PRESSING QUESTIONS: Grab Magazine of Chicago
Interview with Publisher Stacy Bridges
by Joe Siegel
by Joe Siegel
Year founded: 2009
Staff size and breakdown: 8 writers and 1 editor
Key demographics: Men aged 25 to 44
Web site: www.GrabChicago.com
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PPQ: What feature or features of Grab have been the most popular with readers?
Publisher Stacy Bridges: Travel features and porn star interviews.
PPQ: What is the inspiration for the name Grab?
Bridges: Grab is short for the Grabbys, which we hold every year in Chicago for Memorial Day weekend. The Grabbys highlight top talent and performances in the gay erotic film industry.
PPQ: What challenge has Grab had to overcome since its inception?
Bridges: The myth that print media is dead hurts sales, I believe.
PPQ: What one change would you like to make?
Bridges: Go all glossy, instead of just a glossy cover with newsprint pages inside.
PPQ: On the Kinsey Scale of 0-6 (exclusively straight to totally gay), how gay is your publication?
Bridges: 6.
PPQ: What’s the most surprising feedback you’ve received from a reader?
Bridges: I met a 22-year-old guy that told me Grab was his first introduction to the community when he was 17. He was from a small town in Illinois, and he found the magazine in a library and said he read it over and over and took it home and hid it under his mattress. His mom found it one day and told him that if he’s gay she has no problem with it and that’s how he came out to her. It was really pretty cool to hear a story like that.
PPQ: What advice would you give to anyone who may want to launch their own LGBTQ publication?
Bridges: Make sure you know your market, and listen to your readers and advertisers.
PRESSING QUESTIONS
Volume 21
Issue 11
