Media

An improper resignation

by Mike Miliard and Laura A. Siegel

Since the Improper Bostonian was incorporated in 1991, staffing has been in a state of flux so constant that it sometimes approaches turmoil. Editors, writers, salespeople, and advertising directors -- to name just a few job categories -- come and go like commuters. The latest victim of this management by revolving door is none other than the founder and publisher, Mark Semonian.

The free biweekly publication, which has a circulation of 80,000, made no announcement of the move. But a dime dropped to the Boston Globe led to a weekend story reporting that the thirtysomething Semonian had convened a staff meeting to say he was calling it quits because the "investors" wanted "tighter control of the books."

Past and present staffers say this simply means that the Improper's primary investors -- Semonian's father, Leon, and his uncle, Bob -- are growing wary of the magazine's mounting losses. According to people familiar with the Improper, the publication may periodically dip into the black, but after almost 10 years it's yet to become profitable.

According to records on file with the secretary of state's office, all the company's officers are members of the Semonian family. Acting publisher Andy Scherding says there is a group of owners but he that he doesn't know exactly who they are -- other than, of course, Leon Semonian, who is a broker with Salomon Smith Barney.

According to public documents, 200,000 shares of stock were issued when the Improper incorporated. Half of these had voting rights; the other half didn't. People close to the recently resigned publisher say they don't believe he owns any voting shares.

Will Semonian return to the publisher's chair? That depends on who you ask. One media insider friendly toward Semonian said: "Mark's resigned before. But he had the sense to do it in private. He made an unfortunate mistake in going public. It wasn't the most mature move."

Semonian's friends, who include Scherding, call him "a visionary" and "driven." His critics say he's "disorganized" and "unfocused." Friends and foes alike tend to agree that he's "impulsive" at best and "erratic" at worst.

Requests to talk with Semonian went unanswered.

Although the Improper usually projects an image of serene success, that image is shattered from time to time. Last year, the Boston Globe reported that "behind the semiglossy façade, there are problems with editorial direction epitomized by the failure to replace editor Nancy Gaines, who departed for the Boston Phoenix [Media Communications Group]." Among Gaines's current duties is editing Stuff@Night, which vies with publications such as the Improper for advertisers.

The editor's job is still open two years later, although Semonian has offered the position to some at an annual salary of $100,000. So far he's found no takers.

Perhaps more telling, the Globe went on to report: "One eye-catching assessment of the Improper's fiscal health appeared in a letter written by its attorney, Camille Sarrouf, to an attorney for Gannett Satellite Information Network, a printer that won a 1998 judgment of $121,000 against the magazine. That letter . . . stated that the `Improper is not a financially viable corporation and I have advised that the business be sold.'"

The Globe also reported that the Improper's former landlord stated in an affidavit that the magazine was "on the precipice."

Leon Semonian took strong exception to those characterizations and said, according to the Globe, "I think the company is financially viable."

Whether it is or isn't, past and present employees wonder just how long the elder Semonian will be willing to cover the losses. A review of recent issues shows that the percentage of advertising has hovered around 31 percent while the percentage of editorial content has averaged 49 percent. The usual industry standard is a ratio of 60 percent ads to 40 percent edit.

This year the loss of much cigarette advertising has hit lifestyle publications across the nation. "But that loss has to be felt even more acutely at an operation like the Improper," says one friend of the magazine.

Scherding, nevertheless, says the Improper is in good shape. "We have some great issues coming up for later this summer," he says. "The magazine is at a size and a strength where it's not a product of one person, but of more than 30 dedicated people. Over my career I've rarely been lucky enough to work in a place that has so much energy, optimism, terrific display of talent. It's still a great place to work." Scherding is hoping Semonian will return.