SOD is ending it's weekly print edition

[soapfan770]

SOD awards were always voted in by fans anyways to begin with lol besides the editor’s awards which allowed soaps like AW and Loving to win stuff as well lol but I was thinking of the 1997/1998 controversy of SOD discovered a conspiracy of someone at ABC purchasing and stuffing thousands of ballots

Unlike the Daytime Emmys which rotated between the Big Three until 2004, the SOD awards always aired on NBC. Probably a saving grace for NBC Daytime lol.

Edited October 27, 2023 by soapfan770

[kalbir]

Not just the price but the magazine itself, less than 100 pages and flimsy paper quality.

Keeping it real, SOD hasn't really been relevant for the better part of the last 25 years. I will forever maintain that the internet made the soap press obsolete.

[j swift]

My only counterargument is that a lot of the "hot takes" that we read on this very board comes from the influence of the magazine.

Now, were those ideas published more than 25 years ago? That's debatable.

But, I can trace so much of the "insider knowledge" espoused about producers and "expert critiques" of writers directly to opinions from the magazine.  Including, but limited to, the discussion of the riggery of the SOD awards.  I recall stories of ballot stuffing and backstage voting strategy sessions in the magazine itself.  So, that's a direct example of the influence of the magazine on how fans discuss soaps.  Because, it is not an original idea that the awards were rigged, it came from the source.

Edited October 27, 2023 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

This past year they did take action about piracy. They either took action on people's Twitter accounts or they sent cease & desist letters saying they were going to begin getting people's Twitter accounts suspended. Fans went nuts! I posted about it being stealing & about copyrights & people were amazed. 

It was something they needed to have done long before then. 

This is sad to me. They were the last one still putting out a print edition. When I lived in Brooklyn from 1998-2005 I was in the Digest offices often & had friends there. They will put out 4 special issues per year & they will probably have even more content on the website. I have great memories. I was at many Digest parties after hours. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
typos are always with us

[Liberty City]

I am not surprised. I knew it was coming, especially once they began using Photoshop to put their covers together and ceased doing weekly publicity shoots. Once Soaps In Depth merged and then shuttered, I knew this would be coming. Sad.

[j swift]

I thought this was interesting. In 2022, SOD had a weekly circulation of 43,734, compared to Us Weekly which still has a weekly circulation of 2 Million per week.  Obviously, with AARP, print media tends to skew toward an older crowd (I mean, I'm no spring chicken, but even I have never heard of American Mainstreet Magazine).

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Edited October 28, 2023 by j swift

[soapfan770]

 

There was a time between 1997–2002 or so when SOD had well over a million subscribers and was actually in the top 50 most read magazines in circulation for a few years there. Of course that was also a time when the internet was emerging and there was also eleven/ten soaps on the air at the time and there was competition from SPW, SOU, and three editions of SID.

There was a time between 1997–2002 or so when SOD had well over a million subscribers and was actually in the top 50 most read magazines in circulation for a few years there. Of course that was also a time when the internet was emerging and there was also eleven/ten soaps on the air at the time and there was competition from SPW, SOU, and three editions of SID.

[Contessa Donatella]

Digest had contracts with NBC, with AOL, maybe one more place, anyway, they were like 25 year contracts & when they ran out, no entity wanted to reup. 

[TEdgeofNight]

Good riddance! That magazine hasn't been relevant in 30 years. Stephanie Sloane wore out her welcome decades ago but still managed to keep her job and decimated the magazine. 44,000 circulation? lol. Pitiful. Bye bye. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by TEdgeofNight

[Contessa Donatella]

Not relevant as of 1993? Crazy talk. Way off there on dates. 

And, Stephanie Sloane was excellent at her job/s. 

Yes, their circulation was too low but they were the last ones standing, the last mag to put out a print edition. 

[DaytimeFan]

One only need recall the epic Carolyn Hinsey Jossip post from many years ago to know what the industry thinks about SOD's demise. 

[carolineg]

Well, damn.  Who am I going to ask if me and my friend have a steak dinner riding on a bet if whether Eileen Davidson was born a man or not?

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But that makes me sad.  I will miss seeing it hidden at the checkout at the grocery store.   I hoarded so many issues when I was young and got a subscription the minute I was 18 and read it front to back.

[Contessa Donatella]

@kalbir   So you think the soap press stopped being relevant as of 1998. I just think that is way too early for that indictment. 

Now I preferred the Atlanta mag that I think was called Soap Opera Now. It was put out by Michael Kape & Don West & Joanna maybe Koontz & they were the only mag that actually explained & interpreted ratings.

And, I preferred Soap Opera Weekly because Mimi Torchin actually did Lit Crit type of criticism of the soaps.

But that left a lot to be liked in SOD. 

The whole business suffered because they were so in bed with the shows. The whole business suffered because fans were pirates. The whole business suffered because they were slow to get on board with the Internet. 

But I think in general that fans learned how to be fans from the soap press & to a huge degree from SOD. How to think about, how to discuss, etc. 

What is the oldest SOD you have? Here's mine. 

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May 1976, a very young Suzanne Rogers on the cover, Vol. 1, No. 6, 60 cents, 112 pgs. There were 15 soaps covered in their recaps. 

I have the June 1999 where SOD spent the last day at AW out in Brooklyn with the show & every page is about that.

[dragonflies]

Well they have done photoshoots, but they are few and far between 

[Contessa Donatella]

SOD Who's Who 2000

Lynn Leahey, Editor

Stephanie Sloane, DAYS Editor

Jodie Reines, Photo Editor (pronounced Ray-nez)

Randee Dawn, AW Editor

Jennifer Lenhart, ATWT Editor

Melissa Scardaville, GL Editor

Elaine G. Flores, AMC Editor

Mara Levinsky, AMC Editor

Carolyn Vozzo

Stella Bednarz

Carolyn Hinsey, opinion

Tom Stacy, Y&R Editor

Devon Owen, B&B Editor

Tracy, Natalie,