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- <text id=92TT2079>
- <title>
- Sep. 21, 1992: From the Publisher
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Sep. 21, 1992 Hollywood & Politics
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- FROM THE PUBLISHER, Page 2
- </hdr><body>
- <p> It's our mission to bring the events and issues of the day to
- you readers. An essential part of that mission is simply
- ensuring that the magazine reaches subscribers every week--and
- that it reaches lots of them. That's where Ken Godshall comes
- in. As consumer marketing director, he's the readers' champion
- in my office, the person who is concerned that they get their
- magazine every week, that occasional problems with billing are
- corrected quickly, and that readers are reminded--just often
- enough--when their subscriptions are running out. It's also
- his job to keep circulation robust by bringing new people to our
- subscriber list. As he describes his role, "My job is to
- introduce prospective customers to TIME. After that the editors
- do the work."
- </p>
- <p> Marshall Loeb, managing editor of our sister publication
- Fortune, where Godshall once handled the circulation job, thinks
- the word circulation is particularly suitable to describe the
- size of a magazine's readership. "Circulation is the lifeblood
- of a magazine and as good an indicator as you'll get of its
- vitality. It's also an indication of the intelligence of the
- circulator." His opinion of circulator Godshall: "absolutely
- terrific."
- </p>
- <p> Ken believes that the practice of offering gifts to new
- subscribers makes the most sense when the bonus embodies the
- qualities that readers find valuable in a magazine. This is why,
- in this election year, he conceived the idea for a 44-minute
- video prepared with the help of our editors, correspondents and
- writers that is being sent to new subscribers. The story line
- is simple, says Godshall. "It's an assessment of the issues that
- voters will face this year, considered by some of the best
- journalists in the world."
- </p>
- <p> Colleagues attest that Godshall possesses another quality
- that useful in a communications company like this one: an
- ability to communicate. "He can explain complicated dynamics in
- clear words," says Susan Caughman, vice president of consumer
- marketing for Time Inc. Publications. "Virtually everything in
- his business involves thousands of numbers. Ken can translate
- those clearly into words."
- </p>
- <p> But if Godshall is the kind of person who takes excellence
- seriously, he also takes it not too seriously. We were reminded
- of that at a recent company outing with an Olympic theme at a
- skating rink in New York City's Central Park. To open the
- festivities, he jogged determinedly around the perimeter of the
- rink bearing an Olympic torch. It seemed an appropriate touch.
- We depend on people like him to keep us the front runner among
- news magazines.
- </p>
- <p>-- Elizabeth P. Valk
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-