Country Weekly Magazine

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 9:20am on Monday, February 1st, 2010

Country Weekly Announces Editorial Changes

Nashville, Tenn. (January 29, 2010) -- American Media, Inc. (AMI) announced today that Lisa Konicki, former Photo Editor of Country Weekly magazine, has been named the new Editor-in-Chief effective February 1. Konicki will also have responsibility over the brand's web site, countryweekly.com.

Along with Konicki, other important staff changes included the appointment of new Managing Editor, Ken Tucker, who currently serves as Editor of Billboard Country Update. As managing editor, Tucker will oversee the writing and editorial staff.

Additionally, Country Weekly welcomes back former staffer Eva Elliott. Elliott, who has held the art director position at Relish and Spry magazines for the last four years, formerly served Country Weekly as the assistant art director and will now serve as art director. She will oversee the layout and design of the magazine.

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 2:50pm on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

On January 12, 2009, Advertising Age magazine reported that Country Weekly will drop subscriptions and be available only at the newsstand:

"American Media is amputating about 80% of Country Weekly's paid circulation as part of a bid to keep the title publishing.

The company announced last Friday that Country Weekly will finally drop its counterintuitive biweekly schedule and return to publishing 52 times a year, cutting the cover price to $2.49 from $3.49 in the process to goose sales.

The company did not mention, however, that the 15-year-old magazine is simultaneously abandoning subscriptions, where it gets the vast majority of its paid circulation. Instead of guaranteeing advertisers a paying audience of 435,000 people, as it does now, Country Weekly will soon sell about 75,000 copies per issue -- exclusively on newsstands.

"This way we can continue publication," said Dave Leckey, exec VP-consumer marketing at American Media. More than 325,000 people subscribe to Country Weekly, but their issues dated Feb. 23 will be their last, he said. A cover wrap will give them the choice of refunds or substitute subscriptions to Star, Shape or the National Enquirer."