Beat Publications: Alternate versions

KRLA Beat 1967

You may have noticed copies of the Beat that don't have the name KRLA as part of the masthead. That's no surprise. Almost from the newspaper's beginnings, publisher and newsman Cecil Tuck had intended to expand the publishing empire beyond Southern California.

The format would remain the same, mostly, but the brand could be changed to reflect other radio stations around the United States. As early as July 1965 the 16-page tabloid-format KRLA Beat was also appearing in an almost identical format at San Francisco station KYA-AM. The November 27, 1965 Billboard Magazine quotes program director Mel Hall commenting on whether the newspaper had proven to be effective: "Boy, has it ever!" he exclaimed.

Each issue was designed to accommodate five pages of local content while the rest of the paper carried news from general Beat reporters such as Louise Criscione, Carol Deck, Mike Tuck (brother of publisher Cecil Tuck), and luminaries such as Derek Taylor (former personal assistant to the Beatles), Tony Barrow (British rock journalist and Beatles publicist), and Julian Portman (former west coast correspondent for the English music publication Record World Magazine). Cecil Tuck said that expansion to other markets would soon be a reality.

And so it was. The main flowering of the Beat franchise was in 1967, and most issues date from that year. Stations had the option of having their call letters printed on the cover, although there was also a generic edition without call letters for those that wanted to buy copies and stamp their own imprint (maybe they got a discount this way).

By May 1968 finances were strained as the Beat staff struggled to put together one more issue under the threat of sale to another publisher. Alas, the empire was collapsing. That month publisher Cecil Tuck's luck ran out when a distributor disappeared with all remaining Beat Publications funds -- the Beat was broke and as far as any collector knows there were no more issues in any of its disparate markets, though someone at KRLA launched a short-lived publication in the early 1970s called "Gathers No Moss." It was a sad end to a ground-breaking and influential publication.

Click on any title below to see an alternate front cover from the Beat universe as it appeared in days of yore. Thanks to collectors Bob Balestieri and Lee Chambers for sharing these images with us.