''USA Weekend'' was an American
weekend newspaper magazine owned by the
Gannett Company
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.[USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...]
'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers,
it was at its peak the country's second-largest national magazine supplement (behind ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'') and was distributed to more than 800 newspapers nationwide.
Overview
The publication was incorporated as ''Family Weekly'',
[ a supplement started in 1953. By the mid-1980s, the magazine was carried in 362 newspapers nationwide for a total circulation of 12.8 million copies, making it the third-largest weekly magazine in the U.S., ranking behind its main competitor ''Parade'' (owned since 1976 by ]Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, an ...
, which sold it to Athlon Media Group in 2014) and ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
''.
The Gannett Company purchased the supplement from CBS, Inc. on February 21, 1985. When the sale was finalized later that spring, Gannett renamed the publication ''USA Weekend'' and designated 1985 as its founding year for promotional purposes and anniversary observances. Most of the newspapers that Gannett owned soon carried ''USA Weekend'' within their Sunday editions as their default magazine supplement.
''USA Weekend'' focused its articles on social issues, entertainment personalities and pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* Pop (Gas al ...
, health, food reviews and recipes, and travel.[ In addition to ''Parade'',] ''USA Weekend'' also competed alongside some Sunday magazines published for individual newspapers in select U.S. cities such as ''The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
''.[ The magazine provided Newspaper In Education classroom guides to partner newspapers, for use by teachers to provide educational material for students.]
Shutdown
On December 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it would cease publication of ''USA Weekend'' with the December 26–28, 2014, edition and lay off 30 advertising and editorial staffers. The shutdown was reportedly due to mounting distribution costs and a decline in advertising revenue (revenue for Sunday magazines through advertising buys had decreased by 10.9% year-over-year between the first two quarters of 2013 and the first half of 2014. ''USA Weekend'' lost up to $10 million in operating costs during the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years), which in previous years had resulted in the shift from the carrier newspapers paying a licensing fee to Gannett to publishers of these papers receiving a fee from the company for distributing ''USA Weekend'' (a structure that had also affected other syndicated Sunday magazines). As well, the supplement's circulation had declined, shrinking from the mid-2000s high of up to 70 million copies distributed through newsstand sales and home-delivery newspaper subscriptions down to around 18 million in 2014. For its final years of publication, the magazine had relied on writers and columnists from ''USA Today'' to help provide feature content for the magazine, after Gannett laid off several members of ''USA Weekend''s writing staff.[
The decision to cease publication of the supplement came one year after Gannett began distributing a seven-day-a-week supplement featuring condensed content from ''USA Today'' for syndication to the company's own local newspapers as well as partner newspapers owned by other publishers, with company executives said the supplement's ''Weekend Life'' section provided better content than ''USA Weekend''.] The end of ''USA Weekend'' left ''Parade'' as the only weekend newspaper magazine published in the United States. ''Parade'', which had only appeared previously in acquired Gannett newspapers to fulfill contracts with previous owners, has now returned to many Gannett newspapers as a replacement for ''USA Weekend''.
Columns
Columns and contributors featured in ''USA Weekend'' included:
* ''CookSmart'' – a recipe column written by Ellie Krieger
Ellie Krieger (born September 26, 1965) is an American registered dietitian and nutritionist. She is the host of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on Food Network, anEllie's Real Good Foodon PBS. She is also an author and has written several ...
* ''EatSmart'' – a food column by Jean Carper
Jean Carper (born 1932) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author, an American medical journalist, contributing editor to ''USA Weekend'', and author of 24 books.
Early life and education
Jean Elinor Carper was born January 3, 1932, the daugh ...
, focusing on healthy recipes and tips
* ''HealthSmart'' – a health information column written by the hosts of '' The Doctors''
* ''MoneySmart'' – a financial advice column written by Sharon Epperson
Sharon Emily Epperson (born April 12, 1968) is Senior Personal Finance Correspondent for CNBC. She also appears on NBC News shows, ''Today'' and ''NBC Nightly News''.
Early life and education
Epperson is the daughter of David E. Epperson and Ce ...
and Walecia Konrad
* ''Who's News'' – a column focusing on newsmakers of the past week, written by Lorrie Lynch
Lorrie Lynch was the senior editor and personalities columnist for ''USA Weekend'' magazine through 2009.(4 December 2009)USA Today/Weekend‘s Lorrie Lynch on the Market FishbowlDC
Biography
Lynch has a B.A. in Journalism from Central Michigan U ...
* ''Wit&Wisdom'' – a feature focusing on humor and insight, written by Terry Stickels
Terry Stickels (born May 14, 1948) is the author of numerous puzzle books, calendars, card decks and posters featuring critical thinking skills. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he is the oldest of three children. Stickels is a lifelong member of Mensa, O ...
Other notable contributors included:
* Ken Burns
* Steven V. Roberts
Steven V. Roberts (born February 11, 1943) is an American journalist, writer, and political commentator.
Life and career
Roberts was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, and graduated from Bayonne High School.Rahman, Sarah"Author Steven V. Roberts pays a ...
* Cokie Roberts
Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019) was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS ...
* Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to ...
Make a Difference Day
In 1992, ''USA Weekend''s Make a Difference Day created an annual community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
event, held on the fourth Saturday of October.
At the 2013 event, the company gave 14 community groups $10,000 to donate to their local charities.
References
External links
*
{{Gannett
Lifestyle magazines published in the United States
Weekly magazines published in the United States
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Former CBS Corporation subsidiaries
Gannett publications
Magazines established in 1953
Magazines disestablished in 2014
Newspaper supplements
Sunday magazines
Former Gannett subsidiaries
USA Today