Suosikki

''Suosikki'' ( Finnish for "favourite") was the longest-lived youth magazine in Finland, published from 1961 to 2012. It was published by Otavamedia.Suosikki-lehti ilmestyy viimeisen kerran joulukuussa
''Taloussanomat'' 19 September 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2015. The magazine was discontinued at the end of 2012. Jyrki Hämäläinen served as the magazine's editor for 35 years (from 1968 to 2003) and the magazine has been called his life's work.1990-luvun Suosikki oli maailman ysärein asia
''Turun ylioppilaslehti'' 12 December 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2019.

History

''Suosikki'' was originally Fazer's record company Finnlevy's response to Scandia-Musiikki's music magazine ''Iskelmä'' ("schlager"). It was founded as a continuation of Fazer's ''Musiikkiviesti'' ("music news") magazine. The first issue was published in August 1961. It first covered schlager music, which did not succeed very well, so the magazine was changed to focus more on youth music.

The new line of the magazine was started by Isto Lysmä in 1963. He invented the giant centre posters which became an iconic part of the magazine. The first poster was published in issue #4/1963. The posters, eight magazine pages in size, were printed with two colours (black and red), which gave an impression of colour printing. In a time before the flood of popular culture supply, ''Suosikki'' grew to an especially important status in the Finnish youth subculture. Appearing on the cover and on the centre posters of the magazine was a status which many Finnish popular music stars sought, as ''Suosikki'' was the primary medium through which the youth heard of new bands and artists in the 1980s.

In the 1960s and the 1970s competitors of ''Suosikki'' included ''Stump'' edited by Ilkka Sysimetsä alias Frederik and ''Intro'' edited by Markku Veijalainen. Urpo Lahtinen, owner of Lehtimiehet Oy, ''Suosikki'''s publisher at the time, bought out the magazine's competitors one at a time just to discontinue them. ''Suosikki'' was offered as a replacement of the competing magazines, and reached a distribution of 150 thousand printed copies. The magazine's original competitor, ''Iskelmä'' published by Skandia-Musiikki, was discontinued in 1967.

In 1968 ''Suosikki'' editor Isto Lysmä moved to editor of the men's magazine ''Nyrkkiposti'' by the same publisher and Jyrki Hämäläinen became the editor of ''Suosikki'' until 2003, when he was succeeded by Katja Ståhl. Ståhl stepped down as editor of ''Suosikki'' on 31 December 2007.Katja Ståhl ei saanut Suosikin levikkiä nousuun
''Ilta-Sanomat'' 28 October 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2015. She was succeeded on 4 January 2008 by Ville Kormilainen.Suosikki sai uuden päätoimittajan
''Iltalehti'' 3 January 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2015. The last editor of the magazine was Elli Mäkilä.

From 1974, every issue of ''Suosikki'' had two pages of the health column ''Bees & Honey'' which became very popular. The column was hosted by physician Erkki-Pekka Helle who answered questions about health from the youth, which usually started with the words ''Dear Eki''. Other concepts and phenomena associated with the magazine were the Miss Farkku Suomi contest and the ''Kultaturbo'' ("golden turbo") extra large issue published every August. The magazine also held elections of best musician, best actor and best sportsperson in every issue. The magazine also included comics, including '' Nyrok City'' by Mauri Kunnas, published in ''Suosikki'' from 1979 to 1986.

In its final years, ''Suosikki'' was transformed to mostly target girls, and it started concentrating on girls' fashion as well as on music. This caused the popularity of the magazine to considerably wane, especially as it was competed by the more successful girls' magazine ''Demi''. In 2012 Otavamedia discontinued ''Suosikki'' as it was no longer worth publishing. The discontinuation was explained also by changes in the youth's media behaviour, the establishment of Internet culture and the fragmentation of music consumption. The last issue was published in December 2012.

List of editors

* Olli Hämäläinen: 1961 - 1962Karlsson, Risto: "Päätoimittajat", ''Kansikuva uusiksi. Kuusikymmentä vuotta elämää ja ihmisiä Yhtyneissä Kuvalehdissä'', p. 384. Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet, 1996. .
* Pertti Klemola: 1962 - 1963
* Isto Lysmä: 1963 - 1968
* Jyrki Hämäläinen: 1968 - 2003Jyrki Hämäläinen 1942 - 2008
YLE Uutiset 19 March 2008
* Katja Ståhl: 2003 - 2008
* Ville Kormilainen: 2008 - 2012
* Elli Mäkilä: 2012 - 2012

References

External links

*
Suosikki
' at DVDinfo.fi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suosikki
1961 establishments in Finland
2012 disestablishments in Finland
Defunct magazines published in Finland
Magazines established in 1961
Magazines disestablished in 2012
Defunct music magazines
Defunct youth magazines