The Business Magazine was founded by publisher David Murray in September 1993 as a B2B title covering, principally, the M4 corridor.
He recalls: "There was an office, a desk and a telephone. No computer, no email, no internet. Mobile phones were almost non-existent and, if you had one, the signal dropped off any time you went near a tall building.
"There was teletext, so you could read the news headlines on television, but you didn’t really want to read them anyway – as they were dominated by a bleak economy and the ever-present threat of IRA bombings.
"The year was 1993, and the Reading Festival had just taken place – headlined by Blur, New Order, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The summer had been cool (as in chilly) and the autumn was dull and wet.
"All in all, as good a time as any to form a company, and to launch The Business Magazine. The very first issue was produced on an Apple Macintosh II. The screen was tiny and the processor went at 16 KHz flat-out. We just kept at it and got the first edition out, on time, and then mailed to 25,000 Thames Valley readers."
Twenty years on, says Murray, and The Business Magazine stands as an established, respected brand – and a nameplate on a door behind which you’ll find the Thames Valley 250, SME 100, Solent 250, Southern Tech 100, the Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards, the Deals Awards, Women in Business Awards, Thames Valley Property Awards, Roundtable events, Business Breakfasts, an ever-expanding website, and now a new Tablet Edition.
He adds: "We are not afraid of innovation. We were one of the first B2B publishers to launch our own website, and one of the first to create a standalone digital edition. Now we are about to launch a Tablet edition for the iPad, which we hope will attract new readers and advertisers. It's interesting how the iPad has become more and more ubiquitous in corporate boardrooms and in directors' briefcases, but my feeling is that the print edition will also be popular for some years to come."
