Where is Conrad when you need him?

It's good night -- again -- for Saturday Night, the venerable Canadian publishing institution.

Saturday Night magazine, which has experienced frequent financial ups and downs during its 118-year history, will suspend publication after the upcoming winter issue.

“Despite a superb editorial product under the leadership of (editor-in-chief) Gary Stephen Ross, advertisers’ support — although favourable — has not reached projected levels,” St. Joseph Media president Donna Clark said Thursday in a statement.

“At this time we do not see a path to profitability for Saturday Night. Given our numerous growth opportunities and business priorities, we are placing Saturday Night on hiatus.”

The Nov. 26 issue, to be distributed inside the National Post newspaper, will be the final edition before publication is suspended.

Here's the official announcement.

Although Saturday Night won two Gold and three Silver awards at this year's National Magazine Awards, it has not had the spark, nor the influence, nor the legal troubles it had under -- yeah, yeah, I know -- the proprietorship of Conrad Black. In the mid-90s, Black installed a then very young Ken Whyte as its editorial helmsman. (Whyte, of course, followed Black when he established the National Post and is now editor/publisher of Maclean's.)

Of course, back then, the chattering classes complained that SN took a hard right turn. Which it had, at least when it attacked certain Canadian untouchables such as Farley Mowat and child labour activist Craig Kielburger.  But at least it was alive and thriving, if not exactly a profit center in the Black publishing empire.

Then Black sold his Canadian media properties to CanWest Global and Saturday Night was eventually unloaded on St. Joe's. (Here's a less-than-laudatory review of its 2000 ''relaunch.") Under its ownership, SN just sort of laid there, thin and limp, unread for weeks after it had plopped out of my Post, only to eventually be pitched in the recycle bin. It just seemed kind of musty, unfocused and unsure of its audience.

Strange considering its title. You'd think that something called Saturday Night would be, in this age of celebrity and cheekiness, glammed up with Vanity Fair-style profiles and features. But no.

I could never quite put my finger on why this was -- until last month when I attended a St. Joe's film fest party for both Saturday Night and its sister publication, Toronto Life. There I met Ross who told me commuted back and forth from his home in B.C. to edit the magazine. He quizzed me at length about blogs, and I got the distinct impression that he was not as clued in about much of what was happening in the online and pop culture universe. I just didn't pick up any kind of passion from him.

Of course, I was drinking these weird blue martinis at the time so my impressions might be coloured by a vodka fog.

Few seem surprised at today's sad news, made sadder by the fact that this is the third great title St. Joseph's Media has killed in recent years, the other two being Elm Street and Shift.

I can only hope somebody buys Saturday Night and makes an energetic go of it. It is tragic when a Canadian cultural icon disappears, and the tragedy is made more so when writers are deprived of one more halfway decent-paying outlet for their creativity.

UPPITY DATE: Speaking of Maclean's ...

In the light of all the bloodletting there since Whyte took over, isn't this week's focus on company loyalty just a tad ironical?

After two lean and mean decades, businesses are realizing they need to hang on to employees -- and attract new ones. On the return of company loyalty.

There's even an online poll asking if ''company loyalty is on the rise." The chutzpah!

Comments

[CapitalCat]

The bigger tragedy in the shuttering of Saturday Night is the loss of an independently-owned voice. I had been preparing a story proposal on broadcasting for SN. Its parent company had no conflict of interest, unlike Macleans or Canadian Business (Rogers), ROB Magazine (CTV), or Financial Post Business (Global).

Guess I'll have to blog my thoughts instead!