kestamoulis@hotmail.com
After 14 years (2008-2022) of service, Dr. V. Krishna Kumar has stepped down from his longtime role as Editor of The Amplifier Magazine. Under his editorial guidance, The Amplifier Magazine has become a central benefit of Division 46 membership. It has served as the source of media psychology and technology news for APA, with analysis of current events, stimulating expositions, new research, provocative thought pieces, and movie and book reviews. In addition to featuring the work of experts in the field, our editor was committed to “amplifying” new voices, and as such, gave many students and early career psychologists one of their first publishing opportunities.
The history of The Amplifier goes back decades. According to Michael Broder, Division 46 Association of Media Psychology (1987 President; 1987 Summer issue of Amplifier), “Fred Koenig, who has been our newsletter editor for Division 46, and who edited the Amplifier long before we became a division [i.e., 1987] (at least three years that I know of) …” (see p. 1). In 2004, the then Editor Mary B. Gregerson experimented with taking it partially online, a cutting-edge choice at the time. However, it went back to snail mail copies for some years afterward before finally landing strictly online in 2013 under Krishna’s leadership. This move also came with a rebrand—at Krishna’s suggestion and the approval of the Division’s Board, The Amplifier was retitled The Amplifier Magazine. The decision to move strictly online was made to save mailing costs, but most importantly, as a way to keep up with the way people preferred to consume media. Also, Keith Cook (APA Staff), who was assigned to help us with the production of The Amplifier pdf issues gave it a polished, updated look and he designed the aesthetic layout of the 2013 online version of The Amplifier Magazine which we have continued to use.
Krishna wanted to expand the magazine’s reach to audiences at home and abroad by making it searchable by various search engines. As such, with Keith Cooke’s help, he, with the Board’s approval, decided to publish it using WordPress. This decision proved fruitful. Readership grew, and as desired, the national and international views soared. For example, during the year 2022, there were 16,505 views by 11,136 visitors. The majority (8,698) of views were from the USA and the rest from many countries: the Philippines (3,217), Pakistan (843), Canada (502), the UK (431), India (284), China (266), Australia (234), Germany (242), and Thailand (89).
In 2020, Krishna brought me in as co-editor after having served as an associate editor for many years (since 2008). In 2021, Keith Cook stepped down and Wade George was hired as the new Production Editor. At the end of 2022, Krishna passed the torch on to me.
Although Krishna has moved on from Editorship, he is currently in the process of archiving some of the past issues that he received from Alan Entin (a former Division President and Amplifier Editor). All issues from 2013 to the present are now available on https://div46amplifier.com and some of the back issues before 2013 are available on the Division’s website, with the earliest being the Summer 1993 issue. (If any of our long-standing members have copies that are not archived, please send them to him.)
In addition to archiving past issues, Krishna remains a contributing editor and is helping with my transition to acting editor. He also commits time to serve as a peer reviewer for multiple journals and recently accepted a position on an editorial review board in Sweden.
When asked about what he plans to do with his free time outside of editorial work, he speaks of family and travel. “We have a family book club that meets on Zoom. We just finished reading Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarian a fascinating historical fiction about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian Belle da Costa Greene, a Black American Woman. I can’t wait to see J. P. Morgan’s library in New York and to see firsthand her contribution to the world in building the library and making this great resource available to the public. Traveling is something I would like to do more—my wife and I went to Paris last July to attend the opening of my niece Lekha Singh’s Photo Exhibition “Les Femmes Portent Le Monde” at Musee De L’Homme. It gave me great pleasure to see her wonderful work being honored. We went to Turkey in the first week of May, a country with a rich history and many World Heritage sites.”
The time Krishna has invested in The Amplifier Magazine is unparalleled and his passion and commitment cannot be overstated. Though I am sad to see him go, I look forward to seeing The Amplifier Magazine evolve into an even more influential magazine. I am confident Division 46 will build on the strong foundations laid by Krishna and the Editors before him and carry the magazine’s strong legacy forward.
