Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

Drum’s fortunes might have continued to slide had not a second
generation of black South Africans taken to the streets after June 1976.
With this second tide of resistance Drum took on new significance and
the ground was laid for a renaissance in Drum-style journalism. The
incumbent editor at the time was Tony Sutton, a former Daily Express man
whom Drum owner Jim Bailey had recruited in London to service his east
and west African magazines before bringing him south. When Sutton
took over Drum in early 1976, circulation hovered below 50,000 and
Drum was about to go monthly instead of its usual fortnightly frequency.
In short, the magazine was not exactly burning up the tracks.
I first met Tony Sutton when I was drafted in to edit Drum’s sister
magazine with the unlikely title of True Love. Volatile by nature, brash
and pugnacious, Sutton was not a great respecter of management, nor
proprietorial interference. But he had a passionate love for journalism
in general and Drum in particular and possessed an uncanny gift for
design, a gift he put to good use, visually transforming Drum and
stretching its staff and inadequate facilities to their limits.
11
When I crossed over to Drum as news editor, the staff consisted of Sutton
as executive editor, Stan Motjuwadi as editor, Chester Maharaja as staff
photographer and Sipho Jacobs, a clerk seconded from picture filing
to become crime reporter. Occasional input from Jacky Heyns in Cape
Town, the late G R Naidoo in Durban and a motley crew of freelancers
completed the editorial picture. Slowly we began to develop a robust and
aggressive style which, backed by Bailey’s considerable input, began to
show circulation results. Our market was once again on the boil and we
went out to capture it as best we could.
mid-June 2016