Mississippi’s Magazine Junkie   

First magazines were his hobby. Then he successfully turned his hobby into a career. Then his hobby and his career became his obsession.

Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi, just can't get enough of magazines. Piles of them fill his home, his office and his car, and he spends an average of $1,200 a month--that's close to $15,000 a year--on magazines, magazines and more magazines.

A native of Tripoli, Lebanon, Husni recalls that even as a child he would stop by his local newsstand on the way to school just for the satisfaction of having the newest issues first. Not much has changed since then. These days Husni makes a 160-mile round trip pilgrimage to Memphis each week to see what's been added to the newsstand. He returns each time with yet more magazines to add to his collection, to his knowledge the largest of "Volume I, No. 1" magazine issues in the world.

Husni, 43, is a self-described "newsstand junkie." He shuns the idea of receiving magazines in the mail, insisting that visiting the newsstand and hand-picking the most pristine copy of a magazine are essential parts of the magazine mystique. He's an equal-opportunity magazine addict as well, deeming anything that's "available for and distributed to the general public" a legitimate magazine. Indeed, he prides himself on the fact that only rarely, if ever, has he heard of a magazine that he didn't already own.

But at least Husni can justify his addiction. His magazine publishing course at Ole Miss is based on whatever magazines he has recently scored, so that his students will always be exposed to the most current trends in the industry. "I never want anyone to say that I'm lacking know-ledge in my field," Husni says. "You can take my course over and over and it will always have fresh material. I never have notes because all my lectures are based on what I found on the market the week before."

But you don't have to be in Husni's class to get his analysis of what's hot and what's not in today's magazine world. Eleven years ago Husni decided to chronicle his newsstand findings and began publishing "Samir Husni's Guide to New Consumer Magazines." Each annual edition includes a brief summary of every new magazine title of the past year, organized by category, and offers Husni's brief description of each magazine's editorial concept. The guide also includes detailed analysis of 50 magazines that Husni feels are the "most notable."

Husni says that if you really want to get an accurate reading of what people are thinking about or what they are interested in, a visit to the newsstand will reveal all. He describes his guide as "a document of pop culture in this country," which, if you take into consideration the fact that sex magazines have been the fastest-growing category of magazines for five of the past six years, might seem a bit unsettling.

But Husni is the first to defend sex magazines, as well as any other genre of magazines, no matter how bizarre or obscure. "All magazines establish a personal rela- tionship with their readers," he says. "People have a tendency to forget that magazines in America play a big role in educating and entertaining people."

And, while Husni has added a few magazines on CD-ROM to his latest guide, which is also available on the Web (www.mediafinder.com), he is quite confident that print magazines will continue their role for quite some time. He says the reason there are more new magazines today than ever before is because all the new media alternatives have added to the demand for information but aren't delivering, leaving magazines to fill the void.

"People refer to the magazine industry as dying, but the magazine industry is as healthy and vibrant as it can be," Husni says. "Just last week I brought home a record 28 first issues. Show me any other 'dying industry' that has given so much birth!"