Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
This is the next in a series of articles on nontraditional members of the Nevada Press Association.
If Nevada Magazine has had a theme throughout its 85-year history, other than highlighting the state’s charms and oddities to help attract tourists, it has been evolution.
Launched in 1936 by the state highway department when gambling and Hoover Dam were still new attractions in Nevada and Las Vegas was a thriving metropolis of 8,000, Nevada Highways and Parks was a digest-sized ode to the Silver State’s wide open roads.
It grew in size and scope to become Nevada’s showcase — chock full of history, travel, sights and events.
True to form, it will evolve again in 2022, from a paid-subscriber magazine to a free publication distributed quarterly by the state’s Travel Nevada bureau.
The official name will be Nevada Magazine and Visitor Guide, and it will more than double its circulation with the free model.
“It’s bittersweet and it’s exciting,” says Megg Mueller, the executive editor who leads a staff of six. “The magazine obviously has been around 85 years so it’s got a really strong legacy, but it also has a reality attached to it: That it’s a business.”
Mueller notes that Nevada Magazine is not funded by the state, although it operates as an enterprise fund and must answer not only to the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs but to the Legislature’s budgeting authority.
“We’re beholden to subscribers and advertising to keep us afloat, and it’s getting tougher and tougher to do that,” Mueller says. By merging with the Visitor Guide, the plan is to keep the best of both publications while operating more efficiently.
Distribution as a stack-around guide will boost circulation to 40,000, a significant jump from the 12,000-some subscriber list.
Loyal readers shouldn’t fret, though. They can still subscribe. Check out the Nevada Magazine website for instructions on receiving the print issues for 2022 and beyond.
The changes will require a few adjustments for readers, who will see fewer of the long-form articles for which Nevada Magazine is known and more of the quick-hit highlights that are the staple of tourist guides.
As editor, Mueller says she’ll stay flexible as Nevada Magazine focuses on pleasing three audiences — the traveler who just flew into Las Vegas or Reno, the long-term subscriber who likes to explore the state’s history and the 80,000 or so tourists each year who request copies to plan their vacations.
One other long evolution in the magazine’s history is its devotion to journalism, from the early days when articles were written by highway department publicist Fred Greulich through editors such as Nevada Newspaper Hall of Famers C.J. Hadley and Joyce Hollister to Mueller’s own extensive newspaper and web experience.
Nevada Magazine’s archives are a rich repository of just about everything that’s ever happened around the state.
Membership in the Nevada Press Association was a natural fit, starting when the annual better-journalism contest added a category for magazines. Staffers, as well as a stable of some of the state’s best freelance writers and photographers, have earned it many awards over the years.
“I find it a good resource for keeping abreast of the challenges the industry faces,” Mueller says of the NPA.
To read more in the series, click here.