Advice Columns, Post-Landers

By: Dave Astor When newspaper readers "wake up and smell the coffee" during the next few months, they could see a much different advice-column landscape.

With the June 22 death of Ann Landers, a syndication colossus is gone. She appeared in 1,200 newspapers, a huge total that never dipped even as her column neared the half-century mark. So what's going to happen to those 1,200 slots?

Creators Syndicate is hoping many newspapers like the three-in-one package it will distribute after the last Landers-written column runs July 27. The package will include the daily "Annie's Mailbox" column by longtime Landers assistants Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, the weekly "Dear Prudence" column that Landers' daughter Margo Howard writes for the Slate online magazine, and a weekly "classic" Landers column previously published between 1955 and 2002. Creators President Richard Newcombe said many editors -- and readers -- requested the opportunity to run Landers' work again.

It's also possible that "Dear Abby," started in 1956 by Landers' twin sister Abigail Van Buren and now written by Van Buren's daughter Jeanne Phillips, might add some new clients to its current 1,200-newspaper list. But many clients in these days of one-newspaper markets already run both Ann and Abby, so Abby obviously can't get extra business from those papers.

Other advice columnists could fill some of Landers' slots, too. Among them are three writers with younger-reader appeal: Carolyn Hax of the Washington Post Writers Group, the self-syndicated Harlan Cohen, and the self-syndicated Amy Alkon.

Houston Chronicle Deputy Managing Editor Susan Bischoff said different advice columns may end up targeting different age groups, genders, and more. "I think there's going to be more segmentation," said the former president of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, which inducted Landers and Van Buren into its hall of fame last October.

And, of course, some budget-conscious and space-strapped papers may not replace Landers with anyone. After Erma Bombeck died in 1996, many of her 700 or so clients never filled her space with another humor columnist.

Also, newspapers don't have a monopoly on advice; people will continue to find it on the Web, in magazines, in books, and elsewhere. "We're just inundated with advice," said Jeffrey Zaslow, who won a 1987 contest to replace Landers at the Chicago Sun-Times after she moved to the Chicago Tribune.

That same year, Landers signed with Creators, helping to give the new syndicate instant credibility. "As the first columnist to join us, she made the company possible," said Creators founder Newcombe, who, in his previous job as head of the old News America Syndicate, was instrumental in getting Eppie Lederer the contractual right to the Ann Landers name. (Ruth Crowley had written the Landers column for the Sun-Times prior to 1955.) Lederer used that right to request that nobody else write the column under the Landers name after she died.

Newcombe, who was a close friend of Landers, said she had a "fount of common sense and an incredibly positive attitude." He added that Landers' column remained popular until her death at age 83 -- noting, by way of example, that the Los Angeles Times was deluged with complaint calls when it inadvertently dropped Landers' column one day a year or so ago.

"Ann Landers was a true pioneer," said Harlan Cohen. "I especially think it's remarkable to see how her views evolved over the years."

Zaslow said Landers' compassion, clout, and "moxie" made her "like Oprah before Oprah, Martha Stewart before Martha Stewart, and Muhammad Ali before Muhammad Ali."

The Houston Chronicle's Bischoff described Landers as "very direct and very smart."

National Society of Newspaper Columnists President Peter Rowe of The San Diego Union-Tribune said, "Her warmth, wisdom, and common sense informed and consoled generations of Americans."

Newspaper Features Council President Sue Smith of The Dallas Morning News said: "I have to wonder if there will ever be someone like Ann and Abby again. I tend to think not."