Hobo (magazine)
The Hobo was a Berlin city magazine from the 1970s.
The hobo emerged from the Kreuzberger Nachtlaterne district newspaper, which Per-Jörg Meschkat († December 14, 1989) wrote and edited himself . During a visit to London , Meschkat got to know the local city magazine Time Out and discovered that there was no comparable magazine in West Berlin that covered the entire city area in terms of content.
At the end of 1971, Meschkat changed the concept of the Kreuzberg night lantern comprehensively, so that the magazine, which until then had only been aimed at the Kreuzberg district , became a magazine covering all of West Berlin; at the same time, the name was changed to "Hobo", after the American name " Hobo " for migrant workers. This made the Hobo the first German city magazine before the Tip, which was founded almost at the same time .
The content of the hobo mainly consisted of event information, cultural and cinema programs, concert announcements and tips on restaurants and pubs . The magazine enjoyed outstanding recognition for its classifieds section , especially the personals .
Initially displayed free of charge in trendy bars and cinemas , the hobo, which appeared every two weeks, was soon sold for 50 pfennigs . The magazine was very successful, so that Per-Jörg Meschkat had to constantly enlarge the editorial team . The original small DIN A5 format was changed to DIN A4, and the envelopes, which were initially printed in black and white, gave way to color printing. With increasing success, they first moved into editorial rooms on Friedrichstrasse , then on Kurfürstendamm .
When Meschkat increasingly began to run the hobo from an entrepreneurial point of view, the working atmosphere in the editorial office deteriorated, among other things due to measures such as the introduction of time clocks . In 1977 the employees went on strike and were then dismissed by Meschkat. The loss of the well-rehearsed editorial team, which soon afterwards founded its own city magazine with Zitty , resulted in the final discontinuation of the first German city magazine a few weeks later.