First off, magazines, no matter what you think about them, are important to journalism and the media. Unlike newspapers, they can last long with well made paper, and were the sort of connection between newspapers and books.
The inventor of magazines was one of the founding fathers, Ben Franklin. He created the General Magazine in 1741, with an amazingly, 'creative' title. One of the most important magazines was the Saturday Evening Post, created in 1821. The first magazine to try to reach a mass audience, having people from all over New England reading it. This magazine set up the many assorted types of content included in future ones, with such things as: fiction, jokes, news, interviews, and recipes.
Magazines came up with the concept of using advertisements to lower the price, and receive more readers. They eventually became the first national media, and helped create a national identity. The Postal Act of 1879 subsidized the magazine industry, reducing the cost to 1 cent. In the 19th century, magazines were the first to use long form journalism and personal profiles, and invented photo-journalism.
Nowadays, magazines are not really a national media. Because of radios, and television, which could accomplish more in certain areas, resulting in demassification of it. Now most magazines are aimed at niche audiences, and no longer attempt to reach the majority of people.
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