How long have you been reading these pages of PLSN? A year, five years? Maybe 10? Maybe you are one of our original subscribers who have been enjoying the latest in industry news, production profiles, editorial and industry insights for the past 15 years. That is right, PLSN Magazine is five months into its 15th year in the business! This month I want to share a little bit of history of how PLSN Magazine grew to become the largest magazine for our industry, not just in print, but online and via your mobile device as well.
In the Beginning
In February of 2000, our publisher, Terry Lowe, launched Pro Lights and Staging News Magazine, with Bruce Jordahl at the helm leading the editorial team. In 2002, Richard Cadena, who had been serving as Technical Editor, took over as Editor led the magazine for the next nine years.
In 2005, Lowe began to see a new trend in the industry that he was sure to take our industry to new levels, projections and video. At the Parnelli Awards in Long Beach, CA that year, in Lowe’s opening remarks, he announced the new name of the magazine: Projection, Lights and Staging News.
Shortly thereafter, the new logo of PLSN, pretty much the same as the one you see today, appeared with the May 2006 issue. That year held many additional changes for the magazine. The entire office moved from Tarzana, CA to Las Vegas NV. The move was practical for a number of reasons. For starters, Las Vegas is where the magazine get printed. It’s also home to a vast array of productions and industry events.
Going Past Print
2004 was another milestone in PLSN’s history. That was the year the magazine introduced its first digital edition. With an industry where a majority of the professionals are constantly out on the road, away from an office or their home, PLSN could now be delivered via your digital inbox. No more waiting to get the print edition after being on the road months at a time and going through back issues. The road dogs can get the latest edition online.
The digital edition also introduced a new level of interactivity that the print issue couldn’t provide — with a rich array of hyperlinks within the text and ads. No more wading through a morass of search results; information relevant to stories in the magazine are now just a cursor-click away.
While this wealth of information could be accessed online through desktop and laptop computers for years, the most recent revolution in our digital age has been the proliferation of like the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Terry Lowe saw yet another opportunity to share the magazine with a wider reader base. In September of 2011, just six months after I took over from Richard Cadena as editor of PLSN, we launched the mobile device app for iOS and Android devices. Now, instead of a cursor-click, you can gain access to all kinds of information with a finger-click on a device that you carry around in your pocket, anywhere you go.
And the level of interactivity grew even more. Along with a world of text and images accessible with a finger-click (not just a mouse-click), you’ll find more videos linked from our mobile device apps, electronic newsletters, and PLSNtv, which we launched in 2011. PLSNtv features industry commentary with leaders from around the business, product demonstrations from industry events, and the popular mini series, The Light Lab, a quick demonstration of the latest gear on the market.
Our digital offerings have been an unqualified success. In just a few years, the mobile device apps have been downloaded over 15,000 times! But amid the swirl of digital change, we haven’t ignored the print edition, either. In January 2012, PLSN underwent a transformation of sorts. (No, we are still not including sound. We have another magazine dedicated for that, FRONT of HOUSE Magazine — FOH; fohonline.com). Our art director, Garret Petrov, initiated a comprehensive transformation in the graphic layout and style of the magazine.
The most noticeable change was the full-sized photo on the cover instead of the old text-and-image mix. Along with the larger images, the layout throughout the magazine serves up more “at a glance” info, complemented by our introduction of the plsn.me shortlinks for additional details. Nearly every news item, and many features, include these shortlinks back to additional text, image and video resources on our website. This month’s 72-page issue links back to hundreds of pages of digital resources.
Moving Forward
In Feb. 2015, we will be marking the completion of our 15th year as a resource for the live event production industry. Along with a special retrospective of all the major tours and news features we’ve covered in that span of time, we will continue to keep an eye on the industry, not only covering the shifts that keep rocking our worlds, but looking for new ways to make it even more convenient to learn about what’s happened in the recent past and what’s important as we prepare for the future.
Justin Lang is getting ready for the next 15 years. Reach him at jlang@plsn.com.
