Southern Exposure Magazine

What Southern Exposure Magazine does

Southern Exposure Magazine is a privately-held bimonthly community magazine serving Williamson County, Tennessee, headquartered at 1117 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064. The publication produces six issues per year covering local news, community events, nonprofit features, business profiles, and family-history storytelling for residents of Franklin and surrounding Williamson County communities, operating under privately-held CMD Publishing (Derby Jones, Owner) with Cassie Jones serving as Publisher and Advertising Director of Sales following the May 2026 passing of prior publisher Judy Hayes.

The company's product surface spans a core print magazine, a digital e-Edition with an archive dating back to at least Issue 101 (February-March 2020), online articles, a local events calendar powered by integration with the evvnt event-promotion platform, a past-issues digital archive, and an embedded local weather widget. Its digital infrastructure runs on the BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital. Distribution combines print subscriptions, physical retail placement across Williamson County, and the self-serve e-Edition platform.

Southern Exposure generates revenue primarily through two streams: advertising paid by local Williamson County businesses (automotive, dining, healthcare, real estate, retail, and professional services) and recurring print/digital subscriptions. GTM is event- and community-driven rather than sales-led outbound. The publication's customer base spans hundreds of SMB advertisers (e.g., Berry Farms, Arrington Vineyards), larger local enterprises and institutions (e.g., Williamson Medical Center, Studio Tenn), nonprofits (e.g., Heritage Foundation of Franklin/Williamson County, Battle of Franklin Trust), government entities (Williamson County Parks & Recreation), and a long tail of consumer subscribers.

Name

Southern Exposure Magazine

Legal name

Southern Exposure Magazine

Website

https://southernexposuremagazine.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Southern Exposure Magazine is a privately-held bimonthly community magazine and digital e-Edition serving Williamson County, Tennessee, generating revenue from local-business advertising and consumer subscriptions across print and digital channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Community Magazine

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)

Keywords

• Community magazine
• Local print publishing
• Magazine advertising
• Subscription publishing
• Regional journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Franklin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising Revenue: The magazine generates revenue through paid advertising from local businesses. The advertising page lists dozens of current advertisers including automotive, dining, healthcare, real estate, retail, and professional services companies in the Williamson County area.
2. Subscription Revenue: Paid magazine subscriptions through the Subscriptions page. The magazine accepts credit cards for subscription payments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Southern Exposure Magazine is a bi-monthly community magazine serving Williamson County, Tennessee, distributed in both print and digital e-Edition formats. The publication covers local stories, community events, profiles of residents and businesses, nonprofits, and regional personalities. Revenue is generated through paid subscriptions to individual readers and through print and digital advertising sold to local businesses, healthcare providers, automotive dealers, restaurants, real estate firms, and other community advertisers.

Product overview

Southern Exposure Magazine is a bi-monthly print and digital community publication serving Williamson County, Tennessee. The company offers its core magazine product (Southern Exposure Magazine) as both a printed publication and a digital e-Edition, alongside an online articles platform, subscription services for home delivery, and advertising services for local businesses. Additional offerings include a local events calendar, a past issues digital archive, and an embedded local weather widget. The publication covers community stories, local profiles, events, and regional news focused on Franklin and surrounding Williamson County communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Southern Exposure Magazine (Print)

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and strategic.

• Williamson HeraldminorOthersRelated publication under the same publishing umbrella. Linked as a sister publication on the Southern Exposure Magazine website.
• BLOX DigitalcoreTechnology or IntegrationBLOX Digital provides the BLOX Content Management System that powers the Southern Exposure Magazine website and digital publishing platform.
• Visit FranklinstrategicGTM or Marketing PartnerVisit Franklin is a tourism organization and Modern South Founding Partner. Content partnership for covering local attractions, farms, and community stories. The article about Charles Hatcher and Mary Morgan Gentry was presented in partnership with Visit Franklin.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Garden & Gun: A larger, nationally distributed Southern lifestyle and culture magazine covering food, culture, travel, and community stories — overlaps thematically with Southern Exposure's Southern-community storytelling niche.
• Southern Living: Flagship Southern lifestyle brand covering regional culture, travel, food, and community across the South — overlaps broadly with Southern Exposure's editorial themes but operates nationally as part of a large media portfolio.
• American City Business Journals (Nashville Business Journal): Regional business news publication covering the Nashville/Williamson market — overlaps with Southern Exposure's local-business advertiser base and event coverage, though focused on business rather than lifestyle.

Direct peers

• Memphis Magazine: Long-running Tennessee city/regional magazine covering local stories, food, and events. Comparable operating model (bimonthly print + digital, local advertiser base, regional storytelling) but in a different Tennessee metro.
• Williamson Herald: The sister publication under CMD Publishing, also serving Williamson County with local news and community coverage. Most directly comparable due to shared ownership, geography, and editorial mission.
• Birmingham Magazine: City-regional magazine serving the Birmingham metro with hyper-local storytelling and SMB advertising — directly analogous to Southern Exposure's community-magazine model.
• Nashville Lifestyles: A regional lifestyle magazine covering the greater Nashville/Williamson County area with local stories, dining, and events — directly overlapping with Southern Exposure's audience and advertising categories.
• 5280: Denver-area city magazine with hyper-local storytelling, local advertising, and a print+digital model — a strong operational analogue for an affluent-suburban community magazine.

Emerging players

• Williamson Source: Digital-first community news outlet serving Williamson County — partial competitor for local advertisers and readers who might otherwise subscribe to a community magazine.
• Franklin Home Page: Free digital local news outlet covering Williamson County — competes for the same local advertiser dollars and audience attention as Southern Exposure, primarily through a digital-native model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/southernexp
• Facebookfacebook.com/SouthernExposureMagazine
• Pinterestpinterest.com/southernexpomag
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southern-exposure-magazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Southern Exposure Magazine