What now for listings magazines?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/feb/29/liverpool-leeds-listings-magazines

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I was gutted when I heard that the Leeds Guide had gone into administration. And, a moment later, slightly shocked that it was still around. Long after the Guardian Media Group and Trinity Mirror called time on their Manchester and Liverpool listings mags, this indie upstart had valiantly continued to wave the flag for folk nights, experimental theatre and gay support groups across the Aire valley.

I remember when I was editor of Manchester's City Life (it went down on my watch: a fact you'd find hard to spot on my CV) how we hooked up to produce a hands-across-the-Pennines double issue to bolster up our respective, flagging, sales. It was like Listings Aid and, for a week, I was the Phil Collins of northern culture mags (if you imagine Leeds City station as Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, that is), flitting between the two camps with syndicated interviews of The Killers and Joan Rivers.

Soon after, I was called into City Life's board room to be told that 'there was no future in weekly magazines' and we fell on our sword for Channel M.

Grazia and Short List launched weekly magazines soon afterwards, and somehow managed to scrape together an audience.

No: the fact was, there was no future for listings. As, after a timid toe-dipping, Time Out discovered. Their Manchester launch issue was also, neatly, its goodbye number too. That's the sort of double issue no-one plans for.

Prior to City Life's closure, Trinity Mirror execs - keen to launch a listings mag of their own to coincide with Liverpool's City of Culture - held meetings around the City Life boardroom table, seeking our wise counsel (little knowing that the board were about to abandon ship).

Curiously, I was given the job of editing the Trinity title, too. But, as soon as the 08 bunting blew from the lampposts, and while Ringo and his accent were still mid Atlantic (best place for both of them, really), the magazine was closed down.

To lose one magazine may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two...

But I knew we were on to something with the Trinity title (Liverpool.com) - a monthly, with precious little in the way of listings at all. We were steadily increasing our online presence. Arts organisations, Radio Merseyside, and the more curious-minded of the city were really starting to engage with us. We were offering a voice for those disenfranchised by the traditional evening press.

I had a hunch that long form journalism, opinion and debate was where the listings audience (who, let's face it, were getting a bit too old to be seeking out midweek excursions) were naturally heading.

I knew too that, in the US, regional magazines in Boston, Seattle, LA and New York had carved out a viable niche for themselves.

But from my vantage point, traditional regional publishers here were unable, or unwilling, to take the long view. The economics didn't stack up. They had hungry Motherships to attend to: As the recession hit, the Echo's ad revenue went into free fall.

But, as Trinity clamoured to shore up their revenue with lurid headlines, WAG hagiography and teeth-whitening advertorials, a DIY ethos was beginning to inhabit the vacuum left behind.

Now, Liverpool's indie press (with Bido Lito, Halcyon and Spiel all intelligent and lively reads) has never been more vibrant, Manchester's blogging awards are celebrating the best of the city's resurgent online scene and, SevenStreets, a Liverpool culture website a couple of mates and I set up with zero budget a year ago, now has a loyal audience of 30,000 unique users a month. In Leeds, Culture Vultures is similarly essential bookmark.

So, Leeds Guide, while the listings might be on the wall, steal yourselves: your city needs you now more than ever.