From L.A. Parent: A Word or Two on Teens : Publications: The editor of Los Angeles’ popular parenting guide offers a monthly newspaper with tips on ‘urban survival’ for kids.
These last 10 years as founding editor in chief of L.A. Parent might have been preparation enough for just about any new publishing venture Jack Bierman chose to undertake. But then, Bierman and his staff decided this year to launch the Noise, a colorful monthly newspaper geared toward local teen-agers, and found themselves confronted with a whole new set of constantly changing rules and customs.
The paper addresses the often confounding mix of teen-age seriousness and frivolity with a lively collection of feature articles on entertainment, education, emerging sports heroes, fashion and social issues. They admit that it’s been a difficult task appealing to a wildly scattered and deeply factioned age group that has some members more interested in rap than surfing, others preferring sports to sunbathing, or movies to fashion, and vice versa. And even if it’s true that as many things stay the same as change with teen-agers, it’s not always easy to tell which those are.
“We are just now at the point where I think we’re starting to get a feel for what kinds of things they’re interested in,” said Bierman, 47, sitting in a conference room with Noise editor Norbert Sparrow, both surrounded by stacks of L.A. Parent and Noise back issues. “That’s one of the fun things about starting a publication. You have this period of experimentation. Then the publication actually starts speaking to you, defining itself.”
Subtitled “An urban survival guide for teens,” the tabloid-sized Noise is distributed free throughout Los Angeles at record and clothing stores, sandwich shops, bowling alleys and some high schools, with a circulation that Bierman says is about 45,000. Its seventh issue hit the streets this month.
A similar publication aimed specifically at students attending private schools exists in New York City, but Bierman and Sparrow agreed there are few other long-term success stories with teen newspapers across the country. Even if entertainment listings on the back pages of the Noise would seem a valuable guide for young adults looking for nighttime activities similar to those enjoyed by their older brothers and sisters, the Noise and other would-be teen papers suffer some inherent problems.
“As far as teen-agers are concerned, as a group we’re so self-conscious that if we pick up something labeled for us, immediately it’s uncool,” said 16-year-old Jackie Goldberg, a senior at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks who has contributed entertainment reviews to the Noise. “That’s just a fact of life.
“But the Noise is good because it focuses in on what it knows is going on with teeny-bops.”
Some of those topics stretch far beyond the fascination with celebrities and enter into real problems now faced by young people. One recent issue recounted the pressures faced by a young mixed-race couple. Other articles, by professional writers, have dealt with AIDS, skinhead youths and a variety of pressing educational matters.
“It may seem like they have it easier than we did superficially,” Sparrow, 36, said. “I don’t think they have it any easier. They have to deal with very important problems: AIDS, the will to succeed, coming out of college with a $40,000 debt.”
Indeed, the seriousness of contemporary teen-agers caught the Noise founders by surprise when they visited high school campuses to survey students and teachers about their concerns and needs. Most surprising, and gratifying, to them was the discovery that a large number of teen-agers are avid readers, absorbing publications as light as Bop magazine and as heavy as the Economist.
Teen-agers as a group are heavy consumers, while surprisingly issue-oriented, Bierman said. Advertisers of movies, television and clothing have already attempted to reach that group through the Noise. And Bierman said he hopes colleges and insurance companies will soon purchase space for the same reason.
The editor is also waiting to see what new products and services may emerge partly in response to the Noise, much as the local parenting industry that virtually sprung up around the untapped readership of L.A. Parent. When that localized parenting magazine was founded in 1979, Bierman said, it was the only one of its kind in the country. Since then, 60 have started publication.
“You have to be around a while before people are going to sink their money,” Bierman said. “So that’s the challenge. I’d like to say it’s interesting, but since some of this money is mine, it’s more than interesting.”
Bierman said starting up the Noise added “around 25%” to the annual costs of L.A. Parent, owned by Bierman and his younger brother, publisher Carey Bierman. The new expenses center around its new, larger printing bill, the addition of more office space and salaries.
Sparrow said he has five teen-age writers contributing entertainment reviews to the paper. Most of them came in response to an advertisement in the Noise seeking young writers and photographers.
Jackie Goldberg had heard about the new publication from a friend during the summer and soon picked up a copy at a local clothing store. Her main interest then was in art and graphics, and she sent a letter to the Noise with some examples of her artwork. Sparrow called her back to say that the paper uses its professional staff for its MTV-inspired design, but invited her to write for the paper.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “People at my school, when they hear, they’re impressed. But what I like about it is that it’s a job I went and got for myself without anyone’s help.”
The Noise still relies on its staff to create the longer, in-depth feature stories that are the paper’s foundation. So the teen-age journalists are left to the reviews and news briefs inside and are paid a nominal fee of $15 for each story.
“But that’s not the point,” said Kevin Taylor, who at 17 was the Noise’s first teen-age writer. “I do it for the experience and because I love to write.”
It has also allowed the senior from Monroe High School in Sepulveda the opportunity to attend concerts and film screenings for the press, squeezing in between the same professional critics he’s read or seen on television.
“It’s a great ego trip.”
Goldberg hasn’t yet decided whether to focus her upcoming college education on art or study English literature as a way to continue with her new interest in journalism. Before the Noise, she had never seriously considered writing as a career. “This makes it more real,” she said.
The Noise editors are now looking for young correspondents from every high school in the city, in an attempt to stay current with teen-age concerns. And as a result, the occasional teen-ager, whether in plain blue jeans or in post-punk, platinum-haired glory, has wandered into the otherwise quiet L.A. Parent-Noise offices. Bierman still seems a bit incredulous at some of the things he’s seen and heard.
“ ‘Don’t boge my mode,’ ” he said, smiling. “Have you heard that?”
Sparrow laughed. “Once we’ve heard about it, it’s probably already passe.”
