 The first issue of Slam, featuring cover athleteLarry Johnson. | |
| Categories | Sports |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Bimonthly (6 per year) |
| Total circulation (2024) | 70,000 |
| Founder | Dennis Page |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Company | Slam Media Inc. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 1072-625X |
Slam (stylized inall caps) is an Americanbasketballmagazine in circulation since 1994.
Slam was launched in 1994[1] as a basketball magazine that combined the sport withhip hop culture at a time when the genre was becoming increasingly popular. Launching as a quarterly with an initial circulation of 125,000, it was founded by publisher Dennis Page atHarris Publications, and he hired Cory Johnson to be the first Editor in Chief.[2]
Its first issue had a cover story onLarry Johnson of theCharlotte Hornets (written by futureFortune editorAndrew Serwer) and a feature on then-Cal freshmanJason Kidd. Many of the magazine's lasting features, such as In Your Face, Slam-a-da-month, and Last Shot all began with that first issue.
From 1996 to 1997,Slam's total annual-unit sales rose 25 percent, with advertising revenue increasing by more than a third; by 1998, the magazine was published eight times per year.[3]
Slam's ownership has changed several times.Petersen Publishing boughtSlam in 1998. The next year, Petersen was acquired by British publisherEMAP. In 2001, EMAP sold its U.S. division toPrimedia. When Primedia left the magazine business in 2007,Source Interlink acquired a majority of the company, includingSlam, in August 2017.Slam was then acquired by an investment group led by Dennis Page (Founder and Publisher) and David Schnur (Executive Publisher). The new holding company is Slam Media Inc. based inNew York City.
The magazine carries advertising for basketball-related products, street-wear clothing andhip hop music, and has been credited with helping to market hip-hop culture and basketball as one.
As of November 1997, thePhiladelphia Daily News reported, roughly a third ofSlam'sads were forsneakers.[4]
Slam has published over 200 issues in its history, and has featured the biggest names in basketball on its cover, in articles, and on its famous SLAMups posters.
The first woman to appear on theSlam cover wasChamique Holdsclaw in October 1998, followed byMaya Moore for the September/October 2018 issue, and then several moreWNBA stars.
LeBron James has appeared on a record 27 covers.[5] "A Basketball On Fire" was the firstSlam magazine cover without a player, in February 2012, addressing the2011 NBA lockout.
In 2006, readers voted the cover for issue 32, featuringAllen Iverson in March 1999, asSLAM's best cover from its first hundred issues.[6] Then-editor in chief Tony Gervino commented that the cover "defined"SLAM'ship-hop identity and added that, while covers featuringMichael Jordan sold the best, "Iverson was the heart of the magazine."[7]
Known for its success in thenewsstand marketplace,Slam'scirculation had risen to 192,889 by late 1997, and then up to 201,179 in early 2000.[8] Circulation then elevated to 227,000 by 2002[9] and 235,000 in 2003 (at which point it was printed nine times per year).[10] The magazine was printed on a monthly basis as of November 2006.[11]
The magazine is now available to international (non-U.S.) NBA fans, with special editions printed in some territories (see below), and the addition ofSlam to digital stores, such asiTunes (the remoteness/distance from the U.S. of the subscriber has become a recurring theme in the letters section).[12]
In 2004,Washington Post columnistMike Wise observed that "counterculture heroes have emerged fromSLAM magazine's pages."[13] During the mid-to-late 1990s into the 2000s,SLAM was often regarded by advertising executives and media members asavant-garde for its approaches at the time of publishing player-written pieces and an extensiveletters-to-the-editor section which spanned several pages, each of which provided ample voice to theNBPA and commonfans. For example, in reference toCraig Hodges, authorDave Zirin reflected in the title's 100th issue that ifSLAM had existed in years prior, "a player of politics and protest could've outrun purgatory. This is whySLAM is the most important print magazine of my lifetime."[14]