the following decade, its contributors included Nick Logan, Barbara Charone, Lenny Kaye, Jonh Ingham and Alan Betrock. Transition to hard rock and heavy metal During the 1970s, Hit Parader frequently covered hard rock acts such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, David Bowie, Blue Öyster Cult, the Kinks, Three Dog Night, the Who, Cheap Trick, Kiss, and Van Halen. As the decade progressed the magazine began covering punk and new wave artists as well. The magazine typically featured song lyrics, artist photos, feature articles, album reviews, interviews, reader mail, bits of trivia on popular rock acts, and readers' polls. Secher era Longtime editor Andy Secher joined the magazine as an assistant editor in 1979 when the staff consisted of essentially two people. Secher was hired on the strength of an interview he had done with AC/DC which appeared in the New York Daily News and has said that Hit Paraders mission at that time was to simply survive month to month. During this period, editor Lisa Robinson had begun taking the magazine in the direction of new wave music, traveling to England four times a year to interview The Clash and positioning Hit Parader to be on the cutting edge of what Secher would later refer to as "the whole Avant-Garde, New Wave movement". The magazine struggled, however, printing 200,000 monthly copies but only selling approximately 30% of them. In 1980 Secher replaced Robinson as the magazine's editor and Shelton Ivany came on board as editor-in-chief, and it was under their leadership that Hit Parader moved away from new wave music for good, becoming the first monthly publication to focus exclusively on hard rock and heavy metal. "...we were the first magazine in the world to focus exclusively on hard rock/heavy metal. We were a bit lucky in that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was just kicking in, and the West Coast Metal Explosion was about to launch. Our timing was very good. We've stayed loyal to hard rock throughout the years because that's where my interest remains. Trends, bands and fans have come and gone, but hard rock has stayed strong." - Andy Secher in 2004 The move paid immediate dividends and Hit Parader began selling a half-million copies every month, a 450% increase in sales. Secher recognized the magazine's target demographic as the young suburban male, whom he referred to as "some 17-year-old kid