Cambridge 38 Will Publish Only Once

Only one issue of Cambridge 38--the Yearbook's financially troubled quarterly mavazine--will appear this year.

Robert H. Loeffler '64-4, president of Harvard Yearbook Publications, Inc., said yesterday that a 32-page issue would be published in March. He tied the cutback in the magazine's publishing schedule to growing competition among student publications for advertising revenue.

"The problem is that the Harvard Student Agencies has monopolized the ad markets of the Harvard community," Loeffler said. "The H.S.A. Calendar has been able to attract the College's rising young entrepreneurs and as a result the Yearbook has a small business board--a very efficient one, but one whose time and talents are increasingly demanded by the Yearbook itself."

Loeffler predicted that the Calendar "will become a threat to the so-called marginal Harvard publications," including in that category the Advocate and the Lampoon as well.

Three Years in the Red

Partly because it is distributed free to guarantee advertisers a fixed circulation base, Cambridge 38 has lost money for at least three years. Loeffler said, however, that the Yearbook does not expect to make a profit on the magazine, and could continue to absorb similar losses for some time.

He explained that the decision to cut back in the publication schedule was prompted by a feeling that the losses, while supportable, were not really justified, since Cambridge 38 was not significantly different from other publications. Some members of the Yearbook's executive board wanted to drop the magazine entirely, according to Loeffler.

"Unfortunately, 38 has not tended to reflect the strength of the Yearbook, which is photography," Loeffler said. There are 25 photographers on the Yearbook now, and another 26 are competing to join, he added.

Accordingly, the issue of Cambridge 38, will contain far more photographs than previous issues. Paul W. Williams '65--named editor of the magazine after Mark C. Myers '64 resigned over the summer--said that he would also try to work for greater "integration" between pictures and text.

Next year, Loeffler noted, the Yearbook hopes to publish four or five issues of Cambridge 38, assuming the spring issue proves successful.