Founded by U. alums, 'POV' caters to young adults

Young professionals planning for their careers, financial futures or cheap vacations can now look to a new magazine, Point of View, for help. POV Editor and University alumnus Randall Lane said the magazine is targeting "twenty- somethings" who are just launching their careers. The purpose is "to entertain and help young professionals," he said. "All the writers are in their 20s and early 30s and are coming from the same perspective as the readers." The first issue contained articles about up-and-coming careers, inexpensive vacations to Turkey and affordable mutual funds. The magazine's staff currently consists of nine University graduates. Writer and University alumnus Stephan Fatsis said that POV is organized by "a remarkably strong contingent of recent Penn grads." "I think it says a lot about Penn that you could recruit enough recent graduates to help fill a magazine," he said. Lane, a full-time writer for Forbes magazine, works on POV as a side job. He graduated from the University in 1990 with a double major in history and political science. Fatsis, a freelance writer and former Associated Press columnist, reported from Greece and covered events on Wall Street. He contributed an article to POV on career opportunities in today's job market. Fatsis graduated in 1985 as an American Civilization major. "I majored in Am. Civ.," he said. "But I really majored in the [Daily Pennsylvanian]." Cheryl Family currently works as the editorial director of cable networks MTV, VH-1 and Nickelodeon. She graduated from the University in 1991 with an English major. Family created a campaign targeting prospective media buyers purchasing ads in magazines. She explained that most media buyers are women in their 20s, many of whom watch the television show Melrose Place. She devised the motto, "'Melrose Place is T.V., POV is reality," and based the campaign on the weekly episodes of the show. Lane said that financing was the most difficult aspect of starting the magazine. "It's a very daunting task starting something without deep pockets behind you," he said. "But we had the right idea and that will help you overcome the lack of financial resources." Family agreed that raising money for POV was very difficult. "There are so many magazines out there, some competing for twentysomethings," she added. "We were competing for the same ad dollars." Fatsis said POV has had a good initial reception. He has already been interviewed by CBS Radio and paragraphs from his POV story were printed on the front page of the "Life" section of USA Today. Lane added that the magazine will be printed twice more in 1995, six times in 1996 and on a monthly basis in 1997. "[Our purpose is] to start slow. We're going to slowly build up a readership," he said.