How People Awards Its ‘Hunk’ Title
People magazine relies on hormones to choose “the sexiest man alive.”
That’s the word from assistant managing editor Hal Wingo, explaining Wednesday why John F. Kennedy Jr., 27-year-old son of the assassinated President, is the magazine’s “Hunk of the Year” for 1988 and coverperson for the current issue.
As in the last three choices, this year’s choice was “very subjective,” Wingo said in a telephone interview from New York, noting that the winner is usually chosen via a shouting match.
Kennedy, who is displayed in six pages of photos and text, had no competition in this year’s running, Wingo added. The “left field” choice of the dead President’s son was made about eight months ago, he said, and is not related to the fact that this is both an election year and the 25th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas. The issue was timed so as not to coincide too closely with that anniversary on Nov. 22, Wingo said, adding that young Kennedy’s emotional appearance at the Democratic National Convention was an unexpected plus.
The folks at People weren’t surprised when Kennedy turned down a request for an interview, made through a Kennedy family attorney, Wingo said. “We didn’t try to badger him in the streets . . . I think we knew all along that it wasn’t the kind of thing he would want to do.”
In fact, the sexiest man of the year issue has a slapdash history, Wingo explained. Mel Gibson, the first winner, was picked because a photo of the actor left an editor “drooling,” he added.
For a change, at least, they didn’t go for an actor this year. In addition to Gibson, Mark Harmon and Harry Hamlin are their hunks of yesteryear. However, the magazine got a lot of pictures of publicity-shy young Kennedy, who apparently is trailed everywhere by paparazzi. Five of the photos show Kennedy topless. Three others were snapped when he was out on dates, including one in a prone position.
In places the story reads like an emcee’s rap at a male strip joint. The accompanying pictures could have been lifted from a muscle magazine. And it’s the copy that gives the spread its spirit of frenzied breathlessness. To catch the flavor it’s necessary to quote--pardon the expression--liberally.
For instance, the second sentence of the article is in capital letters. “GET YOUR EYES OFF THAT MAN’S CHEST!” (There’s a full-page photo of Kennedy shirtless opposite this imperative.) Other warnings are less visible but still strident: “Get your eyes off that man’s extraordinarily defined thighs! . . . They are fantastic, though.” “Get your eyes off that man’s derriere! . . . He has a mind too.” This tone is sustained over parts of four pages.
Wingo said the style is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, an acknowledgement that readers probably are more interested in the pictures than in Kennedy’s law school record.
Hunk issues don’t sell better than other issues, Wingo said, adding that last year’s cover choice, Hamlin, was a flop with readers. The magazine currently puts its circulation at 2.95 million and estimates its readership at nearly 27 million, including an unknown number of hunk admirers.
KCET Hits the Stands
The little number above TV journalist Bill Moyers’ left ear on the September cover of KCET Magazine is:
1. A subtle reminder for readers to contribute to the Los Angeles PBS station’s fund drive.
2. An incredible underestimate of the federal deficit.
3. The gross national product of the Galapagos Islands.
4. The over-the-counter price of the magazine.
If you picked answer 4, you’ve been hanging out at newsstands a lot. And you’re right, that’s what the $1.50 means, and that’s what it costs you to buy what most people might have thought was only a subscription magazine.
This month marks the debut of KCET Magazine on selected newsstands in Southern California, a major departure from past policy of circulating the monthly only to contributors of $40 or more to the station.
Admittedly, it’s a limited test. Only 1,000 copies are being distributed to about two dozen newsstands for the next six months, according to Richard Cramer, publishing director for Knapp Western Publishing, which produces the magazine in conjunction with the station. But that hasn’t prevented Knapp Communications Corp.--the parent company and publisher of Architectural Digest, Bon Appetit and Home magazines--from thinking big.
“We think there’s some viability for this magazine to grow into a regional magazine,” said Cramer. Among other things, that would give Knapp, whose publications are all nationally distributed, a long-sought foothold in its headquarters area, he added.
The magazine, launched early this year as a replacement for Dial magazine, which served 13 PBS markets, currently goes to more than 250,000 Southern California supporters of public television. By next summer, Knapp hopes to boost readership by 20,000, Cramer said.
Naturally, the core of the magazine is its listing of monthly programming for KCET. Cramer said, however, that articles such as Moyers’ “The Power of Television” in the latest issue and a feature next month on vacation cruises represent an expansion of the magazine’s editorial brief. Because the station’s broadcast area stretches well beyond Los Angeles, Cramer said, its potential as a general interest regional monthly stretches south to San Diego and north to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.