Two icons of the local alternative press are launching two very different publications this month.

Jay Levin, who founded LA Weekly in 1978, has started work on a glossy monthly magazine called RealTalk LA along with the Web site RealTalkLA.com. The magazine’s first issue, with a free distribution of 250,000, will carry a May cover date and reach newsstands during the last week of April.

Meanwhile Will Swaim, former editor-publisher of OC Weekly, will debut an alternative weekly newspaper titled the District in Long Beach. Swaim expects to distribute 30,000 copies of the first issue on 600 newsracks with a cover date of April 11.

Although Levin’s project seems far afield from his newsprint roots, he said RealTalk LA would stick to the progressive idealism of his previous successes. Levin said that he’s hoping that through his magazine and Web site he can “reinvent the concept of a city magazine and create the next evolution of the local online community.” His ventures will target what he calls the “non-European demographic” of Hispanic, Asian, African-American and Middle Eastern people.

Specifically, Levin plans to deliver advertisers a diverse segment of affluent, college-educated minorities in the 25- to 49-year-old age category. According to RealTalk research, the non-European demographic has about 700,000 households with incomes above $75,000 in Los Angeles.

Levin faces a challenge in appealing to such varied ethnic groups. Planned stories he mentioned include a profile of business leaders working to improve the economic status of their employees or involved in community development, and a series on the relationship between minority youth in poverty and the criminal justice system.

That’s a far cry from the edgy fare that filled the LA Weekly during Levin’s tenure, which included investigative pieces on Scientology and the onset of the AIDS crisis.

“The overt, politically declarative agenda of the Weekly is not part of our agenda,” Levin said. “We are not trying to be the alternative newsweekly.”

RealTalk LA arrives as the magazine industry is stagnating. Last year total magazine advertising revenues increased 3.8 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, essentially keeping pace with inflation and postal rate hikes. While the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported that magazine subscriptions increased 2.2 percent during the last half of 2006, some high-profile magazines closed in that period, including Elle Girl, Premiere (the U.S. edition) and FHM.

Levin gravitated to the magazine format for both business and aesthetic reasons. A magazine can attract a broader range of advertisers – national, regional and local – than a newspaper, especially in such categories as automotive, financial services, apparel and telecom that Levin plans to go after. In terms of visual presentation, “the vibrancy and color of the city could be captured more readily” on magazine pages, he said.

“I’m aware that major old-line segments of the magazine industry are not doing well, but I’m also aware that magazine advertising went up about 4 percent last year,” he said. “Certain niche magazines and local and multicultural magazines are doing well.”

There is some skepticism among industry observers, however. A recent study from the City & Regional Magazine Association suggests potential weaknesses in a strategy of free distribution.

“In all cases, ‘free distribution’ publications prove to be significantly less well-read, significantly less-valued and significantly less well-known than paid or requested publications,” wrote consultant Charles Rodin, author of the study. “Despite the publicity surrounding the ‘free distribution’ titles in the advertising community, respondents in the affluent ZIP areas surveyed prove significantly less likely to be aware of them.”