Vanguarde Media Inc. Puts Emerge Magazine On Hiatus

Posted on June 2, 2000

Vanguarde Media Chairman & CEO Keith Clinkscales has announced that VMI is placing Emerge magazine on hiatus, effective immediately. The company will explore new editorial strategies and plans to re-launch the magazine in early 2001 as a broader, lifestyle publication. Emerge is a national, issues-oriented newsmagazine for upscale, educated African-Americans. The new publication will be aimed at the same audience. Positions were eliminated in conjunction with the move.

According to Mr. Clinkscales, the decision to place the 10-year-old magazine on hiatus was not made lightly. ``Emerge represented a hallmark in African-American publishing,'' Clinkscales said. ``However, a new editorial strategy gives us a unique opportunity to reach a broader readership and improve our business prospects. Our goal is to publish an entertaining magazine with insightful commentary that will inform and empower our communities.''

VMI Editorial Director Roy S. Johnson added, ``As a friend of the magazine's late founder, Wilmer Ames, I'm committed to ensuring that VMI will publish a magazine that is true to his original vision of a smart lifestyle magazine that reflects the sensibilities of its readers. The new publication will use a more inviting approach to the issues, personalities and trends important to African-Americans.''

Vanguarde Media, Inc. (VMI) is a leading multicultural media company that specializes in content aimed at, but not limited to, the urban audience. The company owns Honey, a fashion and entertainment magazine aimed at young urban women; Heart & Soul, a healthy lifestyle magazine for black women; Impact: Radio, Record & Retail, a trade weekly; and BET Weekend, a Sunday magazine distributed in newspapers nationwide. VMI also owns and manages the Impact Super Summit, an annual entertainment industry conference. VMI's investors include BET Holdings, Inc. and the Provender Capital Group, LLC.