Go-Set Production Begins

Originating at La Trobe University, the staff and editors of Lot's Wife, at the end of the 1965 university year decided, on a suggestion of Tony Schauble, to start a pop magazine aimed at the teen and twenties.
Over the Christmas break at the end of 1965, most of the articles were written by Doug Panther, supported by Phillip Frazer (Panther, 2001) who designed the layout and did the artwork (Go-Set. 2/2/66, masthead). It is likely that Tony Schauble wrote the introductory editorial, although there is no indication specifically alluding to this on the page.

Doug Panther stated that there were three editors for the first edition, however the masthead listed only Tony Schauble as editor. There are several reasons for this. The first probably related to the fact that the idea to start the teen newspaper was his[1]. The second related to Phillip Frazer’s position as a medical student. This position was in peril as a result of his role as the graphic designer for Lot’s Wife in 1965. Frazer was being scrutinised by the Dean of Medicine at the time, so to avoid further trouble, his name was listed as Go-Set’s layout designer (Frazer, 2001). Frazer would later change his degree to English sometime during 1966 (Beard, 1999). Panther as mentioned above had not registered for the draft, and so could not be listed as anything other than as a feature writer, even though his role was as the key writer and editor (Panther, 2001).

During the production of the articles for the first issue, Peter Raphael, manager of the band, the Moods (a local Melbourne band), heard that a new Melbourne music newspaper was being produced. He arranged a meeting with Frazer, Panther and Schauble, and introduced them to photographer Colin Beard (Beard, 1999). Peter Raphael also introduced them to Terry Cleary, who would fill the position of selling advertising space in Go-Set.  Cleary was a major factor in Go-Set Publications long-term survival (Panther, 2001).

Survival
To maximise the chances of profitability, the first print runs were of 10,000 copies (Beard, 1999) although Frazer believes the first runs were of about 3,000 to 5,000 copies (Frazer, 1999). The most likely position was that 10,000 were printed, and that 3,000 to 5,000 were sold. According to Beard there were a high number of returns of the first few issues due to newsagents not displaying Go-Set properly (Beard, 2001).

Initial distribution of these copies was arranged with Collins Distributors of Melbourne (Beard, 1999). However, they did not provide much support to new publishing ventures like Go-Set. The newspaper was also poorly promoted by the newsagents who buried Go-Set beneath a stack of assorted specialty magazines to perish through lack of attention or recognition (Beard, 1999).

Initial distribution was only in Melbourne as according to Frazer (2001), it was easier to organise, and Go-Set Publications ‘were already there’, meaning that the company was established in Melbourne. Go-Set was sold through the larger newsagents, drawn from a list Bill Robinson had received from the Victorian Authorised Newsagents Association (VANA)(Beard, 1999). Robinson was already employed as a publishing salesman[1], and believed he could do a better job of distribution (Beard, 1999). Frazer recalls that after they had agreed to let Robinson distribute Go-Set, Robinson did not want it known that he was distributing on the side, and so his name was not included in the masthead information (Frazer, 2001). To save money Robinson employed his friends to help distribute the newspaper each week (Johnston, 2000). 

For the first few issues, while Go-Set was produced in Malvern Street, students from Monash University provided voluntary assistance in sorting the newspaper into piles for distribution (Beard, 1999). Panther recalled the need to borrow a truck off a friend in order to distribute these early issues after Go-Set left Collins Distribution (Panther, 2001). VANA was unhappy with the new distribution arrangements made by Robinson, and secretly black banned Go-Set for a period (Beard, 1999). Beard (1999) states that the situation was resolved when the newsagents themselves realised the demand for Go-Set, which most likely occurred in the fourth issue featuring the Rolling Stones and doubling the sales (Panther, 2001).

The VANA problems, while significant in terms of their effect on sales, were in some respects minor compared to the problem of the rising debt incurred with Waverley Press. The first issues were printed on credit, which by May had resulted in a debt of around $40,000 (Panther, 2001).

TO BE CONTINUED

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[1] Frazer has suggested that Bill Robinson actually worked for Gordon & Gotch.

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[1] The problem with this was that he knew very little about pop music except for the major bands such as the Beatles (Panther, 2001) and the Rolling Stones (Frazer, 1999).