He wanted a staff of writers and photographers, and he wanted to do the sorts of stories no chamber magazine in the country would consider doing, so he needed money, more money than Opie could imagine. Opie hired Townsend, gave him a tiny office and turned him loose.īut Townsend wanted more than a cubbyhole. And somewhere down the road, if Atlanta grew as much as some people were predicting, there might even be an occasional four-color cover. The magazine would be called Atlanta, and it would feature articles written mostly by chamber staffers, black-and-white inside with maybe a two-color cover a nice drumbeating, horn-tooting little handout that would show off the city and promote economic development. Opie Shelton was the prim, rectitudinous, bow tie-wearing executive vice president of the chamber of commerce, and he had decided the chamber should publish a magazine. All Jim Townsend wanted was to edit a world-class magazine. He hit Atlanta like a force of nature ebullient, cherub face, buzz-cut hair, and calling everyone “Dear Heart.” He came out of Lanett, Ala., and like many green, small-town Southerners come to town, his ambition was in inverse proportion to the size of his hometown. This article was originally published in our May 1996 issue to commemorate our 35th anniversary.
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