In April of 1953, TV Guide was the publication of choice. It was the most read of circulated magazines in the country. For 15 cents a copy, you had the world by the tail. A couch, snack table with a hot tv dinner, and the holy bible of tv shows was the answer for a perfect life.
Triangle publications owned the magazine and became an authority on television programming. There were articles from contributing writers as well as from the staff.
Based in a small office in downtown Philadelphia, the publication soon moved to a large national headquarters in Randor, Pennsylvania. The fancy building had a large lighted TV Guide logo at the entrance and a vast computer system (I'd like to see that!) holding the data on every show and movie available for the weekly listing.
Life was good for the magazine until cable tv came into the picture. The cable systems published their own magazines and it was next to impossible for TV Guide to list all the shows. Circulation went from almost 20 million in 1970 to less tan 3 million in 2007.
After changing owners over the years, in October of 2008, Macrovision sold the money loosing magazine to Equity Fund, Open Gate Capital for $1.00. Wow! What a story and just another example of the times are a changin.
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