Change We Can Believe In

Let me be the first to welcome you to the new look of B&C. As I’m sure you noticed, we picked up a little around here.

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/26/2010 12:01:00 AM

Actually, we did more than that; thanks to the comically hard work of many, many people, this week we are thrilled to introduce a new look.

Yes, the magazine itself is a little bigger, and a little heavier. And led by our Group Art Director, Nick Torello, and our entire impressive team, we hope you enjoy our new, more dynamic scheme.

But unlike so many of the transformations that take place here in Los Angeles, this was much more than just cosmetic surgery.

Our new layout allows us to further explore the interactivity between our brand and our readers. It also will provide a better service to you as a one-stop shop for everything going on in the business, InaFlyoverState from news around the industry, to can’t-miss events, to the latest on the Web, both inside and outside of the B&C brand.

It also lets us better showcase the unmatched breadth of coverage we have under one roof through our individual departments, Change We Can Believe In in categories targeting Madison Avenue and Wall Street, local stations, Washington, syndication, broadcast and cable programming strategy and technology.

And as you well know, we don’t just cover each category, we literally have all-stars at every position across the masthead. It’s basically what the New York Jets are trying to do. Except if I had half of Rex Ryan’s charisma, this column would actually be readable every week.

And speaking of this space and staying in the spirit of transition, with this week’s issue I am also changing the name of the column, formerly known as “Left Coast Bias.” The new title: “In a Flyover State.”

I always hated the old title for some reason, and it was also pretty inaccurate. Because let’s face it, I write like I dress: like a hick from Minnesota desperately trying to fit in with the Hollywood Crowd. And since the “flyover states” dictate whether a broadcast network show is a hit or not—something too many people forget when they constantly write and program for their little vacuums in L.A. and New York—that’s a perspective I’m happy to have kept over the years.

As for the authoritative B&C brand as a whole, we will undoubtedly continue to provide up-to-the-minute breaking news and analysis on our Website, our vast array of targeted newsletters and, of course, our thoughtprovoking and industry-uniting events.

But we thought a little tune-up for the magazine was what our readers deserved, and we are excited about the new look.

Our readers constantly tell us that they still love our weekly print product and the forward-looking, thought-leading analysis it provides—we hear it all the time. So, as we say with a wink and a smile in our newest ad campaign: If print is dead, welcome to the afterlife.