''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, it was at its peak the country's second-largest national magazine supplement (behind ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

'') and was distributed to more than 800 newspapers nationwide.

Overview

The publication was incorporated as ''Family Weekly'', a supplement started in 1953. By the mid-1980s, the magazine was carried in 362 newspapers nationwide for a total circulation of 12.8 million copies, making it the third-largest weekly magazine in the U.S., ranking behind its main competitor ''Parade'' (owned since 1976 by

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, a ...

, which sold it to Athlon Media Group in 2014) and ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

''. The Gannett Company purchased the supplement from CBS, Inc. on February 21, 1985. When the sale was finalized later that spring, Gannett renamed the publication ''USA Weekend'' and designated 1985 as its founding year for promotional purposes and anniversary observances. Most of the newspapers that Gannett owned soon carried ''USA Weekend'' within their Sunday editions as their default magazine supplement. ''USA Weekend'' focused its articles on social issues, entertainment personalities and

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

, health, food reviews and recipes, and travel. In addition to ''Parade'', ''USA Weekend'' also competed alongside some Sunday magazines published for individual newspapers in select U.S. cities such as ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

''. The magazine provided Newspaper In Education classroom guides to partner newspapers, for use by teachers to provide educational material for students.

Shutdown

On December 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it would cease publication of ''USA Weekend'' with the December 26–28, 2014, edition and lay off 30 advertising and editorial staffers. The shutdown was reportedly due to mounting distribution costs and a decline in advertising revenue (revenue for Sunday magazines through advertising buys had decreased by 10.9% year-over-year between the first two quarters of 2013 and the first half of 2014. ''USA Weekend'' lost up to $10 million in operating costs during the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years), which in previous years had resulted in the shift from the carrier newspapers paying a licensing fee to Gannett to publishers of these papers receiving a fee from the company for distributing ''USA Weekend'' (a structure that had also affected other syndicated Sunday magazines). As well, the supplement's circulation had declined, shrinking from the mid-2000s high of up to 70 million copies distributed through newsstand sales and home-delivery newspaper subscriptions down to around 18 million in 2014. For its final years of publication, the magazine had relied on writers and columnists from ''USA Today'' to help provide feature content for the magazine, after Gannett laid off several members of ''USA Weekend''s writing staff. The decision to cease publication of the supplement came one year after Gannett began distributing a seven-day-a-week supplement featuring condensed content from ''USA Today'' for syndication to the company's own local newspapers as well as partner newspapers owned by other publishers, with company executives said the supplement's ''Weekend Life'' section provided better content than ''USA Weekend''. The end of ''USA Weekend'' left ''Parade'' as the only weekend newspaper magazine published in the United States. ''Parade'', which had only appeared previously in acquired Gannett newspapers to fulfill contracts with previous owners, has now returned to many Gannett newspapers as a replacement for ''USA Weekend''.

Columns

Columns and contributors featured in ''USA Weekend'' included: * ''CookSmart'' – a recipe column written by Ellie Krieger * ''EatSmart'' – a food column by Jean Carper, focusing on healthy recipes and tips * ''HealthSmart'' – a health information column written by the hosts of '' The Doctors'' * ''MoneySmart'' – a financial advice column written by Sharon Epperson and Walecia Konrad * ''Who's News'' – a column focusing on newsmakers of the past week, written by Lorrie Lynch * ''Wit&Wisdom'' – a feature focusing on humor and insight, written by Terry Stickels Other notable contributors included: *

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV and/or th ...

* Steven V. Roberts *

Cokie Roberts Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019) was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS, ...

* Tavis Smiley

Make a Difference Day

In 1992, ''USA Weekend''s Make a Difference Day created an annual

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

event, held on the fourth Saturday of October. At the 2013 event, the company gave 14 community groups $10,000 to donate to their local charities.

References

External links

* {{Gannett Lifestyle magazines published in the United States Weekly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Former CBS Corporation subsidiaries Gannett publications Magazines established in 1953 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Newspaper supplements Sunday magazines Former Gannett subsidiaries USA Today