Once upon a time, Page Six, the New York Post gossip section, actually appeared on page six. Like on Jan. 3, 1977, when the first edition ran, complete with tidbits about Margaux Hemingway, Henry Kissinger, Steve McQueen, Jackie Onassis and John F. Kennedy Jr. (see below).
Legendary journalist James Brady—who later went on to become an Ad Age columnist (he died in 2009)—created Page Six at the behest of the paper's owner Rupert Murdoch, who'd bought the New York tabloid for $30.5 million in 1976. It wasn't long before Page Six became a major force in New York media—an inky forum where reputations could be ruined or burnished, the famous humbled, fledgling celebrities given a boost and hot spots annointed or suddenly iced out. Other print gossip franchises tried to match Page Six's momentum (from New York Magazine's Intelligencer section to The New York Times' "Public Lives" column), but it wasn't until the internet's mid-childhood that it faced serious competition (Gawker, TMZ).
Now Page Six is making a fresh bid for relevance—and crossplatform dominance. Here's what you need to know:
Page Six TV launches next month
It seems like the possibility of a TV version of the gossip page
has been been floated forever, but now it's actually happening.
Endemol Shine North America and the Post are launching Page Six TV
on Sept. 18. Twentieth Television is handling distribution and has
placed the show into more than 200 local markets covering 98% of
the country. It'll be hosted by John Fugelsang (Sirius XM
Radio/VH1) and will feature a panel of "Page Six TV Insiders"
including Page Six Editor Emily Smith, reporter Carlos Greer, Bevy
Smith (Bravo's "Fashion Queens") and Variety's Elizabeth
Wagmeister.
Page Six—the print version—gets a refresh
starting today
"It had been decades since Page Six in print had been significantly
changed, and it was due for a renovation," New York Post
CEO-Publisher Jesse Angelo tells Ad Age. The logo you're familiar
with remains the same, but as for the rest of the page, "We wanted
to make it easier for the eye to follow, to give some new visual
cues to famous features like 'Blind Items.' ... Perhaps the most
immediate thing people will notice is that instead of a cartoon
every day, Page Six will have more photos."