Business / Shetland feel-good magazine reaches major milestone
POPULAR monthly publication i’i shetland is celebrating its 200th issue with a bumper anniversary magazine this month.
When editor and owner of Millgaet Media Malcolm Younger started the magazine 17 years ago, no-one could have known that it would it be able to establish itself as a regular staple in the very competitive Shetland media scene.
Two hundred issues later, relying on quality photography and often focusing on light-hearted community stories, the magazine is being read by thousands of people on and off the islands and sets a welcome contrast to the somewhat gloomier daily news agenda.
It has not been Younger’s first attempt to established a printed publication to the Shetland market.
Back in the early 2000s, the monthly Shetland Post ran successfully for a few years before being incorporated in the short-lived Shetland Weekly, created as a rival paper to the established Shetland Times.
Younger said the idea for i’i shetland was born out of the failure of Shetland Weekly. When that paper ceased, “I wanted to do a publication that covered life in Shetland”, he recalls.
And he radically changed direction: “Since the first magazine, which was slightly more news heavy, i’i shetland has moved away from that evolving into a very positive feel-good publication for the community.”
Over the years it has proved that there is indeed demand for publication exclusively celebrating the positive aspects of the local community, as the magazine has grown in size and stature.
“It celebrates the community and sits very well in covering stories that shows what vibrant, positive, go-ahead community that we have and has embedded into people’s lives,” Younger summarises his editorial principals.
Operating from premises in the Toll Clock Shopping Centre, the magazine – which is printed in Glasgow – sells around 4,000 copies every month and complements Younger’s other media interests as a cameraman and photographer.
He said he would like to thank all the magazine’s readers and advertisers for their “tremendous support” over the last 17 years.
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