Jamie Trowbridge, President, Yankee Publishing Inc.
Dublin, NH-based Yankee Publishing Inc. began publishing the magazine Yankee nearly 70 years ago this fall. In the last three years, Yankee, published 10 times a year, has been repositioned from a general-interest magazine about New England to one targeted to women aged 35 to 55, with household incomes of $75,000+, said President Jamie Trowbridge, grandson of the company's founder. Yankee's circulation is 500,000, 94% of which is subscription and half of which is outside the New England region, which he says is rather unusual for a regional publication. The family-owned company also publishes the Old Farmer's Almanac, which, dating back to 1792, is "America's oldest continuously published periodical." The annual's 4 million copies yearly are sold mainly at retail. A spinoff, the Old Farmer's Almanac Gardener's Companion, which is sold at Wal-Mart, was launched as an annual in early 1992.Q. What story in Yankee has had the greatest impact?A. In January 2005 we ran a story called "A Boy's Cancer Cure: Miracle or Myth?" The boy, Billy Best, literally ran away from home and chemotherapy treatment for his cancer when he was around age 14 or so, and wouldn't return until his parents agreed not to take him back to the hospital, and to instead try alternative remedies. The alternatives included a pill called 714X, which apparently allows a better quality of life, though it doesn't work for everyone and some people are skeptical. He recovered; that was about ten years ago and it was quite a sensational story in New England. We're doing more medical-issue stories because they have universal appeal. Another story, "A Matter of Life and Death," ran about two years ago and was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in reporting. That story focused attention on the ethical dilemma parents, doctors and nurses face when confronting whether a severely damaged baby should be kept alive or allowed to die.Q. What's been the best story idea you've gotten from a Yankee reader?A. Recently we received a tip from a reader about a couple who were caretakers of Port Clyde Lighthouse in Maine. He told us that the husband was a photographer who had been documenting scenes from the lighthouse for 10 years. The reader knew of this because his wife had once worked there. We turned this tip into a major photo portfolio of the photographer's work. Q. Are you getting more inquiries about the planting and care of wisteria vines in the wake of the popularity of Desperate Housewives, whose ladies of course live on Wisteria Lane?A. (Laughing) I don't know if they're reacting to that program but we did have two recent "questions of the day" on our Almanac.com forum. One asked how to care for a wisteria and the other asked when is the best time to transplant a wisteria bush.
Q. What does the Farmer's Almanac predict weather-wise for the coming spring and summer seasons? Anything out of the ordinary as we prepare for gardening and vacations?A. The Northeast will have really warm, summer-like temperatures in April and May, so it should be safe to plant tomatoes before Memorial Day. Rainfall is going to be above average in New England and Florida, and the Pacific Northwest also will get some much needed rain. The summer will be moderate in much of the country, but hot weather and drought may mean an intense fire season in the Pacific Southwest and Intermountain regions. The hurricane season will be active, with the threat of a severe hurricane in late summer along the Atlantic coast. It should be warm and dry in the Midwest and most of the West Coast and cool and dry in the Heartland and up through the Ohio Valley. By the way, we did pretty well with our forecasts for the Northeast, including the March snowstorm and then the heavy rain in late March.
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