REGGAE BEAT - VOL.2, NO.2 (MARCH, 1983)

Santa Monica: Bongo Productions for KCRW, 1983. An early issue of what was arguably the most influential and longest-running reggae publication produced in the U.S. 'Reggae Beat' was born as a photo-copied broadsheet in 1982. At the time, a handful of radio jocks were pushing the sounds of Jamaican reggae on the airwaves, and 'Reggae Beat' was published as a freebie for the roughly 200 listeners of KCRW's reggae program. It developed into a short zine through 1983, after which the format switched to a larger quarto - the earliest of these published in colors on newsprint. The title changed to 'The Reggae & African Beat,' and from its humble roots it developed into a 100+ page glossy magazine, running for 28 years and eventually ceasing publication in 2010. The publication is fairly well represented institutionally, however, nearly all institutional holdings noted in OCLC begin AFTER Vol.3, and we note no issues from the publication's first year represented at all. Octavo; 8.5" x 11" sheets, offset printed, folded in half and stapled to create a 16pp zine; illus. A Fine copy.