For a period of slightly over two years beginning with its March 1963 edition, it rocketed itself out of the digest format (the vestigial trim size that remained after the slow death of the pulps), and became this full-sized magazine.
It had been acquired by Condé Nast, publishers of Vogue and Glamour, and the sf mag had been made more glamorous and more attractive to advertisers with a boost to 8 1/4" x 11" and a signature of glossier paper. There were now ads that would be at home in Popular Science or even Holiday or Playboy ("Pan Am...the world's most experienced airline").
The magazine reverted back to digest size with the May 1965 issue.
Although Analog is still published today as a digest -- and in digital form (you can find it at www.analogsf.com), I find the possibility of a larger magazine -- with its opportunity for bolder graphics -- something that I enjoy speculating about for speculative fiction. Would such a magazine have to be pop culture-dependent? Believe me, I get that print is a tough sell, but I find it ironic that in a time in the USA when there was an all-systems-go space program, science fiction magazines were outliers, and now in a popular culture landscape that's hip deep in genre, science fiction magazines still seem like outliers.
I still think print is vital and viable, and that magazines have a warmer relationship with their audience than their electronic counterparts, in the same respect that musicians and audiophiles suggest that equipment with tubes has a "warmer" sound than more modern gear. Count me in as an "analog" guy.
