Tim Southwell, Bill Borrows, and Ben Marshall bicker their way through the origin story of loaded, starting with how soulless and try-hard the early-90s men’s mag scene felt and asking: what if a magazine actually sounded like your funniest mate in the pub? Tim recounts teaming up with James Brown via Leeds United and being on a Barcelona trip in 1992 that sparked the “best night ever” vibe the magazine would bottle. They salute publishing genius Alan Lewis for backing proper writing, discuss the stillborn versions of the magazine that never made it (“The Right Stuff” and “Rogue”) and explain how loaded’s radical design and focus on peculiarly British humour, icons and idioms helped forge its identity. Despite depressingly negative focus groups full of idiots, huge magazine company IPC green-lights the project for some reason but then drops the bombshell: You’ve got eight weeks to launch, we want a circulation of 45,000 a month and you’ll also have to prove received wisdom - “men don’t buy magazines” - wrong. What could possibly go right?

00:00 Cold Open Banter

00:17 Podcast Intro Reset

02:24 Origin Story Begins

03:43 Alan Lewis Champion

07:33 Barcelona Spark Moment

08:34 Britain Shifts Gear

13:00 Taking the Leap

13:54 Finding the Voice

17:10 Loaded British Language

18:48 The Shane MacGown Experience

20:44 Building the Dummy

21:11 Focus Groups Explained

21:35 Behind the Focus Group

22:49 Brutal Feedback and One Fan

24:25 Why Focus Groups Fail

25:50 The Execs Who Said Yes

27:51 Loaded Culture and Voices

30:28 Secret Project at IPC

33:15 Green Light and Eight Weeks

34:26 Monkey Tangent and Chaos

37:03 Sales Targets and Big Risks

39:01 Men Don’t Buy Magazines Myth

39:36 Next Episode and Wrap Up