Fans of print media and journalism — a group I am proudly a part of — have enjoyed watching the last couple years as a new Kentucky magazine has launched and grown in this era where print publications have regularly closed, gone Internet only or scaled-back their print products.
Cover of the Spring 2014 edition of Story magazine.
Story magazine, which is based in Lexington but covers the entire Commonwealth, has built its reputation and readership on strong writing and photography presented in a distinctive visual style, all with a clear affection for Kentucky and its unique attributes.
In addition to an extended look at the legacy of Kentucky native and Gonzo journalism founder Hunter S. Thompson, the current issue has a lovely look at Lane’s End Farm, an inspiring story about a group that braves the elements to take warm burritos to people who are homeless in Louisville, a critique of the state of filmmaking in Kentucky by filmmaker Drew Ingram and a great piece on Kentucky’s primate rescue center by my former Herald-Leader colleagues writer Maryjean Wall and photographer David Stephenson. Last winter, I even stumbled into the privilege of having a few of my photographs used with a feature about Pioneer Playhouse’s drama in prison program.
Now Story’s story is going to be told on KET. In May, the Kentucky network is set to debut backSTORY, a quarterly series about the making of each issue of the magazine.
“The visual element is such a key component of Story magazine in its own right, but translating the print piece to film brings out the emotional layer that most people don’t get to see,” Story publisher Julie Wilson said in a news release. “Honestly, at any given moment, it can be mass chaos or a laugh riot around here.”
The first episode will air at 7 p.m. May 14 on KETKY and have several subsequent airings on it, KET and KET2. (Note: the date and time of the first showing were updated after the original post of this item.)
