At the outset of 2017 our KICK-ASS TKC blog community was FIRST to report that the Pitch was moving to a monthly publication schedule.
Recently, The Pitch was finally forced to explain the move in further detail with the hope that this wasn't the end for the business given ongoing cutbacks, fewer pages and a focus on partisan op/ed over reporting and more classically "snarky" fare.
After a cursory look, here are a few thoughts and the FIRST review "hot take" (ew) of the debut issue before any other news outlet . . .
Here we go:
The glossy paper is nice but the pages feel cheap. It's much easier read but upon further handling the sheets are brittle, thin-feeling and crumple easily. Print experts can probably note the lower quality in paper stock but average consumers will be able to feel the difference between this and the Barnes & Noble magazine stand offerings.
With an impressive 59 pages the Pitch still feels thin . . . This is their biggest issue in years but what we're seeing is that they've bulked up on advertising, not content -- Like it or not, this is good news for those of us who want to see the publication survive.
More about the new "alt." partisan stance . . . The Pitch has told us time and again that they've always been "progressive" but the new direction of the magazine feels a lot more like the same old Democratic Party talking points that we can witness across the gamut of popular mainstream media from MSNBC, the local daily rag or by reading something that Facebook hotties shared from Vox to make themselves feel smarter.
On the bright side, we like that the Pitch is picking up a lot of new writers and focusing on "long form" content. It's a move that's typical and the latest trend from magazines across the nation over the past couple of years . . . Only time will tell if the Interents hasn't killed attention spans far too much for the gambit to work.
Still, the new offering from The Pitch doesn't quite feel like a "magazine" just yet and maybe that's the point. FEAST magazine pioneered this local-ish magazine style in Missouri but delivers far more content with nearly double the pages. The new writers are great but they're mostly unknowns covering the same kind of topics that any local news outlet would be happy to take on as well . . . Sadly, there's very little here that challenges the status quo, local perceptions or the overall media landscape. While the debut is promising, this new "magazine" will have a long way to go to win readers away from their mobile phones.
And here's the kicker . . .
IN THIS FIRST ISSUE IT SEEMS THAT THE PITCH DUMPED COLUMNIST DAN SAVAGE AND HIS DELIGHTFULLY RAUNCHY SYNDICATED SEX COLUMN!!!
On paper (hehe) this makes sense in order to focus on local issues but we all know a great many people who have made the "Savage Love" sex-advice column part of their weekly rituals for nearly two decades.
In the final analysis, the new magazine reveals that The Pitch has removed a lot of what Kansas City readers have grown to love about the publication over the years while pushing unproven fare and a whole lot of ads into a new form factor.
Again, this is just a preliminary review and we invite our blog community to weigh-in and tell us if these bold changes will save the local "alternative" print institution.
You decide . . .
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