties. It

19:05

didn't succeed until he realized

19:08

his mistake. Boys don't want

19:10

to sit down and read about celebrity

19:12

lifestyles. Girls do. Lawfer

19:15

renamed the magazine teen and watched

19:18

it grow into a hit before leaving to start

19:20

Tiger Beat in nineteen sixty five.

19:23

His timing was fortuitous. The

19:25

Monkeys were just beginning to explode

19:27

in popularity, and Tiger Beat saw its circulation

19:29

rise when it profiled the fun loving

19:32

group. Laffer sold Monkeys fan

19:34

club memberships, posters, and books

19:36

before he sold the Tiger Beat itself

19:38

to the Harlequin Romance House in nineteen seventy

19:40

eight for twelve million dollars.

19:43

Yeah, I okay, So I

19:46

am an old soul and

19:48

I loved old, old movies.

19:50

I probably watched way too many Elvis movies.

19:52

This was before I was learned about him and realized

19:55

how awful he was. Sorry

19:57

to those who love Elvis as

20:00

well as I watched all of like

20:02

the Beach movies. I don't know, Frankie

20:04

and Annette loved them, loved them,

20:07

and this was like right after their Mouseketeer

20:09

years. I don't know what what's with me?

20:11

I barely really loved old school

20:13

American culture during those times,

20:15

which is hilarious because I would have never been welcomed

20:19

in that era of time. But

20:21

I loved loved those and my mother

20:24

when I would ask her about the things that she loved, because

20:26

she thought it was fascinating that I loved all these old

20:28

movies and that I really got into them.

20:31

Because she would give me a collection of old

20:33

musicals, which still like looking

20:35

back on, like these are really problematic movies, but I

20:37

loved them. What's wrong with me? Anyway?

20:40

But one of her favorites was

20:42

the Monkeys, and for some reason, when she

20:44

talked about them, I watched the shows which

20:47

had the monkeys because they had their own

20:49

show and it was actually pretty good, like to a

20:51

kid, and that's what I thought. I was a kid. And

20:54

she talked about how much she loved them, and she

20:56

loved Ozma,

20:59

Donnie Ozma. Who didn't I guess during

21:01

that time and then like

21:03

these magazines did pop into my head. I

21:05

remembered them though I never owned them. I never

21:08

saw them. I don't think my parents owned them. I

21:10

don't know why, but I knew these magazines

21:12

because it was so big, right.

21:16

But with that, and yes, again my mother

21:18

was a part of this fandom, a new era

21:20

of fandom began. And Annie,

21:23

I think it's about time that you really revealed

21:25

to all of us Ryan Gosling story. Oh

21:28

dear well.

21:31

So, I

21:33

had a huge

21:36

crush on Ryan Gossling when

21:38

I was nine. He

21:40

was in the show Young Hercules. I would

21:42

record it every day at three point

21:44

thirty and

21:46

then I would rewatch it. I still have all the VHS

21:49

tapes because I didn't know what to do with them,

21:51

bab though I recently got my hands on Yeah,

21:54

and I'm on disc three, and I'm like,

21:56

I can see why Young we liked this so

21:58

much.

21:59

I just saw Zena being advertised on

22:02

a streaming network, I think at Amazon.

22:05

I think. So I'm confused

22:08

because someone told me that Young Hercules is on

22:10

Hulu and it definitely isn't. But

22:13

I believe Zena had Xena definitely

22:15

had more power than Young Heracules

22:18

did. They were in the same universe, but

22:20

it was fifty episodes. I

22:23

loved it. I had a huge crush on him. So

22:26

I had this lunch box that

22:28

said Reese on it because it was like a Reese

22:31

candy box. And

22:34

I put all of my magazine clippings

22:37

from Ryan Gossling in this

22:39

box. And this

22:42

is the most embarrassing part. Had one

22:44

of those talkback things. It's like

22:46

what they'd had in Home Alone too, but it was way

22:48

cheaper, like it could only

22:50

record like ten seconds. Oh go okay, yeah

22:52

yeah, And it was like the size of my hand. But

22:55

I recorded him. There's a scene early

22:57

on in this first season he

23:00

says I love you to his mother

23:03

and I recorded it and I would

23:05

play it at night. But

23:08

the worst part is that I would

23:10

go to said sleep but everyone knew

23:12

I loved drawing Gossling like it was everyone

23:15

knew it. I just would talk about it all the time. So I would go to sleepover

23:17

and I'd bring this box with me and I

23:19

would play it. I

23:22

went to bed around other

23:24

people, Samantha, and I have

23:26

my magazine clippings. I feel like, look

23:29

at this.

23:31

I'm wondering, like, outside of the

23:33

friends you talked to today, because you do talk to several

23:35

of yours whol friends. I wonder what

23:37

those other girls or other people, if

23:40

they have this memory of you.

23:42

There is one party in particular.

23:44

I'm like, I'm

23:46

sure they.

23:47

Remember that, but you know, I don't think

23:49

it's that just shows

23:51

a whole different level of it, like dedication,

23:54

and if they weren't making fun of you, then they

23:56

agreed with you and or they were doing something similar

23:58

or this was absolutely yeah normal to

24:00

them.

24:01

One night I was at she was a

24:03

slightly more popular girl than me. That

24:06

sounds so mean. She was more popular than me. I

24:09

was just shocked. I get invited to her party

24:12

and her grandmother

24:15

was there. Who needed

24:17

me? This nice blanket that I still

24:19

have.

24:23

Her.

24:23

Somehow it came up and we were sitting in a group

24:25

and it felt like an intervention, and they're like, what is

24:27

with this Ryan Gosling box and this whole thing?

24:30

And I remember just like telling them

24:33

all of these thoughts and I

24:35

had my box.

24:38

You know, you really haven't changed that much. It's

24:40

just now about the last of us Star

24:42

Wars and some video.

24:44

Okay, so up to be honest,

24:47

the Star Wars box at your

24:49

place, Oh.

24:50

And you come in with your robots,

24:53

you come

24:56

in all dressed in gear like you've been

24:58

ready. I don't think it like you are

25:00

you and this is just this is just about

25:02

right for your personality and I love it.

25:05

Well, I'm glad I appreciate

25:08

that. But it was definitely like I

25:10

would buy magazines if

25:12

I knew he.

25:13

Was in right. And I don't think you're the only

25:15

one.

25:16

No, I think a lot of us did. I think like because

25:19

again they were expensive, like to get a subscription

25:21

was expensive, but I could afford like one issue

25:23

right of one thing, and then I would cut

25:26

it out.

25:26

And I think up

25:28

until recently, like

25:32

I remember seeing books

25:35

that are dedicated our books, magazines that are dedicated

25:38

specifically two fandoms that were to

25:40

one fandom. We've bought

25:42

I bought you, and you bought yourself, and several other people

25:44

bought you. The Star Wars edition of

25:47

Time. Was it time? Yeah, Time

25:50

because of the anniversary. And then I saw

25:53

when One Directions were big, they had their

25:55

own magazines in sync. We kind

25:57

of mentioned them later, like had their own

25:59

magazines. They had very detailed magazines,

26:01

including their you know the age

26:04

old question, what is your ideal date? What

26:06

is your ideal girl? All these things, which was

26:08

bad lied all the way through that thing. Yeah,

26:12

poor dude. He did his bus. He did

26:14

what he had to do. But

26:16

yeah, like people love these types

26:18

of magazines and they are They're good

26:20

that.

26:21

Yeah, yeah they are. It's

26:25

funny because when I go I recently bought

26:27

a Star Wars magazine, and it was kind of embarrassing

26:29

because I have like my Star Wars shopping bag

26:31

and I was wearing like my Star Wars shirt and

26:33

then I bought by Star Wars magazine.

26:36

It's like, well, sorry, I

26:39

am

26:41

so yes,

26:45

So going back to the main timeline

26:47

now that I've shared my story

26:49

for my trying, thank

26:52

you. Yes, there

26:54

were, though there were so many of these

26:56

magazines starting to saturate the market, the business

26:59

was still six scessful. Here's

27:01

a quote from Remind magazine

27:04

from Eric Kohani's article,

27:06

quote, teen magazines have

27:08

fed youthful fan frenzy for decades.

27:11

Teen magazines have always capitalized on phonetic

27:13

fan frenzy, and their business

27:16

models have always basically been the

27:18

same, focus on what has long been

27:20

a coveted demographic, young and

27:22

primarily female consumers unafraid

27:24

to swoon over their favorite music and TV

27:26

idols. An eager to feast on celebrity

27:29

gossip and pin up photos with such

27:31

titles as teen World, Flip Fave and

27:33

more. Teen zines ligne the shelves

27:36

of bookstores and newsstands everywhere,

27:39

attracting readers with colorful covers and

27:41

attention grabbing headlines like Monkey

27:43

Dating Secrets, Donnie's First State

27:46

Are even Beatles Secret wild

27:48

Picks. The publications always

27:50

zoomed in on teen idols,

27:52

TV and music stars like Elvis Presley, The

27:54

Beatles, Annette Finicello, Sondrade,

27:57

Bobby Darren, The Monkeys, Donnie Osmond,

28:00

David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman. The

28:02

list goes on and on, and as far

28:04

as graphic design went, vivid colors

28:06

were usually the order of the day. A

28:08

wide variety of typefaces would litter virtually

28:11

every inch of the magazine covers, and

28:13

close cropped headshots mounted on cartoon

28:15

bodies were a cheesy but common

28:18

gimmick.

28:18

Yeah, I mean, all the things that I can remember they

28:21

have, like the bubble lettering, Yeah, that

28:23

infamous bubble lettering and you knew

28:26

what it was, uh yeah, Oh my

28:28

goodness. And of course we got different

28:30

magazines based on quality, some of them were paper,

28:32

but some of them were like glossy, so you

28:35

had to pay for the glossy version of people. I

28:37

guess you still do you technically. So

28:40

with all these magazines finding success,

28:42

there was fierce competition and getting the right

28:44

celebrity on the cover of the magazines,

28:47

and the level of starvedom could be measured

28:49

to who was being featured. Stories

28:52

of celebrities hanging around the offices

28:54

at the beginning of their career, to celebrities

28:56

trying to remain far away from the covers

28:59

of the teeny Bob for publications to show

29:01

that they were quote serious. Actors

29:03

were a part of this industry.

29:05

However, with its popularity really hitting

29:07

in the seventies, the overall business eventually

29:09

did die down. Here's another quote from

29:11

the mental Flass article. At its peak in

29:14

the nineteen seventies, Tiger Beat and

29:16

its sister publications reached roughly

29:18

two million readers a month. Others

29:20

got by on as little as one hundred and thirty five thousand

29:22

paid copies sold. The nineteen nineties

29:25

diversified with titles like teen People

29:27

on Sassy publications that brought

29:29

a stronger editorial voice to readers

29:31

and eased up on the kind of copy that didn't

29:34

exactly enable feminism sail

29:36

away with Ralph Macchio. In

29:39

the nineteen nineties. The popularity

29:41

of the Backstreet Boys and n Sync helped

29:43

keep Tiger Beat and the others afloat,

29:45

but not for long. The Internet

29:47

and social media excised the middleman,

29:50

allowing stars to control their exposure

29:52

and deliver calculated glimpses into their lives

29:55

without teen Beat interfering.

29:57

Right, But even with this

29:59

popularity waning during its heyday,

30:01

they thrived. In the seventies, they were popular,

30:04

and soon the industry realized its success

30:06

and started to widen the grounds. In

30:08

the sixties and seventies, publishers started releasing

30:10

team magazines for people of color, specifically

30:13

like the black community. Some of them

30:15

included Write on Black, Bead

30:17

and Word Up. Here's

30:19

a bit about the growth and history of black

30:21

team magazines from the University of Missouri.

30:24

Black magazines for children and teenagers started

30:26

out with the focus on black heritage,

30:29

arising out of the politically charged atmosphere

30:31

of the nineteen sixties and seventies. At

30:33

issue was the need for magazines that praised,

30:36

rather than condemning, black history, and that

30:38

offered children role models in the black community.

30:40

Like the discourse around black hair, these

30:42

magazines often gradually drifted away from

30:45

their original purpose and gained broader audiences,

30:47

particularly if and when they focused on

30:49

products of black culture like music

30:52

or art, rather than specific Black individuals.

30:54

Included in the gallery are magazines from nineteen

30:56

seventy three to nineteen ninety one, starting

30:59

with the educational Ebony Junior and

31:01

continuing to more teen centric magazines

31:03

that did not exclusively target a black audience.

31:06

Perhaps telling, none of the magazines

31:08

included in this gallery had particularly long

31:11

run times.

31:12

Magazine for Boys were also published

31:14

and still are, but the numbers are not

31:17

too high. In fact, trying to find specific

31:19

publications and articles about the history of that is

31:21

not really readily available. Publications

31:24

like Dirt, which was released in nineteen

31:26

ninety one with the emphasis on sports, music,

31:28

movies, and others, but it did

31:31

not last too long.

31:32

There are a few, and we found a few, but they

31:35

didn't people don't talk about it. Essentially.

31:37

One of the first things that I did read when

31:40

small publications were coming out or

31:42

specific columns were coming out, they

31:45

would just imply that the regular

31:47

Life magazine were for boys or the regular

31:49

National geographics were for boys,

31:51

so it was interesting and very

31:54

telling about what they saw and much

31:56

like what we talked about with Lafer Boys

31:58

and pay Well.

32:00

So there's that The

32:03

overall success of these magazines were

32:05

huge, and when that comes controversies.

32:07

Studies have come out showing that overall

32:10

effects of these magazines for young girls and women.

32:12

Many argued that these types of content

32:14

was not only damaging to the self esteem of young developing

32:17

girls and teens, but also very

32:19

dangerous for them, including

32:22

being overly sexualized from

32:24

a young age or being told to be sexual.

32:28

I have also we have also ran into

32:30

many articles condemning all of these magazines.

32:33

Saw one specifically about seventeen recently

32:35

like a couple of years ago, and how damaging

32:38

it was and she would never allow for her teenage girls

32:40

to look at them, which is fine again, I

32:42

get that, and a lot

32:44

of conversations about how they felt like those

32:47

magazines ruined them as adults

32:49

now and agoers. Many

32:51

have accused them of teaching unhealthy gender

32:53

stereotypes and causing damage for many

32:56

generations. And like many

32:58

magazines and similar publications, they

33:00

often focus on stereotypical ideas,

33:03

so when it comes to women, and young girls and beyond

33:05

that, criticizing them into buying their way into

33:07

perfection, and unfortunately, many teen

33:09

magazines followed suit.

33:20

In a research article within the published book

33:23

titled Body Image, they write specifically

33:25

about the effects of such magazines titled

33:27

Grooming ten year Old's Gender Stereotypes.

33:30

A content analysis of preteen and teen

33:32

girl magazines and here's a quote.

33:35

Mainstream magazines, defined as those published

33:37

by major media conglomerates in containing

33:39

commercial advertising, primarily

33:41

feature women in stereotypically feminine

33:44

roles or as sexual objects. Content

33:47

analyzes have found that these magazines

33:49

depict predominantly young Caucasian women

33:52

with increasingly thin body types,

33:54

frequently displayed partially clothed

33:56

and in sexual or submissive positions.

33:59

Similar have been found in mainstream

34:01

magazines aimed at teenage viewers.

34:04

Content analyses of these magazines, eg.

34:07

Seventeen, demonstrate that general

34:09

appearance and body problems are primary

34:12

topics. For example,

34:14

a study of seventeen magazine found that girls'

34:16

bodies are depicted and described as problems

34:19

that require maintenance to fix. Acne,

34:21

hair odour, and hip slash. Thy fat

34:24

are targeted as undesirable and unattractive

34:26

features that require extensive body

34:28

maintenance routines to eliminate this

34:31

Emphasis on appearance has been a dominant

34:34

focus in seventeen since at least the early

34:36

nineteen sixties, constituting

34:39

approximately half of the magazine's content in

34:41

nineteen sixty one, nineteen seventy

34:43

two, and nineteen eighty five. In

34:45

addition, the presence of dieting and exercise

34:48

information has significantly increased in

34:50

mainstream teen girl magazines over the last

34:52

fifty years, suggesting that these

34:54

magazines increasingly focus on solutions

34:57

to appearance based problems.

35:00

Of course, with this in mind, we have

35:03

to acknowledge the way young people

35:05

and girls specifically internalize these

35:07

types of ideas. Here's another quote from

35:09

that research article. Several studies

35:11

have found that adolescent girls internalize

35:13

media body ideals to a greater degree and

35:15

higher rates of body dissatisfaction compared

35:18

to adolescent boys. Experimental

35:20

research has also shown that exposure to magazine

35:22

images of models predicts lower

35:24

body satisfaction and self esteem

35:26

in adolescent girls. Even girls as young

35:29

as five show these patterns.

35:31

These findings suggest that girls, unlike

35:33

boys, may begin to internalize cultural beauty

35:35

standards portrayed in media at a

35:38

young age. And continue to

35:40

do so throughout development. So

35:43

with the amount of meat content young people

35:45

consume, it isn't surprising to see how big of

35:47

an effect these kind of images can

35:49

leave. And yeah, again we are examples

35:51

of this. We came from an era of

35:54

seeing tiny, tiny, tiny women

35:56

and being told if we're not this, then

35:59

we're not worth their toime.

36:01

Yeah, and then being

36:04

solved those products to

36:06

make yourself look that way when

36:09

probably you never will. There's a lot of

36:11

as genetics, and it's

36:13

also expensive.

36:15

And for some reason we believe the people who would

36:17

help them. I just remember the Suzanne

36:20

Summers already, who was tiny,

36:23

tiny, tiny tiny, and she,

36:26

because of her body image, was able to sell thy masters

36:28

like nobody's business, and I

36:30

believed it. I was really wanted one. Thank god

36:33

I didn't have the money,

36:35

but I really did want one anyway.

36:41

So, but as a new era

36:43

of publication arose, so did the quality

36:45

of content, and teen magazines and

36:47

many more in depth articles were starting

36:49

to be published. To be honest, seventeen

36:52

started in an era when young girls started to dream

36:54

beyond a family and home. Valentine's

36:57

original image as the working woman's role

36:59

model was beyond the gender no norm at

37:01

the time. Sure it was clouded with

37:03

capitalism and money making schemes, but

37:05

it was an idea that young girls wanted

37:08

more and would develop to be the decision

37:10

makers when it comes to consumership within

37:12

the home and a little bigger fashion

37:14

industry.

37:17

This is making me think of a joke

37:20

that people will say about Playboy. I like

37:22

they read it for the articles, so

37:26

we you know, we didn't even talk about

37:28

that, and the boy.

37:29

We were not talked about. We have not

37:31

talked about Playboy. Dam you Eddie

37:34

yours? I'm not doing that, all

37:38

right, all right?

37:40

As the teen celeb magazines grew in popularity,

37:43

other teen magazines came out as well. In

37:45

nineteen eighty eight, we had the first counter magazine

37:48

to seventeen, Sassy Magazine. Here's

37:50

the quote from NPR. Sasse

37:53

was the antithesis of the homecoming Queen,

37:56

Please Your Boyfriend culture. It published

37:58

articles about suicide and STD while

38:00

seventeen was still teaching girls how to

38:02

get a void to notice you.

38:04

Right.

38:05

The magazine didn't last too long. It

38:07

did stop publishing in like the nineteen ninety

38:09

four through nineteen ninety six. There was two different dates,

38:11

so there it is the impact

38:14

was long lasting. The founder, Sandra Yates,

38:16

was an Australian feminist who sought

38:18

to bring men meaningful conversation to

38:20

teen magazines that took a bit

38:22

of a dark look at the culture at the time.

38:25

The magazine was controversial enough for

38:27

groups like Women a Globe, which

38:30

was an evangelical group, to actually

38:32

call for boycott. And

38:34

then there's Jane Pratt, who was the founding

38:36

editor of SASE, and she would

38:38

go on to other publications with similar

38:41

feels, including Jane Magazine,

38:43

which I know the magazine

38:45

at the time really wanted to change the look

38:47

of teen girls magazines. Here's

38:49

a quote from a Washington

38:51

Post article written by Julia

38:54

Carpenter which says, devoted readers

38:56

remember Sassy, Jane and other titles

38:58

that published reporting on politics, feminism,

39:01

identity and more alongside fashion

39:03

spreads through the nineteen nineties and early two thousands.

39:06

And in the late nineteen nineties we have

39:09

seen more publications talking about the deeper

39:11

issues at hand and even

39:13

daring to call themselves feminist and

39:16

asking their teen readers are they feminists.

39:19

Here's a quote from the same Washington Post article.

39:21

Editor and writer Brandon Hawley led the charge

39:24

at Elle Girl when herst was first dipping

39:26

its toes into the teen mag

39:28

business in two thousand and one. She

39:30

recalls the reaction when l Girl ran a cover

39:33

story titled the F Word? Are you

39:35

a feminist? People were

39:37

like, oh, feminism, she says, adding

39:39

that she finds it weird that seventeen

39:41

years later, we're still having this conversation.

39:44

From those early days of F word covers,

39:47

Holly saw the teen magazine landscape

39:49

evolve and push the boundaries of what was considered

39:51

acceptable for teen readers. At

39:53

Jane, where she worked from two thousand and five to two

39:55

thousand and seven, she published reports

39:58

on gay conversion therapy, SA, on

40:00

work and money, and even a multi

40:02

page spread of readers submitted nudes

40:04

dubbed the Jane Guide to Breast.

40:07

Yeah. Yes, and we still have to ask that question.

40:10

Yeah, that's really annoying because I think this article

40:12

is liked from like twenty seventeen. Well,

40:15

anyway, and when the magazine's coming

40:17

out strong, many others have followed this

40:19

down the same path.

40:21

Yeah, and I believe there's been a past

40:23

episode about teen Vogue In's particular

40:26

when it comes to this. But yeah, it wasn't

40:29

too long ago that we saw changes within teen

40:31

Vogue, countering conservative narratives and

40:33

defending their rights to our autonomy.

40:37

Here's a quote from that same Washington Post

40:39

article. In December, an online

40:41

opinion piece headlined Donald Trump is

40:43

gaslighting America appeared in teen

40:45

Vogue magazine. Within hours,

40:48

the harsh indictment of the then president

40:50

elect exploded on the Internet, comment

40:53

sections erupted in debate, and

40:55

egglevators trolled the writer teen

40:58

Vogue Weekend editor Lauren Duka on Twitter.

41:00

But it wasn't just the subject of the article that

41:02

caused the uproar. It was the nature

41:04

of the publication that it ran in. What

41:07

was the political piece doing in a teen

41:09

magazine?

41:10

Right? And many magazines have

41:13

understood the importance of teaching young girls and

41:15

women about topics like these. Even

41:17

in nineteen ninety eight, they began to openly

41:19

talk about the issues at hand. Here's

41:22

a quote in nineteen ninety eight, when she was

41:24

at Cosmo, girl A. Tusa Rubinstein had

41:26

launched a political series called Cosmo

41:28

twenty twenty four, named for the year

41:30

when one of the magazine's oldest reader could

41:33

theoretically be elected the first

41:35

female president which is this year. I

41:37

kind of want to go say we have come

41:40

back to that. Obviously, no, but I'm

41:42

just saying. Rubinstein

41:46

and Feature seventeen editor and choquette

41:48

interviewed leaders like Madeline Albright, Barbara

41:51

Walters, and yeah, Donald Trump

41:54

about the paths to professional success. The

41:56

final Package, a collection of advice and essays

41:58

on success and career building, fit the promise

42:00

in Cosmo Girls tagline Born to Lead,

42:04

and then Rubenstein would go on to lead major

42:06

similar changes to seventeen magazine,

42:08

again the original a

42:11

tea magazine.

42:12

The growth of this type of change in these magazines

42:14

has impacted the industry as a whole.

42:16

Here's a quote to end with about

42:19

the radical but not so radical changes.

42:22

So when Holly thinks about her time at teen

42:24

magazine and their history from El Girl

42:26

to Jane and now to teen Vogue,

42:28

she thinks about her eight year old son's friend,

42:30

Fiona. Fiona loves lipgoss,

42:33

but she can also ride backward on a surfboard.

42:35

At the Women's March on Washington in January

42:37

twenty seventeen, she held her own protest

42:40

sign. Girls like Fiona don't need just

42:42

any magazine, Holly says, they need

42:44

a guide to womanhood that doesn't preach

42:46

or condescend, but instead educates

42:49

and uplifts and most important reflects

42:51

the girls who are reading it. Teen magazines

42:54

today are introducing girls

42:56

to feminism that isn't broad burning, which

42:58

is also cool, she said, But you can

43:01

be feminine and a feminist.

43:03

Right And I think that's really important for

43:06

looking at publications. And yes, we're looking at more

43:08

online publications more than anything. But

43:10

yes, there are obvious magazines

43:12

still out and about collectibles

43:14

even if you want and enable

43:17

to get a hold up. But we know that today that

43:20

kind of written medium is

43:22

getting less and less and less, and a lot

43:24

of magazines have folded throughout

43:28

the years. We've we've seen major

43:30

histories, things that I the hope we're still existing does

43:33

not exist well, like that's that's one of the things I've

43:35

discovered in this research. But

43:38

the magazines like teen Vogue obviously have

43:40

played a really important role, especially in the

43:42

last two elections as well

43:44

as seventeen, as well as Jane

43:46

Magazine. We haven't talked about Miss magazine

43:49

at all. We haven't talked about magazine, which

43:52

I realized that we're gonna have to come back to, but I

43:53

don't. I'm not I'm not going to promise when anyway.

43:57

But all of those things are important. But teen

43:59

magazines have really really changed

44:02

an atmosphere and the environment in

44:04

general when it comes to young girls and

44:06

what we've become. And it may be things

44:09

like the nineteen ninety eight article which

44:11

talks about encouraging girls

44:13

to think about being the first female president.

44:15

Like, all of these things are pretty

44:18

significant in our culture and it shows

44:21

today why we need to pay attention

44:23

to the historical context and what

44:25

has changed throughout the years.

44:27

Yes, absolutely, absolutely,

44:31

well listeners, If you have

44:34

any memories with teen magazines, any

44:36

thoughts, if you had a shrine of your own

44:38

perhaps, or

44:40

any collectible issues,

44:44

let us know. You

44:46

can email us at Stephaniamomsteph at iHeartMedia

44:49

dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom step

44:51

Podcasts, or on TikTok and Instagram at

44:53

steff when ever told you we have a tea public

44:55

store and we have a book you can get wherever you get

44:58

your books. Thanks is always too, super

45:00

producer Christina, executive producer and our

45:02

contributor Joey.

45:03

Thank you and thanks to you for listening.

45:05

Steffan never told you us direction of iHeart Radio. For more

45:07

podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check out the iHeartRadio

45:09

Apple podcast, or, if you listen to your favorite

45:11

show, h