Pix! Fax! Flash! : That’s What It Takes to Keep Bop on Top of Teenzine Scene

Hey, all you Bopperoos in Bop-land: Like, can you believe it! Summer’s almost over! But don’t lose your cool, ‘cuz Bop writer Carmen Carmalatta wants you to get comfy with all your faves! Alyssa! Corey! Deb! And those five incredible, total babes New Kids On The Block! Donnie! Danny! Joe! Jon! Jordan! Fluff up your pillows, stargazers, and let’s schmoooooze!!!!

Like, let’s do the teenzine thing, people! And we’re not talking about a new dance craze. We’re talking ‘bout a generation of rad-reading teens hooked on the poster-filled pages of Teen Town Celebs splashed in Bop and The Big Bopper--top teen-fan mags brought to you by the princess of Bopland, Los Angeles’ own Julie Laufer!

Though this July 2, 1962, birthday girl and editor of the West Coast’s top teenzines left her bubble gum on the bedpost eight years ago, she’s still a teeny-bopper at heart! So are this Valley Girl’s staff of college-grad news hounds, who go after Tinseltown tidbits for their 400,000 readers!

Where do they get all that energy?!

Hey, the teen stars they write about, and the teen readers who pore over the pages put out by Laufer’s 22- to 32-year-old staff, take this business seriously!

There’s warmth in their words, sensitivity in their stories, and, for sure, lots of hype and hipness in the BIG, BOLD headlines that tease fans to discover why “Johnny Depp Is So Hurt!” or read about “The Day Corey Haim Will Never Forget!” or why Kirk Cameron says, “I Can’t Take It Too Seriously!”

Just how does Laufer’s crew try to out-scoop the dozen or so other teenzines out there?

Read on Boppers!

But, first, let’s cool the exclamation points and go to our panel of teen experts--a couple of multitalented fabulous fellas we had a chance to talk with while curled up at our desks with a few of our fave Bop and TBB (teen talk for The Big Bopper) periodicals.

The $100-million-plus-a-year teenzine industry is a growing one, says Peter Zollo, president of Teenage Research Unlimited, a Northbrook, Ill.-based youth marketing firm.

He says that 12- to 19-year-olds--kids his agency calls “Skippies,” or school kids with income and purchasing power--spend about $30 billion of their own money annually on items from tennis shoes to teenzines, which fall into two groups.

Teen-fan periodicals like Bop and TBB rely almost exclusively on newsstand and magazine-generated product sales, have no advertising and strictly adhere to lively written teen celeb stories about who’s doing what with whom and where. But the stories never get steamier than what celebs are exchanging phone numbers. And photos are never hotter than a hand-holding twosome at a teen party.

Other Outlets

The other teenzine category includes such notables as Seventeen and the Los Angeles-based Teen, which are subscription- and advertiser-driven and focus articles on self-improvement and intellectual growth, Zollo says.

Wow, is this guy brainy or what!

Magazine expert Samir Husni, author of the “1988 Guide to Magazines,” says “the whole magazine climate is on the rise, especially teen-fan magazines because of kids who are part of the MTV and Nickelodian generation.”

This professor-author-lecturer says the magazines are big sellers mostly with the 20 million 10- to 15-year-old girls known as the “tween” group or in-between teens.

“The teenzines are still cheaper than buying a poster or a book about a teen star,” Husni says. “Readers can get the whole catch from Kirk to whoever is hot on the Top 40 in one issue.”

That’s what Laufer has offered readers month after month for six years, never tiring of dashing to teen celebrity birthday bashes sans drugs and booze, movie sets sans violence, sound stages sans heavy metal or video tapings sans sex and lies. She exults in escorting Bop contest winners backstage at concerts, which produce copy cleaner than a Clearasil-cleansed complexion.

Any good teenzine editor knows that Rule No. 1 is to always be positive.

And this 27-year-old editor, born under the sign of Cancer, is one groovy chick. So are her five staff writers--all women who, like the teens they write for, occasionally do go ga-ga over the guys they interview.

But don’t call these young-at-heart women cradle-robbers!

They’re more like older sisters, says Laufer, whose photos with many of the teen stars accompany gossip columns. One of Laufer’s faves is her very own Secrets from Hollywood.

For instance, there’s Laufer pictured with blond teen star Jonathan Ward of the television show “Charles in Charge.” He “made me giggle when I met up with him at a Hollywood party,” she writes.

Flip through the pages and you’ll find Laufer and other staffers immortalized on fast-speed film with the singing group New Kids On The Block, more teenfully known as the NKOTBs; Laufer with singer Deborah/Deb/Debbie Gibson; Laufer with “Growing Pains” star Cameron; Laufer with “Who’s The Boss?” co-star Alyssa Milano, and Laufer with “My Two Dads’ ” teen sensation Staci Keanan.

Talk about a role model!

“This wasn’t something that I had planned to go into,” Laufer says, then adds she’s glad she did.

Based on the tens of thousands of letters received monthly, she says her teenzines are making a difference in the lives of girls--they’re 90%-95% of her readers--who plunk down allowances for her publications.

‘Take Readers Seriously’

“We take our readers very seriously,” she says. “A lot of the girls come from broken homes or are not in the happiest of homes.”

She says the average reader is middle class, has few friends, is not the most popular girl in school and probably doesn’t have a boyfriend.

“They read us to escape,” she says. And in the process, to learn just a little about teen life through the stories that reveal how teen stars also struggle to find acceptance among peers and parents.

Laufer also takes pride in knowing that Bop and TBB promote literacy. “If we can get kids to read us, then we must be doing something right,” she says.

Her father, Charles Laufer, creator and former editor of Teen and former publisher of Tiger Beat, was the undisputed West Coast teenzine king when he started the magazines almost 40 years ago to interest kids in reading. (“I wasn’t even born yet when my dad started Tiger Beat,” she says.) Her dad sold the businesses and retired about 10 years ago.

These days, Julie and brother Scott, 28, president of Laufer Publishing, have put the family name back atop the teen heap. Two married sisters, Teena (named after Teen magazine) Naumann and Kerry Getson, Bop’s first editor, serve on the board of directors of the company, which is privately held and will not disclose its annual revenues.

Private Investments

Her siblings pulled together resources from private investments and started Bop in the summer of 1983 with Michael J. Fox dominating almost every cover. These days--because of his married man-father status--a magnifying glass is needed to find Fox’s photo among Bopdom’s newer bachelor boys who outnumber (almost 3 to 1) the teen girls splashed on pages.

Three years ago, The Big Bopper was born to meet the demand among readers for more teen celebrity stories that all couldn’t squeeze into Bop. Today it is fast approaching the 200,000 circulation mark. The combined circulations of both teenzines are giving the East Coast competition a run for its money and bubble-gum-chewing readers.

How do editor Julie and her crew meet the challenges of the publishing world? Like the stars they write about--with energy, enthusiasm and Rule No. 2: “We have to make every story better than the last,” she says.

That mean’s producing flashy issues crammed with pix (teenzine lingo for photos) and fax (teenzine lingo for facts) from shoe size to birth date to the dating woes of a teen babe, or as Laufer puts it: “Personal things readers can relate to.”

And don’t forget the pages and pages of pinups and posters of pubescent teen hunks whose torsos are fully clothed, of course. One does not pick up Laufer publications for gawking at pint-sized stars in teeny-weeny swimming trunks.

No way! says the editor.

Freckles may meet fantasy in Laufer’s teenzines but that’s where the Bop stops. Besides, Laufer adds, that’s where Rule No. 3 comes in: Go crazy with exclamation points! They use as many as 53 of them on a single page!! “They’re cheerful!” Laufer says.

Kissing-Star Poems

This is about as risque as Bop and its sister publication get, though fans, for possible publication, do send poems about kissing male teen stars on the beach.

“We don’t tackle heavy subjects and we don’t want to be preachy, sexy or negative about anyone,” Laufer says. “If we can cover a story and influence a reader in a positive way, that’s great! We’ve reached our goal!”

Still, there are times when a teen’s star does get tarnished, she acknowledges. Take for instance the substance abuse troubles of notable Hollywood youth.

Who, Julie, who?! Prodded for names, she finally relents: Haim and Drew Barrymore, who both went public with their problem, got help and now are members of the Just Say No gang.

Teen stars--those who have reformed and are back on top--meet with writers to spill the details of what went awry. They make amends with readers, sometimes in two-part series with lots of quotes from Mom and lots of pix.

Managing editor Sally Dobruskin, 26, says readers are mostly drawn to the teen posters “of the fellas.”

She fires away teen star’s names with the aplomb of a well-read 14-year-old and adds that the NKOTB guys “have been our centerfold for the past four months. They are big!!! They’re gonna get bigger!!! They’re the hottest!!!”

We’re sold, Sal!

‘Ask Alyssa’

Dobruskin also works with teen star Milano, who writes a monthly “Ask Alyssa” advice column that receives more than 200 letters a week. Fans in-the-know address mail simply to “Lyss,” whose photo in next month’s TBB appears 21 times to Gibson’s 10.

For two years, Milano, 16, has been a dynamo Dear Abby-Heloise-Dr. Ruth teenologist, answering not more than seven questions a month about health, beauty, peer pressure and self-esteem.

One of our fave queries from an admiring adolescent fan: “How are ya doin’ Alyssa? I’m only 12 years old, but I’ve had white hairs growing out of my head since the fourth-grade. Some of my friends say it’s because I worry too much or that I’m in love. Do you know the answer?”

You bet she does!

But you’ll have to buy November’s TBB to find out.

“I feel a real sense of responsibility to the readers and my fans,” says Milano, discussing her column after a photo shoot at Laufer Publishing’s swank eighth-floor office suite in Burbank.

“My fans also want to know how I deal with the paparazzi and how it feels to ride in stretch limos because they see those pictures of me in the magazines,” she says.

Still, she wants to be a totally positive force for fans: “If they look up to me as a role model, then I want to be the best one around. I want to help.”

Newcomer Jay Ferguson, 15, who will portray Pony Boy in the fall Fox TV series “The Outsiders,” hopes to fill his high-tops with high marks among readers. Bop publishers have singled out the Dallas-born Ferguson as a face most likely to cause a major meltdown with fans.

“I’m not really prepared for anything, all this is new to me,” he says after being interviewed for Bop and TBB by Laurel Dewey, the magazines’ 28-year-old assistant editor. “Other teen stars tell me not to fool around and to stay concentrated,” Ferguson says. And, to try to get as much exposure as possible, which suits teenzine editors just fine.

“Some teen stars are difficult to get interviews with,” says Dewey. “They’re either too shy or feel they’ve outgrown us.” But that doesn’t stop either teenzine from getting the story, photos or juicy tidbits readers want.

Dewey’s “Hot From Hollywood” column, which reads more like Rona Barrett with barrettes, is a fave with fans. Next month’s offering reveals that 18-year-old singer Gibson has decided to sub pizza and cola with “a more nutritious diet!” NKOTB’s Donnie Wahlberg spills the beans on a promise “to telephone Bop every three to four weeks to share all the exciting New Kids adventures!”

But don’t accuse Dewey or her co-workers of catering to stars barely out of braces. They take their cues from reader mail. Says Dewey: “We print stories for the readers, not for the artists, not for the management companies and not for publicists.”

For readers, it really doesn’t matter. Even rewrites of resumes will do in a fix, says Glendale teen reader Darlene Balderas.

Balderas, 14, retreats to her bedroom with teenzines in tow to relax from the rigors of passing through puberty. “I don’t have to worry about things,” she says of her escape into the magazines teeming with teen stars.

Her 12-year-old sister, Alba, also is hooked, she says, adding: “My walls are covered with posters” pulled from the periodicals.

Thirteen-year-old Los Angeles gal-pals Tracey Andrews and Anna Perez catch a few zzz’s with their teenzines under their pillows.

“I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” Anna confides, then giggles while standing at a grocery newsstand. “But I’m buying two of this issue.”

Why? Because somewhere in Bopland, TBB editors have--oops!-- put Joe McIntyre, the fave babe among the NKOTB singers, and teen movie heartbreaker Corey Feldman back-to-back on the same page!

Double Dilemma

It’s a double dilemma all too familiar to Bopsters everywhere. Laura Adelmann, 15, of Cincinnati and Joanne Casale, 14, of Cranston, R.I., also have bought two copies of the same issue.

But not to worry, Bopperoos! These kids are rolling in allowances!

Laura saves her weekly $5 allowance and earnings from baby-sitting jobs to keep up with famous kids her age. This NKOTB-lover and secret admirer of teen heartthrobs Wil Wheaton, Corin (Corky) Nemec and Chad Allen has been a devoted teenzine reader for almost two years.

Three months ago, as one of two Bop and TBB contest winners, Laura spent five days in Los Angeles meeting many of the teen personalities whose posters are plastered above her bed. “My friends were jealous of me! I’ll be the talk of my school in September!” she says.

Like Laura, perky 14-year-old Joanne and her 9-year-old sis, Adriana, spend their allowances on teenzines including Bop and TBB. Joanne likes the interviews with TV and music stars. But she’s especially crazy for teen celeb guys who know how to have fun “but also go after what they want.”

“It’s good that there are positive images for young people to follow,” she says. “My friends and I are holding our breaths for the next issue!”

TEENZINE’S TOP 10Here, ranked by newsstand sales volume, are the hottest teen magazines in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

1. Bop.

2. The Big Bopper

3. Super Teen

4. Wow

5. Teen Beat

6. Smash Hits

7. Sixteen

8. Right On

9. Teen Machine

10. Word Up

Source: Drown News Agency.

TEENZINE TRIVIA-Most rad response teens have after reading about or meeting teen stars: “I can’t believe they’re so normal! Like, that’s so rad!!”

-Fave female teen star: tie between Alyssa Milano, 16, who plays Samantha Micelli on “Who’s The Boss?” and singer Debbie Gibson, 18.

-Fave male teen star: tie between Jordan Knight, 19, singer with New Kids On The Block, and Chad Allen, 15, co-star of TV’s “My Two Dads.”

-Fave TV show: “Growing Pains.”

-Fave singing group: New Kids On The Block, right, five rapping, singing, hip-hopping East Coast kids better known as NKOTB to true-blue teenzine fans.

-Fave song: Anything by NKOTB.-Married and forgotten among readers: Michael J. Fox.-Way too sophisticated for readers: Madonna.-One of the youngest on-again/off-again teenzine romances: at right, hand-holding friendship between Jeremy Miller, 12, of “Growing Pains,” and older woman, 13-year-old Candace Cameron of “Full House.”-Oldest fave among teen readers: Patrick Swayze, who at 37, is still a dreamboat for teenyboppers.-Pick for most promising teen celebs: Tom Brown, 16, co-star of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”; Jay Ferguson, 15, star of the upcoming series “The Outsiders”; Candice Cameron, 13, co-star of “Full House” and real life little sis of Kirk Cameron of “Growing Pains”; and Staci Keanan, 14, co-star of “My Two Dads.”

Source: Bop and The Big Bopper monthly readership surveys.