Billboard (magazine)

===Focus on music===
''Billboard''{{'}}s editorial content changed focus as technology in recording and playback developed, covering "marvels of modern technology" such as the [[phonograph]] and wireless radios.<ref name="LampelLant"/> The magazine began covering coin-operated entertainment machines in 1899 and created a dedicated section called Amusement Machines in March 1932.<ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> ''Billboard'' began covering the motion-picture industry in 1907<ref name="on Project 1943 p. 184"/> but, facing strong competition from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', centered its focus on music.<ref name="Bloom 2013 p. 83">{{cite book | last=Bloom | first=K. | title=Broadway: An Encyclopedia | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-135-95020-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib2awFyFUKoC&pg=PT83 | access-date=November 6, 2015 | page=83 | archive-date=March 16, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316160535/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib2awFyFUKoC&pg=PT83 | url-status=live }}</ref> It created a radio-broadcasting station in the 1920s.<ref name="booksdirectory"/>

The jukebox industry continued to grow through the [[Great Depression]] and was advertised heavily in ''Billboard'',<ref name="booksdirectory"/>{{rp|262}} which led to even more editorial focus on music.<ref name="booksdirectory"/> The proliferation of the phonograph and radio also contributed to its growing music emphasis.<ref name="booksdirectory"/> ''Billboard'' published the first [[Billboard charts|music hit parade]] on January 4, 1936<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/sixty-years-of-hits-from-sinatra-to-sinatra-1322429.html | title=Sixty years of hits, from Sinatra to ... Sinatra | first=Jonathan | last=Sale | date=January 4, 1996 | work=[[The Independent]] | access-date=January 3, 2017 | archive-date=January 3, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103170756/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/sixty-years-of-hits-from-sinatra-to-sinatra-1322429.html | url-status=live }}</ref> and introduced a Record Buying Guide in January 1939.<ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> In 1940, it introduced Chart Line, which tracked the best-selling records, and was followed by a chart for jukebox records in 1944 called Music Box Machine.<ref name="booksdirectory"/><ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> By the 1940s, ''Billboard'' was more of a music-industry specialist publication.<ref name="Gussow. 2015"/> The number of charts that it published grew after [[World War II]], as new music interests and genres became popular. It had eight charts by 1987, covering different genres and formats,<ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> and 28 charts by 1994.<ref name="Radel 1994"/>

By 1943, ''Billboard'' had about 100 employees.<ref name="on Project 1943 p. 184">{{cite book | author=Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Ohio | title=Cincinnati, a Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors | publisher=Best Books | year=1943 | isbn=978-1-62376-051-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW-52BWC4LoC&pg=PA184 | access-date=November 7, 2015 | page=184 | archive-date=December 13, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213225718/https://books.google.com/books?id=dW-52BWC4LoC&pg=PA184 | url-status=live }}</ref> The magazine's offices moved to Brighton, Ohio in 1946, then to New York City in 1948.<ref name="Radel 1994"/> A five-column tabloid format was adopted in November 1950 and coated paper was first used in ''Billboard''{{'}}s print issues in January 1963, allowing for photojournalism.<ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> Sometime prior to September 1960, the name had been changed to '''''The Billboard'''''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Billboard |magazine=The Billboard<!--- The Billboard was its name in September 1960 ---> |date=September 19, 1960 |volume=72 |issue=38 |pages=1–96, see in particular p. 1 Cover and p. 2 Imprint/Masthead |location=New York City |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1960/Billboard%201960-09-19.pdf? |access-date=October 29, 2022 |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007235254/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1960/Billboard%201960-09-19.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

''Billboard Publications Inc.'' acquired a monthly trade magazine for candy and cigarette machine vendors called ''Vend'', and in the 1950s it acquired an advertising trade publication called ''Tide''.<ref name="booksdirectory"/> By 1969, Billboard Publications Inc. owned 11 trade and consumer publications, [[Watson-Guptill]] Publications, a set of self-study cassette tapes and four television franchises. It also acquired ''Photo Weekly'' that year.<ref name="booksdirectory"/>

Over time, subjects that ''Billboard'' covered outside of the music world formed the basis of separate publications: ''Funspot'' magazine was created in 1957 to cover amusement parks and ''Amusement Business'' was created in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment. In January 1961, ''Billboard'' was renamed '''''Billboard Music Week'''''<ref name="godfrey"/><ref name="booksdirectory"/> to emphasize its newly exclusive interest in music.<ref name="Bloom 2013 p. 83"/> Two years later, it was renamed to simply ''Billboard''.<ref name="booksdirectory"/><ref name="Hoffmann 2004 p. 212"/> According to ''The New Business Journalism'', by 1984, Billboard Publications was a "prosperous" conglomerate of trade magazines, and ''Billboard'' had become the "undisputed leader" in music-industry news.<ref name="Gussow. 2015"/> In the early 1990s, ''Billboard'' introduced ''Billboard Airplay Monitors'', a publication for disc jockeys and music programmers.<ref name="godfrey"/> By the end of the 1990s, ''Billboard'' dubbed itself the "bible" of the recording industry.<ref name="godfrey">{{Cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of American Radio |first1=Donald G. |last1=Godfrey |first2=Frederic A. |last2=Leigh |year=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0-313-29636-9|page=45}}</ref>