An offshoot of the capitalist credo “Grow or die” is the strategy “Die, then grow.” Sacrifice whatever it was that earned a product the ardent loyalty of a few in order to extend its appeal to the multitudes.
These people, Dees recognized, could become a community. What they needed was some sort of journal to connect them with one another and keep them on top of a galloping technology. “I became obsessed with the idea,” she told me, “and I wanted to do it as a Mac-only publication, because Macintosh and desktop publishing were what I loved and because I thought the professional graphic arts community was coming around to both Mac and DTP.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Dees launched her magazine as Mac/Chicago. “It was a very worthy little magazine,” says Scott Jacobs, who ran a video editing house until Mac technology made video editing a kitchen-table activity. “It got started right at the time when Macs were cresting. She started publishing everything in the world about Macs. There was a wonder about the technology.”
The second hard reality was a lack of reporters qualified to write the kind of articles Digital Chicago’s readers expected for the money the owners were willing to pay. “Technical people make more money than newspaper editors do,” says Dees. “You have to pay technical salaries and not newspaper salaries to keep standards up.”
Lifestyles?
“esc–When it’s time to step out at the end of the day and enjoy the culture and amenities of Chicago, we have it covered with advice and information on places to go and things to do.
Neither Lebolt nor Mary Rowe, who runs Reach Chicago, would return my phone calls. Among the questions whose answers we can only guess at is why the Web site, which costs little to maintain, was taken down. (Baumgaertner says he’s been told it’ll be restored in some form after two or three issues of the new magazine come out.) Brimming with content from past issues, it disappeared while the ad department’s prospectus was boasting: “Long Shelf Life. This magazine is a keeper, loaded with information computer users and graphics professionals will hold onto month after month.”
