PAGE TURNING: Heavy metal is dead and...

PAGE TURNING: Heavy metal is dead and BAM magazine is going upscale.

Earl Adkins, the new publisher of BAM--the free, California-oriented rock magazine--has set a May timetable for a redesign of the 17-year-old publication. The San Francisco-based biweekly has been viewed as a last refuge for the big-hair, pop-metal set for some time. A flashier graphic style and editorial content targeting Generation X are on tap for the new version.

“We want to change as trends change,” says Adkins. “I think the magazine has been wrongly identified as a heavy-metal magazine, largely due to the success we had in that market several years ago when it was a dominant force in music. The magazine has changed, but the graphics haven’t.”