Summertime Rag Blues

     First, sorry about the mixed musical metaphors in the title.  Trust me, it will make sense.  This month will mark the first time in twenty-nine years that I will not be getting an issue of Entertainment Weekly through a subscription.  I first subscribed to EW through, no joke, Publisher's Clearinghouse.  Yes, the sweepstakes.  I had seen the magazine for over a year in waiting rooms.  I liked what I saw, but few stores carried it locally.  So, I decided to subscribe. I really liked the irreverent take it had on entertainment.  In fact, I believe the first issue I received in the mail had the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the cover, wearing nothing but socks, in strategically placed areas.  And, they may have been printed upside-down.  After so many decades, I may be misremembering.  Anyway, for many years I would read the entire issue, even the articles on subjects that really didn't interest me.  I enjoyed finding about topics outside of my normal zone.  Of course, I particularly enjoyed features on topics I loved.  For about forty-eight weeks per year, I would get a new issue.  Sure, sometimes an issue would get lost in the mail and I would have to ask for a replacement, although some stores finally started to carry the mag locally.  Then, about five years ago, things began to drastically change.  Yes, some of the satiric tone had left and recurring features were dropped, but I still liked EW and read every page.  It took me awhile, but I ultimately realized that there were fewer issues published each year.  Five years ago, they went down to less than forty per year.  Two years ago, just after I renewed my subscription, the magazine went to a monthly format without changing its title.  The magazine began focusing on more topics that I had no interest in at all.  I began to skim articles instead of reading them.  Reviews went more niche interest:  movies went more art house (partially due to the pandemic), television focused on streaming and new shows instead of older ones, music chose narrower genre artists over big-name stars, and books, ugh.  The book section went towards a literary bend, in both fiction and non-fiction.  Many of the titles and authors were those I didn't know or barely heard of, and I own a book store.  Sure, they might be "important," but I knew I wasn't interested in them and neither would most of my customers.  So, I chose not to renew.  If I see it on a magazine rack, I might look at it, maybe.  There is still the magazine's website, which is somewhat interesting and still has some of the style that first got me interested in the mag.  Unfortunately, I have other 'rag' problems.  For instance, I was finally able to go somewhere to pick up my first issue of Billboard in over a year.  I bought it without looking at it.  I was surprised to find out that it had gone monthly too.  I normally only check it out online, so I hadn't realized the change of frequency.  Not only that, but the issue only had three charts in it.  I don't know how long Billboard had been monthly (I'm almost certain it was still weekly), but the last issue I had gotten had a full selection of charts inside.  Sure, if that issue was a monthly as well, the charts were old when I bought it, but the issue would have had a broad selection.  When I'm online, I rarely have the time to search multiple charts.  I can still see all the charts online, at least the free one which I believe would be the majority of them, but I don't think I will buy another monthly issue if it isn't fully representative of all music.  I don't want to get into how it can take a week for copies of TV Guide to show up on the newsstand.  It used to show up within two days of when it is supposed to be put out nationally.  For the past few months, I have to wait five days, minimum, to find a copy.  Once, earlier this summer, it took almost two weeks before I finally got a copy, this when only three days were left, but there were still pertinent articles and puzzles left.  Still, this is not acceptable.  It might be a distribution problem, but other magazines aren't as effected.  At least is still get Games World of Puzzles on a regular schedule and early, usually, and I have had multiple subscriptions to it for over thirty years, but that is a whole other topic for a post.