STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – How popular was it? So popular that readers actually called the newsroom and asked to have extra copies mailed to their homes.
One coach in the area went as far as buying 80 copies, then resold them to fans for double the price.
Needless to say, the glossy high school football magazine was a pretty good idea.
As many newspapers turn to new media — Twitter, blogs, Facebook and a stronger online presence — to show innovation and generate more readers, the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union developed a different concept.
Sports editor Hank Domin and features reporter/sports columnist Jennifer Gish, recognizing the passion its readers have for high school football, spearheaded a completely new project for the paper last summer. They created and co-edited a 60-plus page scholastic football magazine, called “Insider.”
The Albany Times-Union's attractive keepsake was the main topic discussed in Monday’s final session of the 2011 APSE Mid-Atlantic Region Meeting at Penn State titled, “The Best Ideas.”
"I'm sure people thought we'd fall on our faces," Domin told the group. "And we didn't."
The magazine, a preseason guide to high school football in the area, includes feature stories, a preseason poll and analysis of all 61 teams in the area.
Gist said each copy cost $1.29 to print and the Times Union sold the magazines for $5 apiece. It was sold at local retail outlets and at the first few football games of the season.
Domin said he didn't think of Insider as the same high school football coverage the Times Union included in its paper already. The magazine featured further analysis, he said, which is what readers want. The publication also had a strong commitment to photography.
The idea in Albany also led to the magazine being replicated by another Hearst newspaper, the Houston Chronicle.
Some participants asked about the challenges the Times Union had in both developing and promoting the idea.
Gish said it was challenging, at first, to get reporters who were used to writing game stories used to writing features. The other challenge was the time frame, in which stories needed to be completed in July, a time when most high school reporters typically are on vacation. The Times Union likely will ask for copy even earlier this year.
"Trying to break from newspaper style, that was really hard to do," Domin said. "Being in the newspaper business for so long, we had trouble thinking in a different direction."
Still, with creativity and handwork, Domin said they created a product they were proud of. Once it was ready to be distributed, the Times Union went to extreme measures to advertise it. They hosted a launch party, where they invited every coach and featured player, plus their families and friends. More than 200 people showed up.
In addition, they developed an Insider Facebook page. Domin went as far as adding every single athlete mentioned in the issue on his personal account, then tagged them in posts, which appeared on their walls, where he promoted the magazine.
"I think that was great," Domin said. "Except for the one cheerleader girl who didn't accept me."
Domin went on to discuss some other ideas from newspapers in the region, including the Harrisburg Patriot News’ popular Page 2 feature “Fanline” and a video report generated while a Pittsburgh Tribune Review reporter was running a road race.
Emily Kaplan is a sophomore journalism major at Penn State and covers men’s basketball and baseball for the Daily Collegian.
