The header atop this column first appeared in the magazine in the fall of 1976, above a piece by Brenda McDaniel, who had just taken over as editor of the then-two-year-old magazine from Norma Lugar.
These 37 years later, perhaps that little play on the name of the company and the tone of the editor column has run its course. But then maybe not, as “At
LeisureMedia360” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “At Leisure.”
Nonetheless, these nearly 42 years after Richard Wells founded the company in 1972, we are indeed taking on a new name – one that reflects things like . . .
• The unfathomable-in-’76 fact that this magazine has a version you can see on an, um, computer. A website, they call it. At TheRoanoker.com, more specifically.
• The equally unbelievable reality that there are more than 4,000 people who respond to the magazine and its content – print and electronic – in a socially interactive way with each other and with us. On electronic things called Facebook. And Twitter. And Pinterest.
• The fact that the publisher’s box now includes both a digital publications editor (that’s Jeff Wood) and a social media editor (that’s Liz Long), titles which back in 1976 would have made no sense at all.
• And the fact that the efforts of Jeff and Liz have made it occur that this issue and the last half dozen or so have included a departmental page called “Worth a Click.” Again, what would that have meant in ‘76? One of those little thumb-activated noise makers?
The changes from Leisure Publishing to LeisureMedia360 go beyond what’s specifically related to The Roanoker magazine:
• The Roanoker’s sister magazine, the 25-year-old Blue Ridge Country, has just launched – concurrent with the anniversary issue – its first digital edition, offering material not in the print book, including videos, audio, slideshows and more. Go give it a look: BlueRidgeCountry.com/Online
• Our long-time contract with the Virginia Tourism Corporation to produce the annual Virginia Travel Guide and other print publications has taken on the additional aspect of a digital edition of that guide, as well as other electronic products aimed at increasing tourism in Virginia.
• The Roanoker’s ancillaries – The Menu Roanoke and bridebook – each exist in
print and online, as accessed through TheRoanoker.com.
There’s much more that has sent us toward a name more broadly embracing the current state of what the company does; things like e-newsletters, e-blasts and electronic advertising messages.
Overall, we still print lots and lots of pages; we e-print all of those and many more. Whether it’s a more leisurely undertaking than it used to be – in the days of sending out galleys to be turned into type and slides to be converted into images – is pretty much irrelevant here in the era of fast-as-light 360 media.
–Kurt Rheinheimer
