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Changes
A look at the transformation of sections and pages through the history of The Indianapolis Star

Star sections
Editorial
Debuted:
July 11, 1976, as Spectrum and contained editorials, letters to the editor and op-ed page columns, as well as the hobby and puzzle pages.
Evolution: Renamed Focus on Aug. 7, 1988. The hobby and puzzle pages were moved into the Arts & Entertainment section, and a "Politics in Perspective" column was added. Contains in-depth coverage of today's issues with emphasis on Indiana, with news stories on the cover and editorials inside. Book reviews are on the back page.
Star magazines
Debuted:
Jan. 12, 1947, as The Indianapolis Star Magazine with a "Hoosier Madness" basketball story featuring Ralph Hamilton, an Indiana University guard from Fort Wayne, on the cover. This Week Magazine also began publication Jan. 12, 1947. It contained tidbits of national news and a cover story on March of Dimes poster girl nominee Nancy Drury of Louisville, Ky.
Evolution: Sept. 22, 1985, The Star began using Parade Magazine. Contained national news and features, cartoons and columnists. On Oct. 15, 2000, Parade was replaced by USA Weekend, another national publication.
Faith & Values
Debuted:
Jan. 18, 1999, as one of the first sections of this kind in the country. Contains stories about religion, spirituality and diverse faith issues.
Evolution: Continued as a distinct section until September 2001, when faith pages were incorporated into the Indiana Living section.
Weekend
Debuted:
Oct. 10, 1986, as a broadsheet. It included movie and restaurant reviews, "picks" of a variety of things to do, TV and radio coverage, theater news and a calendar of events.
Evolution: Tabloid format made its debut May 18, 2001. Aimed at the 18-34 age group to draw in younger readers, the new section was divided into themed pages such as movie, theater, pop music, classical music, dining out, clubs and day trips, accompanied by calendars specific to each activity. The Star conducted focus groups of young adults to see what they would be most likely to read in Weekend. Most wanted listings of clubs with live entertainment and DJs and expanded restaurant coverage. The section is smaller and easier to keep for reference than its predecessor.
Business
Debuted:
June 3, 1986, as The Star expanded its business coverage with a Business Extra section on Tuesdays.
Evolution: A stand-alone Business section in the Sunday Star started Feb. 10, 1991, with commentaries on Indiana's economic scene and a recap of the previous week's 10 top business stories. A Monday tabloid, Business Weekly, began April 3, 1995, with stories about personal finance and industry trends and helpful hints for consumers. The section was redesigned as Business Monday in 1997 and Indianapolis Inc. in 2001.
Indiana Living
Debuted:
As Women's Interests in the 1960s. The Sunday "features" section has had several names in the past 40 years. Initially, it included large bridal photos on the cover. Inside was information on weddings, ancestors and antiques. It later became Life/Style, FemmeFare and Trends.
Evolution: In the 1990s,
the daily Living section's names were Sunrise and Extra, with By Design, a weekly guide to home design, added Feb. 14, 1998. The Home & Garden section came along June 16, 2001. On Sept. 17, 2001, the Extra (daily) and Life/Style (Sunday) features sections were renamed Indiana Living.
TV Week
Debuted:
Dec. 6, 1961, as The Star's TV Week tabloid with TV and movie listings and stories about the actors, as well as a column by the TV critic.
Evolution: On Jan. 23, 1983, the TV tab began carrying cable listings. A new TV Week with expanded program listings and a new grid format debuted in September 1996. It shrunk to a quarterfold size (8 by 10 inches) to make it easier for readers to handle.
The Teen Star
Debuted:
Feb. 4, 1956, as a mini-newspaper by and for high school students. It began publication as a Saturday tabloid.
Evolution: There was a contest for readers to name the section. Reporters, usually high school journalism students, contributed stories about their schools. The final edition was printed Dec. 21, 1974. A popular feature was a "lucky circle" picture in which a student whose face was circled in a group photo could win $5 by identifying himself or herself.
 
June 6, 2003
 

Some of the most dramatic changes that have occurred through the years in The Indianapolis Star have come about in the various feature sections. Soft news, found on entertainment and lifestyle pages, have undergone many incarnations in the various sections separate from the hard news section that reports on yesterday's events in the nation and the world.

A look back at what we now call Indiana Living (daily and Sunday) reveals a notable evolution, with changing lifestyles and even the feminist movement making their mark on the types of coverage in those pages. In the early 1900s, The Star carried news of weddings and parties in a column under a Page One heading, "Society." By the 1960s, an entire Sunday Women's Interests section carried that news.

In the aftermath of the women's revolution in the 1970s, FemmeFare was born, aimed at women's interests. In 1984, that section became Trends -- a mix of stories that appealed to men and women. That section became Life/Style in 1988, offering more variety in its coverage. In the late 1990s, another expansion of that Sunday section became today's Indiana Living, a name also carried on our daily section.

Contemporary readers' interests in their homes and hobbies -- particularly gardening -- were the catalyst for Saturday's By Design section in 1998. In 2001, By Design became the Home & Garden section. Other daily "living" sections have been called Lifestyle, Sunrise, Extra and Healthwise (1999), which became part of Extra in 2000.

During the 1990s, newspapers nationwide, including The Star, began taking a new approach to covering religion and spirituality. The Star launched its Faith & Values section in January 1999. It was a distinct section until September 2001, when those pages were incorporated into the Indiana Living section.

Entertainment sections also have seen their share of changes. In 1967, a Let's Go page containing a leisure time calendar made its debut. The Sunday entertainment section shared that name beginning in 1976. In 1988, the Let's Go section's name was changed to Arts & Leisure, then Arts & Entertainment years later.

The Weekend section made its debut as a broadsheet in 1986. A newly designed Weekend section was launched in tabloid form in 2001 and contains themed pages geared to previews, calendars and leisure time activities.

TV listings and news, carried on daily entertainment pages, were expanded for the Sunday TV Week tabloid, which came out in 1961. In 1983, cable listings were added to the tab. A new TV Week with expanded program listings and a new grid format came along in 1989.

In 1947, The Indianapolis Star Sunday Magazine became part of the Sunday paper, changing its name to The Star Magazine in 1967. The last issue was published in 1985 when The Star began distributing Parade Magazine. Parade was replaced by USA Weekend after Gannett Co. bought the paper in 2000.

From 1956 to 1974, young readers had their own "newspaper within a newspaper" with the publication of The Teen Star tabloid on Saturdays. It contained news and features written by local high school journalism students.

Business and editorial pages also have had their share of updates. A 1986 Business Extra section on Tuesdays expanded coverage, then was turned into a Monday tabloid called Business Weekly in 1995. It was redesigned as Business Monday in 1997 with a bigger format. Today it's called Indianapolis Inc.

The editorial pages got its own section in 1976, The Sunday Star Spectrum, which was renamed Focus in 1988.

Other stand-alone sections through the years include the Sunday Auto section (1987) and Attitude Weekly (1999), a forum for teenagers.


Call Star reporter Rita Rose at 1-317-444-6268.

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