Life to Return as Weekend Magazine in Newspapers

Posted on June 11, 2004

Time Inc. has announced the relaunch of Life as a weekend magazine that will be distributed nationally in daily newspapers. At its launch in October 2004, the new weekly Life will be carried by more than fifty newspapers with a total circulation of nearly 12 million. Editorial in Life will focus on human interest stories told with both text and photography. Life will have to compete with existing newspaper supplement inserts like Parade and USA Weekend.

Life, The Weekend Magazine, will be distributed on Fridays in the Tribune Company's newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Newsday. It will also appear in Knight Ridder's papers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald and the San Jose Mercury News. The McClatchy Company will distribute the magazine in its papers: the Sacramento Bee and the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and others. In the New York metropolitan area, Life will be distributed in the New York Daily News.

Life was first published as a weekly in 1936. It ceased publication in 1972, but returned as a monthly in 1978, going briefly to weekly frequency during the first Gulf War before suspending publication in 2000. Life has periodically published a number of special issues as well as series of books under the Life imprint.

Andrew Blau, who as General Manager of Time Magazine also had responsibility for the Life brand, developed this new distribution model for Life, which will be Time Inc.'s fifth weekly (and largest circulation) magazine. He now becomes Life's President.

"Although it will certainly draw on Life's rich heritage, it will be a new magazine updated for its distribution method and the current American mindset. While Monday through Friday may be work, the weekends are for Life and we hope to help people get the most out of the two most important days of the week," said Blau.

Peter Bauer, who has been President of People magazine, will be Life's Publisher. Bauer was named president of People magazine in September 2002. He had previously served as publisher, since October 1998, and as associate publisher for the prior two years.

Bill Shapiro has been named Life's Managing Editor. He has been Managing Editor of Time Inc. Custom Publishing since joining Time Inc. in 2001. Shapiro led the team that created the concept and prototype of All You, a monthly women's magazine that Time Inc. will launch in September. He came to Time Inc. from Jungle Media where he was editorial director.