- Tiger Rag Magazine
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Tiger Rag Magazine Type Bi-monthly magazine Format Tabloid Owner Louisiana Radio Network Editor Ben Love Founded 1978 Headquarters 10500 Coursey Blvd, Suite 104
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
United StatesOfficial website www.tigerrag.com/ Tiger Rag Magazine is a publication and website in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that focuses on Louisiana State University sports.[1][2] Tiger Rag is owned by Louisiana Radio Network.[3] Publication schedules vary with individual sports seasons, though it is produced weekly throughout much of the year. [4]
Tiger Rag offers game previews and recaps, in-depth interviews, photos and several columnists, including Jim Engster, owner and president of LRN and longtime Baton Rouge reporter, Glenn Guilbeau who covers LSU for Gannett News Service, and Marty Mulé, a veteran sportswriter who worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune for more than 30 years.
Tiger Rag’s annual football-season preview is one of its most popular issues each year, and the magazine is known for extensive coverage of LSU recruiting. Magazine editor Ben Love and LRN Sports Director Jeff Palermo also host the Tiger Rag Radio show.[4]
The magazine has developed a reputation for publishing inside information about LSU sports, the state’s most prominent college athletics program and a member of the Southeastern Conference. Tiger Rag has been, at times, influential in shaping public opinion on teams’ quality of play and administrators’ decisions.
Contents
History
Steve Myers and Steve Townsend launched Tiger Rag in August 1978,[4] two years after graduating from LSU. Myers had considered a magazine devoted to local football coverage as early as the 1960s, when he worked as a teen phoning in brief stories on area high school teams to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
Myers and Townsend met as student-workers in the LSU sports information department and realized the office had significant amounts of material that would appeal to fans. Before the advent of the Internet and other specialty publications, however, much of the material essentially was unavailable publicly if it did not appear in conventional media reports. Despite working on a business plan and consulting with others who had considered the same concept, Myers and Townsend were unable to launch the publication. They parted ways after graduation assuming someone would beat them to their idea.
In 1977, Townsend was working with the Southeastern Conference league office in Birmingham, Ala., while Myers was an assistant in the University of Mississippi sports-information department. That fall, Townsend visited the Mississippi campus as an SEC representative when the football team hosted the University of Notre Dame for a game that attracted national attention. Myers and Townsend, along with Myers’ friend Gary Solomon, reunited and decided to pursue the idea of an LSU sports magazine.
The name suggested by another friend, Tiger Rag was incorporated in June 1978. Myers served as publisher and editor, while Townsend was co-editor. The magazine debuted Sept. 1, 1978, featuring senior LSU running back Charles Alexander and former running back and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon on the cover.[4] The company spent about $8,000 on the first issue of 50,000 copies.
Ownership Changes
Townsend left the magazine in 1983. His career has included a stint as media-relations director for the University of Alabama, another SEC member. Myers remained owner and publisher of Tiger Rag until 1993, when he sold the magazine to Gary Solomon’s brother George.
In a 2008 Tiger Rag interview, Myers said his decision was based on several things, namely that he felt burned out after 15 years of nonstop coverage of the LSU sports program. He also said the football team’s troubles in the early 1990s had taken a toll on the popularity of LSU sports. Moreover, Myers said fundamental changes were taking place within the publishing industry and the early effects of the Internet already could be felt.
Solomon sold the magazine in 1996 to George Jenne, a Baton Rouge businessman and former radio-station owner. Jenne sold the magazine to Louisiana Radio Network in 2000.[4]
Modern Era
Still available in print, Tiger Rag also has cultivated its online presence with a website and e-mail newsletters. Tiger Rag Radio also still airs statewide with the magazine editor and Louisiana Radio Network sports director serving as hosts. In 2005, Tiger Rag’s operations were moved into the same offices as LRN.
References
External links
Categories:- American magazines
- Media in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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