Billboard at 130 Years Old: Our Shifting Coverage, From Writing About Literal Billboards to Covering the Music Biz
Reelin' in the years.
staff
Hello, Cleveland! On Nov. 1, 1894, Billboard Advertising published its first monthly issue out of an Ohio office. Its goal: to demonstrate for advertisers “the efficacy of the bill board” (two words, even though the magazine’s name was one) and “maintain a high and exacting standard of excellence,” despite starting as a “journalistic youngster.” The nascent magazine was renamed The Billboard in 1897, nicknamed “Billyboy” by the 1910s and officially became Billboard in 1961. By then, the trade publication had become weekly, with a music business focus, and it was more about chart position than advertising placement. Even at 130, the only wrinkles are in our stories.
No Business Like Show Business
By 1900, The Billboard covered more than best (and worst) practices for bill posters, who early issues reported would glue ads on ash cans, piles of bricks and even, according to the first issue, a dead horse. (Are we kidding? Neigh.) Within a decade, carnivals, fairs and vaudeville productions took over Billboard’s pages; a music column started in 1905, and coverage of sheet music sales joined the chorus in 1913. “The Billboard has grown,” the magazine declared when it marked its 35th anniversary in 1929, “to include the entire world.”
Over There
The Dec. 29, 1934, issue celebrated the publication’s 40th anniversary by hailing “the legion of true, sincere and loyal show-folk” who provided “continued support and favor.” Also, “It is our earnest wish to have an active part in a 50th Anniversary Number.” History had other plans: The Dec. 18, 1943, Billboard replaced its “Anniversary and Holiday Greetings” annual with an ad-free “Bondbardment” issue that urged advertisers to take the money “they would be spending” and buy “an extra war bond.” The next year’s issue followed suit.
The Same Old Song
By the time Billboard hit 75, music had become the publication’s primary focus, thanks in part to the Aug. 4, 1958, launch of the Billboard Hot 100. “This industry of entertainment is not an easy one to record; like the sky it is never the same two days running,” an editorial in the Dec. 27, 1969, issue observed. But “as one aspect of the business faded, decayed or lost its broad public, another has smartly taken its place.”
Computer Love
“Billboard Charts the Future,” declared the Dec. 15, 1984, issue — sometimes presciently. “Computers in the home will have a major impact on the entire retail industry, not just on music retailing,” predicted one article. “It would be possible to purchase an entire music collection without leaving home.” Other ideas weren’t ready for prime time: “Why not squirt radio broadcasting out on the coaxial cable network?” another piece suggested.
100, Pure Love
For its Nov. 1, 1994, 100th-anniversary special, “Billyboy” took a victory lap. “Billboard is peerless,” an article boasted. “No other publication has the sweep and continuity of Billboard’s coverage of movies, of television, of laser disc, of videocassettes — even of multimedia formats like CD-ROM.” Most of those formats sound like relics today, but the accompanying insight remains timeless. “History is typically made by amateurs,” an editorial said. “The boldest ideas regularly come from those who are oblivious to conventional solutions.”
