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Osceolo News Magazine Columbic BY MARSHALL SWANSON During the in May of 1972, six young ances of the p; people--all under age 30-gathered concentrated c in a rented $50 office on the eighth business prospi floor of The Columbia Building on what the I and turned out a news magazine from advertiser named Osceola, scription driv The magazine--a tabloid con- re-emergence tf taining depth stories on social is- "The first al sues and political activities plus of experience sundried current events and cover- people were go age of the arts--put strong emphasis per, what kind on graphics and photojournalism. could expect ar culation and The paper's creators asserted could expect" that the publication represented a ed that the fit new voice in the state's media es- monstrate wha tablishment and promised informa- achieve in term tion the local press did not provide, and distributior either because of what Osceola "You run ini termed "a lack of competent jour- lems putting < nalists, or the unwillingness of brand new thal newspaper management in the pect," he addE state to endanger its peaceful, pro- thing turns out fitable coexistence with the state hassle and it jus power structure." theM out," he si But Osceola--named after a mar tyred Seminole Indian chief--which was started on a budget of $2,000 loaned by a single backer, and staff ed primarily by part-time workers, lasted only seven months. The ma nagement was able to produce one edition each month until Novem ber of 1972 and then ceased publi cation. Now, after an eight-month hia tus, the paper is back in operation. Since July 6 it has turned out three issues and has one a week planned henceforth. Its editorial board of five per sons, four of whom are former Clemson students with experience on The Clemson Tiger and daily pa pers in North and South Carolina, say the first attempt at producing the paper was a pilot project to see if Columbia was receptive to a new media voice. According to Jim Walser, for mer Tiger editoi ind now managing editor of Osceola, the staff received a lot of encouraging feedback from the public and advertisers during the magaz ine's first appearance last year. More importantly perhaps, the paper's brief seven-month exis tence taught its editorial board some sound lessons in the opera tion of a new publication. OSCEO L A' SUP RB CLEANN t 2p. we cv* ob i Get! interim in appear )er, Walser said he i creating a viable ctus, took a pulse 3per could expect , and planned sub is for the paper's s summer. :empt gave us a lot s to what kind of ng to read the pa of advertising we I what kind of cir subscriptions we Valser said. He add t seven issues de the staff had to f news-stand sales of the paper. ) all sorts of prob ut a paper that's you wouldn't ex 1. "Almost every o be some sort of a takes time to iron d. Randal Ashley su Mo.Fr. a*ult st2hus dIR Needed For one thing, the editorial board of the paper was better able to plan its budget and estimate ac curately how much money would be needed for the beginning of ope rations this summer. -n its second attempt, the paper secured five investors and took on eight full-time salaried staffers in addition to 10 "fairly consistent" writers, according to Walser. The magazine also solicits mate rial on a free lance basis, paying contributors by the article. In addi tion, Walser said the magazine has received some $2,400 in subscript ion fees, enabling the paper to keep some of its original investment in reserve. The new Osceola has a current press run of about 8,000 copies but gives what Walser termed a "sub stantial portion" away to college students and others as a promo tional stratagem. AA per vises ty pesetting operation LOOI Deep Fried Filet of Flound4 Mama Mia Spaghetti with M News Var "We're basically trying to use (the giveaway) as an advertising tool," Walser said, adding, "I don't mind people not paying for the pa pers. When I was a student I proba bly would have been hesitant to buy a subscription because I just didn't have eight dollars." "We need to get a paid circula tion of about five thousand before we stop giving them away," he said. "That's going to take a while. Hopefully we'll be able to end it by the end of October." While Walser said the publica tion is intended for everyone he ad mitted there is an affinity for the college audience by staff members because most of the staffers are re cent college students themselves. "We feel the students need to know what's going on and need to know the sort of things we print," he said. While current ad revenue isn't as high as the editorial board of Osceola had hoped, Walser said he expects to sell more advertising when the fall season arrives. "Last fall the publication did well in advertising but we didn't do much of anything (in ad revenue) until then," said Walser. Walser said that, in his opinion, the term "underground paper" does not apply to Osceola and is an inaccurate description. He. added that most of the paper's journal istic efforts are serious, well re searched stories and that an at tempt is made not to print any thing flippant. He added that he thought most of the articles in the paper were good or better than what "the daily press" had to offer. Walser did agree, however, that some of the practices the paper car -SALE 50% OFF INNER CITY GLA DRACS 2016 GREEN STR EET (AT FIVE POINTS) K STUDE What! SHE COLUlv across fro, SA Nightlyq S All you ca her with French Fries. Cole Slaw. E eat Sauce, Cole Slam, Brea and, iety ried on during last year's first at tempt at publishing may have turn ed some people off to Osceola. He noted that at times long-haired youths were hawking the magazine in the street as an un derground paper and that they may have hurt the paper's reputation. Any bad image the paper did create d uring its initial appearance last year the editorial board is trying to eliminate now, he said. But the paper may have turned off potential readers for reasons other than long-haired hawkers at tempting to pass it off as something it wasn't. During its first seven issues Osceola ran at least eight stories 4 concerning subjects that most every one would agree were of social value Included in the eight were stories concerning conditions and prisoner attitudes at the Central Correctional Institute, a study of the County Indigent Service and the burden of financing health care for the needy, as well as an article on what the magazine termed "un savory practices among freezer meat salesmen." A critical look at the performance of the General As sembly, and an examination of conditions in the Greenville Coun ty Jail--which according to Osceola, drove prisoners to set fire to their own cells--were also among some of the paper's first efforts. (Continued on page seven) Easy To Open I4 Ga msii'e Charge Account *100 (Limit) BRIT TONS NTS... s~ new at BATON * IBIA INN t the ffrr BIonppr n the Coliseum Secial n eat read and Butter $1.65 4 gntter $1.59