New travel and lifestyle magazine debuts in cyberspace.

JACKSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1996--Southern Oregon Magazine Inc. of Ashland, Ore., announced today the Feb. 1 debut of Southern Oregon Magazine, a monthly visitors' guide and community resource delivered exclusively through the Internet. (http://www.so-oregon.com)

"Southern

"The region's first outpost in cyberspace, Southern Oregon Magazine is an exciting new way for regional and national advertisers to reach their target audiences, in and out of the area. Southern Oregon will be a `must read' for upscale local residents and tourists planning to travel to our region."

The magazine will focus on the attractions, the people and the resources that make Southern Oregon a premier West Coast recreation, vacation and relocation destination.

Highlighting all of Southern Oregon, from coastal communities to the Rogue Valley and the Eastern Oregon desert beyond, the magazine will contain news, features, interviews, literature, as well as a business and tourist directory.

"Our emphasis is on providing quality content," says McHenry. "In six months, one-third of our publication will consist of animation, audio and video features.

"We're developing new models for on-line publishing: `hosted columns' featuring narrations by our regular contributors; text and video feature articles; instant access to archival issues; and, threaded letters-to-the-editor that will allow rapid response to reader's feedback as well as the opportunity to `thread' multiple letters into an ongoing dialogue."

Each monthly issue will feature colorful local personalities offering unique takes on regional attractions. A literature section will feature offerings from local essayists, poets and authors.

Restaurant reviews will be penned by Linda West Eckhardt and Tod Davies, co-hosts of National Public Radio's "Pie in the Sky" radio program.

Monthly fishing reports will be filed by local fisherman and custom rod builder, Don Stracener. Willie the River Rat, a.k.a. Williejo Smith, will share insights into rafting the wild rivers in the area. Wildlife authority and curator of Southern Oregon's Wildlife Images, Dave Siddon will contribute a monthly column targeted to naturalists.

Delivered to Internet users around the globe free of charge, magazine revenues will be generated through advertising sales.

The publishers will use web-site activity logging software to provide advertisers with site traffic reports. "It's only a matter of time before web usage will be comprehensively audited by national firms," notes McHenry. "We do have some great preliminary data from Dun & Bradstreet and International Data Corp. (IDC) on the demographics of web users.

"We know, for example, that individuals who are regularly on- line are highly educated, have hefty annual incomes, and travel frequently. We estimate that there are over 5 million potential readers on the West Coast."

Under the direction of Managing Editor John Enders, the magazine will aim to attract readers from all major West Coast cities. Enders, an award-winning journalist who spent three years with the Oregonian newspaper and over a decade with the Associated Press, including two years as AP business/technology writer in the Silicon Valley, will be responsible for the magazine's day-to-day editorial operations.

Southern Oregon Magazine Inc. is a subsidiary of The Vertex Group (http://www.vertexgroup.com), a privately held Oregon Corporation. Southern Oregon's premier webmeisters, The Vertex Group creates and manages web sites for regional and national businesses. Chief technologist for the group, John Fricker, created and administers the award-winning Developer's Resource web site: http://www.mind.net/jfs/devres.html.

CONTACT: Charles McHenry

541/772-2382 voice

541/772-2243 after hours

cmchenry@vertexgroup.com

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