Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly magazine was founded in 1972 by its publisher, Michael R. Levy, a 26-year-old native Dallasite who was "convinced that my state was ready for a really first class magazine that will appeal directly to the sophisticated, cosmopolitan folks that Texans have become." ( Texas Monthly, Feb. 1973). Levy brought aboard 27 year-old William Broyles, Jr. as editor. Broyles assembled an editorial staff that was short on journalistic experience but charged with curiosity, intelligence, irreverence, and literary skills. Many of Texas Monthly 's early staffers were friends of Broyles from Rice University, where the intellectual climate helped set the tone for the magazine. As Broyles later wrote, "If any one quality unites these farflung efforts, it is a boundless curiosity. Most of our stories began with one of us saying "I wonder..." ( The Best of Texas Monthly: The First Five Years .)

Texas Monthly 's first issue was published in February 1973, and it was not an immediate commercial success, selling only about 35,000 copies. But the magazine quickly gained recognition for offering a significant departure from the rest of the state's media. Texas Monthly contained intelligent and entertaining examinations of Texas life ranging from politics, culture, art, sports, personalities, lifestyles, the environment, fashion, crime, business, education, entertainment, and travel. Along the way, the magazine began to define how Texas was emerging as a contemporary urban state while still clinging to its rural mythic past.

From its beginnings, Texas Monthly developed a reputation as a "writer's magazine," and it helped develop new generations of writing talent while also offering a welcome forum for established voices. Texas Monthly hired many young writers as full-time staff members at salary with benefits, at the same time creating a community of professional writers centered near the magazine's home base in Austin.

In 1974, after only one year of operation, the editorial staff's efforts were rewarded with a National Magazine Award (the industry equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) for Specialized Journalism. Since then Texas Monthly has established a solid reputation for editorial excellence, winning eight National Magazine Awards and 38 nominations- a record surpassed by only The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and Esquire .

Texas Monthly 's editorial accomplishments have been matched by its financial success. Circulation increased from 20,000 in 1973 to nearly 200,000 by 1976. By the end of the 1970s, Texas Monthly was considered one of the top publications in the country, wielding major cultural and political influence in Texas and serving as a model for the startup of several other regional magazines across the country.

In 1981, Gregory Curtis succeeded William Broyles as editor. By 1988, Texas Monthly was generating $23 million annually in advertising revenue and had a circulation of 307,000, reaching two and a half million readers with each issue. It continued to win National Magazine Awards in the 1990s. Michael Levy won the 1999 Henry Johnson Fisher Award for Publishing Excellence, the highest honor given by the magazine publishing industry. In January 2000 the Columbia Journalism Review named Greg Curtis one of the ten best magazine editors in the country.

Organizationally, Texas Monthly underwent a profound change in 1998, when its owner, Mediatex Communications, a corporation primarily owned by Mike Levy, sold the magazine to Emmis Broadcasting, an Indianapolis-based communications company, for $37 million. Levy remained as publisher and Curtis continued as editor. In June 2000, Greg Curtis announced his retirement. Levy chose Evan Smith to replace him; Smith has served as Texas Monthly 's deputy editor since 1994.

From the guide to the Texas Monthly Magazine Archives, 1972 - ongoing, (Southwestern Writers Collection, Special Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos)