'Smash Hits' magazine to close

Sheet=/portal/2006/02/02/ixportaltop.html

Smash Hits magazine to close
(Filed: 02/02/2006)

Teenage music magazine Smash Hits is to close after 28 years.

At its height in the 1980s the magazine was essential reading for young pop
fans, but its circulation had seen a decline from a peak of one million in
1989 to just 120,000.

The magazine helped launch the careers of staff from Pet Shop Boys star Neil
Tennant to X-Factor host Kate Thornton, who said: "I can't believe it has
closed but times have changed and there is a lot more competition now."

Marcus Rich, director of Emap Consumer Media, which publishes the magazine
said: "Smash Hits revolutionised the world of teen publishing."

Mr Rich said the magazine's market of 11 to 14-year-old girls had much more
eclectic tastes than it did in September 1978, when the first edition
appeared.

Smash Hits was the brainchild of Nick Logan who teamed up with Emap. He
previously worked for the music paper New Musical Express and later founded
style magazine The Face.

Mark Frith, former Smash Hits editor and now editor in chief of Heat
magazine, said the huge influence of the pop music bible could be found in
newspapers, Sunday supplements and television.

He added: "Anyone that grew up with Smash Hits or was lucky enough to work
on it will always have a special place in their hearts for it. It has been a
pioneering force in pop and we can look back fondly on the last 28 years."

The last edition of the magazine will appear on Febraury 13, but there will
still be a Smash Hits digital radio station and music TV channel.