Photo by Marissa Nardella

Staff members of the online magazine Line-Up pose during a meeting.

In August 2013, sophomore Evan Candelmo published the first issue of Line-Up, an online magazine that comes out monthly. Candelmo, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, created and produces the magazine through a company, TeenNationTV, which he founded himself in 2012. There are currently five issues of the magazine available online the website ISSUU, and a sixth issue will come out in late February. The magazine is run entirely by WJ students, primarily sophomores.

Sophomore Mariana Rodriguez was one of the founders of the company TeenNationTV, so she was part of the company and magazine from the start. She also provides the photography equipment necessary for photo shoots, and Candelmo buys the computer software.

“[After that] I started doing photography and I became the photographer and [photo] editor,” said Rodriguez.

In order to write articles and conduct photo shoots, the magazine reaches out to artists, actors and “YouTubers,” or well-known YouTube users. The writers contact artists using emails on their websites or Facebook pages, and oftentimes are able to get contact information for multiple artists using one reference. The group likes to call it “breaking into a record label”.

“Scheduling photo shoots and interviews all within the time frame of a little less than a month is very difficult,” said Candelmo. “In the entertainment business, connections are the key.”

The Line-Up staff is composed of Candelmo’s friends, and currently has 23 members in total. The magazine is not actively recruiting members. Each issue of the magazine is unique, but can include entertainment reviews, interviews with and about musicians or a fashion section. Some of the big names the magazine has interviewed are the band Imagine Dragons and the singer Mike Posner.

Unfortunately, after Candelmo and his friends graduate from high school, the publication of the magazine will most likely come to an end, as writers and models alike head off to college.

Candelmo first started the company TeenNationTV in order to conduct Skype interviews with artists. The company, which was also a multi-person operation, would reach out to artists via email and arrange interviews, which would then be aired on TeenNationTV’s YouTube channel of the same name. Unfortunately, this was not very successful, because artists would not regularly agree to Skype interviews.  TeenNationTV recently changed its name to Line-Up. Therefore, the company Line-Up now produces Line-Up magazine. 

“I [first] got the idea for TeenNationTV because…I thought that if teens like me could get [100,000] views per [Youtube] video, then my friends and I could try [too],” said Candelmo, who started the magazine Line-Up because it was much easier to book an interview over email, the phone, or in person than over Skype.

As editor-in-chief, Candelmo looks over everyone’s articles and writes some himself.  Candelmo says that working on the magazine is quite time consuming for him. He estimates that he spends approximately an hour per day on it, but as release dates get closer and closer, he works more on it. On the other hand,  Rodriguez says that her role is not always as time-consuming.

“There will be some upcoming projects, but for now my role is not very time demanding at all,” she said.

Rodriguez is interested in pursuing a career other than journalism, such as forensic pathology, after high school.

“Although I really enjoy photography, I’d like to study medicine once I graduate from high school. However, I will continue doing photography as hobby,” she said.

Candelmo, on the other hand, is interested in working in the music industry professionally, and is currently an intern for Vibe Magazine. Specifically, Candelmo is interested in A&R, or discovering artists for a record label, and management.

Below, a link to Line-Up magazine is provided.

http://issuu.com/teennationtv/stacks/32d83b2746d54322baf64db58ce9532d