1987-?,
Senior Circuit
By Elizabeth Freeman
When A.A. Zarky and his wife, Karen Lawrence Zarky, set out to publish a monthly publication aimed at senior citizens, their basic desire was to be “informative, entertaining and upbeat.”
Zarky, a printer, and his wife, a former printing sales representative, elected to make Senior Circuit their full-time pursuit when they decided to fill what they considered a void in the local print media for seniors.
“Senior citizens make up a large portion of the community and their numbers are growing daily. Until now, they only had one publication. But now, we feel that we can offer them a choice,” says A.A. Zarky.
The monthly publication is distributed free-of-charge but
is also available through three-month subscriptions. It is distributed through senior centers, some supermarkets, banks and other central locations. A yearly subscription is $6.
The first issue features articles on estate planning, Social Security, and home tips. Thus far the paper has received over 100 responses from a reader survey it ran on their second page, says Zarky.
“The most negative comment was from a man who would not pass the paper on to share with someone but wanted his subscription anyway,” says Zarky. “One lady said her least favorite feature was the recipes. She said
if she didn’t have it by now, it was a lost cause,” he adds.
The paper’s circulation is 40,000, says Zarky. He hopesto double that figure in the coming year.
(Originally published in the St. Louis Journalism Review 5/1987).
