From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
to Journey to the Fringe, where sometimes we
follow up very vaguely on old episodes that we
do and Chelsea. Turns out he went to Bahrain
to become an oil intermediary. Yeah, yeah, he
had no job prospects and he had just been disgraced.
So it's like I'm gonna get into the oil business
Oh fuck. Are you serious? Yeah, I knew that sounded
vaguely familiar. It didn't go well What a jackass
yeah Anyhow, we are your podcast host Taylor
and Chelsea. Here today, apparently doing a two
parter on something. That's all I know. And it
starts off on a bright note for some that follow
us regularly. Anyhow, I'll let Chelsea take it
from here. This week, I'm covering an asshole
of a totally unheard of different kind for this
podcast. More of a fun, lovable asshole. And
I know with this sentence, your mind must just
be reeling. Wondering what kind of asshole I'm
covering Taylor, right? Well, I would assume
it's a British Andy episode. You would assume
based on that intro. Yeah. I think that's what
you were assuming. I'm going to be hitting you
with some cold hard facts this week as I cover
a leader in tabloid journalism that will undoubtedly
give you a heavy dose of nostalgia. And the question
is not. Who is the asshole? But what is this
asshole? As we take a look into the enchanted,
wonderful world of the Weekly World News. There
was some sort of weird synchronicity and can
I just ask you please to give me the facts in
like a warm, soft style? I don't, I just feel
like that's gonna feel better. I don't know,
but I don't want to be hit by cold heart. I want
soft and warm. Okay, warm, soft facts. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. Well, here's the first warm, soft
act. The Weekly World News launched in 1979 by
Generoso Pope Jr. How's that name for you? Do
you like it? I was not expecting it to go the
way it did after Generoso. Like every word after
that is a surprise. There's only two. I know.
It just kept going too. Undoubtedly, one of the
strongest names I think I'll ever hear in my
life. He founded not only the Weekly World News,
he also founded the National Enquirer, go figure.
No way. I know, right? And you've never heard
of Generoso Pope Junior? No. You would think
he would be a common household name. The magazine
represented the extremes of checkout counter
attention -grabbing tactics for nearly 30 years,
renowned for its outlandish cover stories often
based on supernatural or paranormal themes and
an approach to news that teetered on the satirical.
I remember it from the checkout lines growing
up and there was only something going on with
Batboy. I totally remember seeing these going
to the grocery store as a kid. I don't know that
I actually ever picked one up and looked at it
and do you ever remember seeing it outside of
the grocery store never not well sorry there
i remember it distinctly in the movie so i married
an axe murderer yes the mom yes that's where
the axe murder story comes from See that was
my only reference and I'm thinking like did I
ever go to someone's house and like see it in
their pile of newspapers or anything? Never once.
It is very nostalgic to think back that people
did in fact used to have magazine stacks. Yep
they sure did. You do not see those anymore.
You really don't and it's very sad when I look
back that I don't even think I grabbed one and
now that I'm old enough to go to the grocery
store and do my own shopping I don't remember
the demise of it. I don't have a hard memory.
of going to the grocery store and being like,
oh, that's not there anymore. I would welcome
seeing one of these at the grocery store checkout
now. Yeah. And just, if you guys ever feel nostalgic
for it and you want to do it the cheap way, I
am just going to give you this life hack. Your
local library has basically a subscription to
every magazine you could want. So just go get
a copy there. Nice. I do know that my library
has them. You're not allowed to check them out
though. And I just don't feel like going that
weekly world news is definitely not something
they have. So you see that, but I don't know
if you ever looked. I have looked. Oh, okay.
Definitely no weekly world news. Was that part
of your research for this episode? Yes. Okay.
No, I've looked at the magazines. I would know
the weekly world news is there. Do you like recall
when you stopped seeing them? No, it might just
be when we stop shopping with our parents. I
feel like there's a large gap in time where I
was just not at grocery stores. I don't know
what I was doing in life at that point but I
feel like there's a young version of myself where
I was just not at grocery stores. Basically when
we reached adulthood was the introduction of
the self checkout and there is not magazines
in the self checkout line. That's true. And for
a long time, I did the self checkout line because
I was without child and cares and worries and
I was looking to be expedient. Yes. Yeah. OK.
And you're dealing with life's ethical issues
of I can't find the specific barcode. Maybe I
just pretend it's a different apple that's 50
cents less per pound. But I could go to jail.
So. In my memory, I don't have a specific one
where I'm like, huh, it's not there any longer.
And I do go to the regular checkouts now because
I have to have a fairly large grocery shop and
I can't say. I remember seeing the weekly world
news there. I definitely remember seeing like
the National Enquirer or things along that. Oh,
everything there. Those are still there. Yeah.
There's totally nothing I actually want to pick
up and take a look through. Not at all. Celebrity
gossip. Not bad boy. Not bad boy. Oh, I would
be all over bad boy if bad boy was there. And
I probably would pick up a copy. I'm not going
to lie. I would be the person that would have
a copy of that magazine if I was old enough.
Though I don't remember. when I was a kid being
like compelled enough to be like can you buy
this for me? No, even as a kid I was barely certain
it was fake. Yeah, oh yeah. And as interested
as I always was in the paranormal I never really
wanted a weekly world news. It's all very interesting
psychological stuff. Anyhow, it was reporting
mostly fictional news. stories in the United
States from 1979 to 2007. To be fair, how is
that different from any of the assholes that
we've covered? No, it's true. And it is mostly
fictional news that most of the assholes are
covering as well. Yeah, they just think they
can tell when it's fictional and you don't need
to know. Yeah. So as I was saying, this is in
the time that I wouldn't have been accompanying
my parents on grocery trips where it falls off
the map and you're not seeing it in grocery stores
anymore into my young adulthood where I'm also
not frequenting grocery stores. In the 2000s,
the circulation of the weekly world news peaked
at 1 .2 million per issue, which is pretty good
for... That is really good for just making the
shit up as you go. Yeah. We'll get into exactly
what was going into it, but it's pretty high.
especially for me, like not having anyone in
particular where we can place having bought one
of these. And Chelsea, I don't know if this was
part of your research, but I am curious. Do you
know how much it costs an issue? I really don't.
Like the times I remember seeing it. Currency
was not something I really valued. No, and I
don't know it wasn't a part of my research But
I would put it on par for probably it was probably
the same price as most magazines, right? No,
I would or do you think it's cheap? This is just
me speculating. It was published entirely in
black and white So it was probably just higher
than a newspaper I don't know that I would put
it as high as an like a people magazine or something
like that But I could be wrong When I look at
magazines now, highly unaffordable to my overall
budget. Magazines back in the day were like three
or four bucks or something. And I know that because
I bought like J -14. Why? What was it? Why something?
I don't know. I used to buy GQ because I thought
it was incredibly suave and cool and fashion
forward as a as a young man. Mine's more teenage
girls. I used to buy Mads and Cracks too. Why
four maybe? Yeah, GQ is just like the Mads and
Cracks. Yeah, same thing. What's the difference?
Yeah. OK, so Weekly World News went on to thrive
online between 2009 and 2015. Get out of here.
Did it become a cult? No, we're going to talk
about that a little more in a little bit. But
the Weekly World News was first published going
back all the way to the beginning. and take a
guess take a guess where do you think oh what
what country city where no sit let's go with
state what state was it first published in i'm
gonna say new jersey florida okay makes sense
yeah it makes sense first published in lantana
florida it moved to boca rattan in the late 90s
which would explain a lot it was unique as a
tabloid because it was printed entirely in black
and white The Weekly World News traditionally
claimed that it always printed the truth, but
many stories appeared to have comedic intent,
more so as time went by. I guess this was a time
that you were able to get away with things like
that, saying that they're true and they're 100
% not. As recalled by Joe Berger, a former White
House correspondent who served as a Weekly World
News editor, from 1981 to 2001, which is a weird.
You got involved like politically, like fairly
high up. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, totally weird sentence.
He said, quote, about 80 % of the stories were
clipped from newspapers. We had three or four
clippers who were surrounded by mountains of
newspapers. We spent the day looking at newspapers
throughout the world clipping weird stories.
OK, that makes sense where the name came from
then. Yeah, about 50 % were about people narrowly
escaping death, someone falling off a cliff or
hanging off a tree branch for four days until
they were seems to me where they kind of got
their start was looking at oddities around the
world, which I can totally get behind. I can
totally get behind the whole thing to be honest
with you, but they're kind of taking stories
from everywhere. It's just like these are weird.
Let's put them in our little publication. The
Weekly World News never publicly contradicted
the accuracy of its own stories until 2004 when
it began stating, the reader should suspend disbelief
for the sake of enjoyment." And I just love that
we grew up in a world where we can see this on
a newsstand and it was sold as the complete truth.
Whereas today all you're hearing is fake news
and what's AI, what's not. You can't tell the
truth. You have AI warnings and you don't know
what to believe sometimes. But this is just on
the shelves. The weekly world news could not
exist in the way it did today. No, not at all.
There's no room for it, no. Which is, it's like
a little bit, it's sad, but it's also like a
little bit gives you like the warm fuzzies inside.
But no, it would have a bad following today if
it existed today. Like it would be on par with
what's going on. Oh, totally. The weekly world
news ran strange but true stories such as, quote,
devote Christian attacked and he's the one fined.
referring to British street evangelist Harry
Hammond. Other verifiable stories printed by
the tabloid included those of a giant mutant
hog monster attacking Georgia and the arrest
of Tallahassee Florida man whose pants were on
fire at the time. Chelsea, I'm just going to
say those articles all actually sound like they
did in fact happen. See, here's the thing. It
started with articles that were true, which is
nice. Yeah, you raise a fair point there. Yeah.
Yeah, it sounds like work. publications from
all these other different world newspapers at
the time. But that does sound like work, you're
right. Yeah, it also reported on the discovery
of an infant dragon preserved in formaldehyde,
proving the existence of dragons, although this
was later proven to be a hoax, I guess. It also
quoted Vatican exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth
on Pope John Paul II's battle with Satan and
ran a story on the trademark between O, the Oprah
Magazine, and the German erotic periodical also
named O. Oh. I wish I would have taken a look
at that one, honestly. Which one? The O one.
The clear choice of those two. Other common weekly
world news stories involved alien abductions,
the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, time travel,
predictions of an oncoming depression or the
apocalypse, or other newly found lost prophecies
or religious relics. There were also characters
who in later years became stock pictures in weekly
world news stories, most famously Batboy. A half
-bat, half -boy discovered in West Virginia caverns.
Did not fight a single crime, unfortunately.
And P. Lod, an extraterrestrial who became involved
in Earth politics and had an affair with Hillary
Clinton. Since the weekly world news began to
publish online, its stories have occasionally
been treated as legitimate news stories by readers
unaware of the nature of the publication. More
about it going online in a moment. In late 2010,
the Weekly World News ran a satirical story written
by Frank Lake indicating that the Los Angeles
Police Department intended to purchase 10 ,000
jetpacks at a total cost of $1 billion. The story
was reported as fact by the Fox and Friends Morning
News Show. I love this. Yeah, that sounds like
Fox. That does sound like them. I know. They're
like the start of fake news, I think. The Weekly
World News reported twice, once in 2011 and once
in 2012, that the social media website Facebook
would shut down. Both times the claim was interpreted
by some as genuine. The second time Facebook
issued an official reply to the technological
blog Mashable stating, quote, the answer is no.
So please help us put an end to this silliness.
We didn't get the memo about shutting down and
there's lots to do. So we'll just keep cranking
away like always, end quote. Whether partially
fictional or wholly true the writing style remained
as fact -based as possible end quote Whether
partially fictional or wholly true the writing
style remained as fact -based as possible Bob
Lind a writer at the weekly world news recalled
for mental floss quote We wrote these things
straight for people who wanted to believe these
things we wrote it like a news story end quote
February 1989, Weekly World News published real
graphic photos on its front page of the post
-autopsy body of executed serial killer Ted Bundy,
which is pretty intense. yeah yeah that's uh
that is real news though they're not making that
up that is crazy that they did that though front
page and they're the only ones yeah yeah managing
editor eddie klontz defended his decision to
run the photos claiming that he hoped that such
images would deter other murderers as if they're
going through grocery store self checkouts being
like you know what well they all did Technically,
I think. Maybe? I don't know. They could have
just be getting food at like the local 7 - Well,
they had magazines too, I think. As if they would
see that and be like, you know what? I don't
think I'm gonna do it. Yeah. And also, serial
killers are not the only people who get autopsied.
That's true. Like regular people do as well.
That's true. You could say mathematician with
the same impact. That's true. That's very true.
I guess nobody even thought about that. Angry
and surprised officials in Florida vowed to catch
the person responsible, that is for the autopsy
photos of Ted Bundy on the front page, eventually
arresting a low -level employee of the Alichua
County Florida Medical Examiner's Office and
charging him with taking the photographs and
selling them to the Weekly World News. Do you
think he was wrong? Well, he did sell them. so
kind of like if he just gave them for free do
you think it would be less of a i would think
ethically there's more of like these are things
that should be seen as opposed to like i could
make money off of this that that's true i mean
he is just living in a capitalism society though
yeah Yeah, and a libertarian would say, yeah,
I think. Unless he was under contract, which
is the weird side of that. Like, I don't know
where that falls. Like, was he wrong? I don't
know. Is that not a thing you can do? I think
ethically as like a mortician, right? That's
what he is. I don't think you're supposed to
sell pictures of people you're autopsy -ing.
Do you think, no? I have no idea about what morticians
can and can't do. Do you think they can't do
that? No, you know what? Sorry. I do think ethically
it's wrong because the only reason he went to
sell it is because this person was famous. That
is true. You wouldn't just... He wouldn't normally
sell these photos to other people. Yeah. No,
no, you couldn't. There's no market for anyone
that's not Ted Bundy, probably. Well, there might
be further. OK, OK, I can get behind that. As
other supermarket tabloids switched to celebrity
gossip, not sure what they switched from at this
point, the Weekly World News remained devoted
to its original content, refusing to fact check
its way out of a sensational story. Or as Lane
Calder, Weekly World News co -founder and inquirer,
editor -in -chief from 1973 to 1977, told Mental
Floss, quote, We'd say Elvis was still alive
and run a picture of what Elvis would have looked
like at the time. Oh yeah. Like many times. Totally.
We'd get dozens of phone calls if someone calls
and says, I saw Elvis. You didn't try to disprove
the headline. End quote. I love that. I would
love to work in a place like this. This would
just be my groove. I feel like I would be totally
in my element. We don't fact check. Fact check
is beyond us. It doesn't even exist at this point.
I will say, sadly, I'm also seeing like the start
of the far right that we see today and the conspiracy.
side of it. I can, but I don't think that that's
something that actually existed at this time.
No, it didn't. But like, I'm seeing the anti
-vax thing sprouting from this. Do you? Yeah.
We don't fact check. We just have people liking
and calling us and saying that you're right.
I love it. I'm fresh off. like a five -hour listen
of Alex Jones. Alex Jones would use people just
emailing him to him as saying, like, have you
ever looked into this conspiracy theory? And
he would use it as a fact. He would just lie
and say, yeah, I came up with this. No, he would
use it as a source. He would say, my sources
tell me. And I just feel like that's what I'm
getting from them. But to a lesser extent, it
very well could have inspired others. I didn't
quite get to that point of that, what it inspired
from this, but it's definitely in a world where
fact checking didn't exist. Really? It probably
did because you're in the media. You kind of
got to do a little bit of due diligence there,
but not to the extent that we see it today because
we see so much AI and so much fake news, I guess.
Did we see fake news before? Probably. But we
just trusted the media. We didn't have Facebook
where people were just saying anything and people
were taking it as fact. And it just kind of all
the media didn't exist until the late 2000s.
Yeah. And I would say this is probably the very
beginning of it. I would go on. I don't know.
Outside of this, I think of Alex Jones as like
one of the first. And this would have been after,
or before, sorry. Wait before, because Alex was
like 94, 95. Yeah, so it's refreshing. What's
the other Bill? It's Bill Moore and Bill something,
the one who got like gunned down. Bill Cooper,
yeah. He was kind of the first, but like he would
be right around the same time and nowhere near
as popular as Weekly World News. Oh, no, not
even close. So I just kind of find it nostalgic
that this is where we grew up. This is kind of
and it was the environment. It didn't seem political.
They were not. And something like this would
be so attacked now. But there was room for it
back then. It was just like, uh, whatever. Just
don't pay attention to it if you don't believe
it. Right. And today it would have been a So
it just I don't think you even talk to your friends
about it. Like it was just something you did
on your own Yeah, it was just it. I think at
that point. It's just something that you understood
to be Crazy because it had bad boy, right? Yeah,
you just understood that it wasn't though at
they were taking actual And I never got past
the headlines, because I never actually picked
it up and looked. So I never actually looked
at the stories from other places. No, it was
just like, oh, that seems fun. Yeah, exactly.
And then you move on. Yeah, it's just a super
like, kind of nostalgic thing of the times that
something like this that could exist where it
couldn't exist like that anymore. So Derek Lang,
a stringer for the paper, I don't know what that
means, could be a typo, could not be. He said
that, quote, Everything in my stories was fake,
you know, depending on how you define fake in
quotes. There were regular columns that were
included in the newspaper. This included Ed Anger,
who was an opinion article. There was first Dear
Babs and later Dear Doddy, who were outspoken
advice columnists. High Dolly was relationship
advice. Horse Sense, which was a medical advice.
Monkey Business, which was financial and business
related advice and information, and Madame Melissa,
who was a psychic. The most famous of these was
Ed Anger, a character created in 1979 by staffer
Raffy Klinger. Anger was perpetually an angry
conservative. A typical column began, quote,
I'm pig biting mad, end quote. who rallied against
illegal immigrants, women, speed limits, and
rainforests, among many other perceived ills.
Anger, hated foreigners, yoga, whales, only one
reason you could hate whales, speed limits, and
pineapple on pizza. What a fucking son of a bitch.
Wow. He likes vlogging, electrocutions, and beer.
This person happened to go on to become a beloved
children's musician. Who are you thinking about,
like, uh, Mr. Rogers? Rafi. Rafi, no. Okay. No.
Different Rafi, got it. I did think, you know,
I'm gonna spoil something. I'm gonna read Ed
Anger Still Lives On on the weekly world news
online. I'm going to read the most recent. I
was just going to pick one at random, but I think
the most recent has immediately appealed to me.
OK, I do think I screwed up because I thought
that you mentioned a person named Raffy right
before him. You did. OK. He was let me just think
he was a character created in 1979 by staffer
Raffy Klinger. OK, OK. That's a different. No,
you didn't screw up. OK. I don't know if Raffi's
name is Raffi Klinger. Could you imagine that
would be such a twist? I'm going to make the
angriest person to get all the rage out for so
I can just do kid things. Yeah, you can exist
in two worlds like that. I think there's nothing
wrong with that. You totally can. One of the
happiest people out there writes horror mangas
in Japan. You can be both. Yeah, Junji Ito. Very
happy person. One of the happiest people in Japan
writes horror mangas. I love that. That's a dynamic
human being. Whereas even King used cocaine to
do that. Yeah, exactly. I think he's still upset.
It's the difference. Yeah, so I'm gonna read
this not Rafi column. It is, who is it? Ed Anger's
column. His most recent, July 11th, 2025. I'm
madder than a bull in a bounce house about this
Epstein client list cover -up. This is gonna
be good. Yeah, I haven't even read this. No,
would a bull in a bounce house be angry? It would
definitely be confused. Okay, I've always heard
that they're pissed in a china shop, so... No,
but I have to assume, one, they're confused.
Two, the bouncy castle can't support the weight
of a bull. Okay, well then that's why he's mad.
It would immediately deflate. That's why he's
mad. Is it mad or is it confused and scared?
I guess what's the difference? Yeah, it's both.
It's definitely both I would be mad if I was
bouncing and having fun and then all of a sudden
I'm not It never bounce it got in there and it
deflated and maybe he knew He should be bouncing
balls can't have the concept of that It would
get in there not knowing the kids were having
a fun time in there and therefore it would have
a fun time in there Just got in there lapsed
upon it We're turning too much where with the
ball That's just sad. I just feel really sad
for the bowl. It's not angry. It's very confused
and just scared. It's probably scared. But again,
what is anger? Anger is a mixture of confusion
and fear. Okay, here's what I think it is at
this point. I think an anger is projecting his
anger. If he is angry, at this point, it just
seems like a last name. So people maybe make
assumptions about that. Maybe they just read
it in the wrong tone because the characters badly
bleed. It's true. They might. But let's see.
first Ed Anger column I've actually read. Let's
get into it. Folks, I'm so steamed I could fry
an egg on my forehead. The Jeffrey Epstein client
list, that filthy roster of high flying perverts
and power hungry creeps still hasn't seen the
light of day. And I'm about ready to bust a gasket.
This is the kind of thing that makes my blood
boil hotter than a Texas sidewalk in July. the
FBI sitting on this list like a hen on a raw
egg. And I'm here to tell you it's time to crack
it open and let the stench out. For those of
you who've been living under a rock, bracket,
and I ain't judging because rocks are probably
cleaner than Washington DC, and bracket. Jeffrey
Epstein was a slimy, jet -setting scumbag who
ran a sicko sex trafficking ring for the rich
and famous. We're talking politicians, CEOs,
Hollywood bigwigs, the kind of folks who think
laws are just suggestions. The feds raided this
operation, grabbed his little black book, and
now they're acting like it's the recipe for Aunt
Mabel's secret meatloaf. Well, I say hogwash.
The American people deserve to know who was pals
with this creep and we deserve to know now. The
FBI's got this list locked up tighter than Fort
Knox and it's driving me up the wall. What are
they hiding? Who are they protecting? I'll tell
you who. They're buddies in the elite club of
champagne sipping caviar slurping fat cats who
think they're above the law. These are the same
clowns who lecture us about transparency while
they're covering up dirt that make a sewer rat
blush. If there's nothing to hide, then why is
the FBI acting like they're guarding the Holy
Grail? Fill the beans, G -man, let's see the
names. I can just imagine the excuses. Oh Ed,
we can't release the list. It's an ongoing investigation.
Bloney! This investigation's been ongoing, longer
than a soap opera, and I'm sick of it. Or maybe
they'll just say, releasing the list could compromise
national security. Double baloney with a side
of bunk. The only thing it'll compromise is the
reputations of some big shots who thought they
could party with Epstein and skate free. Well,
I say it's time to name names and shame shames.
And don't give me that privacy nonsense either.
Privacy is for folks who pay their taxes and
mow their lawns, not for creeps who allegedly
hung out with a guy like Epstein. If you're on
that list, you don't get the hide -behind due
process while the rest of us are left wondering
which of our so -called leaders was sipping martinis
on Pedophile Island. The public's got a right
to know if the people running this country or
starring in our movies or signing our paychecks
were buddies with a monster period. It goes on
for a while. I'm actually quite surprised with
how that was going, given what I kind of set
up for what it was like. It seemed like he was
very conservative. Yeah. Conservatives really
like, conservatives also really want the list
revealed. Some of them do. Yes. Yeah. And yeah,
I think that is a misappropriation or a stereotype
that somebody who is angry is a Republican. But
also he might be a Republican and just like also
really want the list. Yeah, no, that's true.
We don't know for sure. That's just one he had.
I mean, he's been going back for how many years
now? A lot. That one caught my eye. I was going
to choose from a different one. I mean, who doesn't
want to hear about the Epstein list being released?
Because let's not forget that that's a thing
that's happening right now. We want the list
to come out no matter who is on it. And Trump
is probably on it. Allegedly? Do I say allegedly
after that? I think so. Anyhow, beginning on
May 9th, 2005, the Weekly World News went all
new along with other tabloid papers such as the
National Enquirer, which had become bigger, bolder,
better. Okay, because it is the same group. I
assume. Yeah, it is. In the new weekly world
news, Serena and Sonya Sabak's psychic column
was replaced by the horoscopes of Madame Malisa,
and Dottie Primrose's Dear Dottie was supplanted
by an advice column called Hi Dolly written by
a middle -aged southern blonde woman. They did
not change it. No. The Weekly World News included
a weekly weird picture search by mad cartoonist
Sergio Arrejones. Other features included trivia,
test yourself, jokes and misadventure aka the
gayest American hero who has penetrated the mob,
gone to Hollywood and fought Dracula traveling
from the depths of the Earth's center to outer
space. Though it mainly featured offbeat stories,
it also featured legitimate games and quizzes
such as crossword puzzles, a segment called Bedside
Matter where readers chose which celebrity is
best suited for the featured celebrity, and Mystery
Eyes which featured photographs of five pairs
of eyes which belonged to celebrities and readers
had to guess who they were. In 1999, David Pecker
bought American Media Inc, which owned the Weekly
World News. Within the next two years, many of
the Weekly World News longtime writers and editors
were sadly gone. In a filing with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission in
March 2007, American Media said the sales of
Weekly World News in 2006 were only $83 ,000
per issue. Huge drop, not in its heyday. anymore.
The times they are changing. Weekly World News
ceased its print publication in August 2007.
It was then published as an insert with the Sun
magazine with the new material being printed
alongside articles and columns from older issues
until the Sun itself ceased publication in 2012.
In October 2008, Batboy LLC, a company started
by Neil McGinnis, bought Weekly World News. It
was relaunched as an online -only publication
in 2009. In January 2001, the Weekly World News
was made available via an online paid subscription.
The online edition was emailed to subscribers
bi -weekly. The online edition closely resembled
the printed weekly world news in both appearance.
It uses the weekly world news logo used from
1979 to 2001. And subject matter, the first issue
headline was werewolf Sue's airline overflight
delay. So still staying true to the original
stuff. In January 2013, Weekly World News announced
that it would go behind a paywall. For those
of you that are worried, it is no longer behind
a paywall. That is why I had read to you from
Ed Anger. Otherwise, we would have had to charge
you to listen to this episode, sadly. Lucky for
you, it is free. In August 2019, Greg De Alessandro
took over as CEO, Editor -in -Chief with David
Collins as President slash CFO. Not related to
Lou Alessandro, is it? I know. No, it's De Alessandro.
OK. Could you imagine if it was so? And then
they only printed the UFO stories in the weekly
world news. They relaunched the brand and began
developing a number of projects with Hollywood
producers. And on September 21, 2020, Weekly
World News launched a Kickstarter campaign in
an effort to expand reporting, graphics, and
video production, as well as to get the tabloid
back into print. The campaign was successful
in reaching its financial goal. On March 21,
2021, Weekly World News printed its first full
-length print publication in 15 years. quote,
weekly world news, greatest covers was printed
as a limited special edition, 5 ,000 copies,
which is nowhere near what it was selling in
its heyday. Even when it stopped being printed.
Yeah. Is that good for magazines these days?
I don't actually know. Like they, they can't
be selling anywhere near what they were in the
early 2000. That's very true. And I didn't actually
look at that. It may be a supply and demand so
that they could. more it might yeah it might
have been a way to make more money and that's
just me uh speculating yeah and uh that's where
i'm gonna leave it until our episode for next
week do you have any comments it made me very
nostalgic this episode i know and like not to
like the actual magazine more so just like shopping
as like a child i know you know there's only
so many things that i remember shopping as a
child One, so delicious. And that's not so much
shopping, so much as having them in my lunch
as a child and really liking them. That and they're
so much more open to kids eating the food while
they shop than the adults. Yeah, totally. The
other thing I specifically remember while shopping
was I remember a big thing around the magazines
and such when Princess Diana died. I don't know
why that sticks in my memory so much, but that
was a huge thing. And the other thing is the
weekly world news. Like those are my three things
that I can name off the top of my head about
shopping as a child Oh, I always remember I always
remember our mom picking up a people's magazine
like every shopping trip Oh every single time
never a weekly world news though, and I don't
know whether to be impressed by that or disappointed
by that no, and People's is the one that still
exists. Yeah Yeah, well, in print, at least at
the at the counter. We don't know if she subscribes
to Weekly World News now. She very well might.
I don't have suspicions. But yeah, we don't know
for sure. Anyhow, with that, I have been Taylor
here with Chelsea. We are Jerry to the Fringe.
Thank you all for listening. We'll see you next
week. Bye. Thank you for listening to Journey
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