Samir Husni has the distinction of being known as "Mr. Magazine," a title bestowed on him by a grateful student in 1986. Having made magazines his focus as a professor at the University of Mississippi for 37 years before retiring last year, Husni is now the founder and director of the Magazine Media Center.
Husni told Steve Tarter that he picked up his love for magazines in his native Lebanon as a child, developing a love for publications involving ink and paper that has never wavered.
Husni recently donated his extensive collection of magazines--two truckloads worth--to his alma mater, the University of Missouri where they will be stored and maintained to serve students and those with an interest in media, he said.
Magazines, like newspapers, have gone through numerous changes in the digital age, said Husni. Consolidation of the companies that publish magazines has resulted in fewer titles coming to press, he noted.
While 535 new magazines hit the market in 1996, only 74 new titles appeared in 2022, noted Husni, pointing out that newsstands are also disappearing from the American scene.
Husni wrote the obit for the old-fashioned newsstand in 2014. That was the place that usually sold tobacco products along with magazines and newspapers. At that time he pointed to the new newsstands springing up in groceries and bookstores.
Now those outlets are shrinking while the average price of an individual magazine (now at $11) continues to climb, he said.
While the pandemic wiped out reading material in waiting rooms and airline magazines, subscription sales for a number of periodicals went up during that time, he said.
One of the trends in magazine publishing today is the bookazine, said Husni. "This is a book made to look like a magazine," he said. Subjects are chosen to grab public interest. It might be the Titanic or a rock group like Journey, anything that people might be willing to spend $14.99 on, Husni added.
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