HISTORIC NEW YORK TIMES 'WRAP' PROMOTES FIRST AUDIO MAGAZINE

Print readers of The New York Times have been getting a strange front portion with their papers this week, a four-page "wrap" around  the main section proclaiming a vague promise that the Sunday magazine will offer some new content on Sunday.

With a large ear on the front and back, the "wrap" says only "Listen to the World" coming in four days, or three days, or however the countdown is that particular morning.

Wraps are not unusual, although the Times rarely uses them and Spokeswoman Linda Zebian told me this was the longest use of the same "wrap,' which began on Monday. She declined to say how much it is costing the paper to add the section each day. although it includes a small General Electric ad in the front corner.

The paper finally revealed some details of what the campaign is all about in a statement on Thursday that indicated the magazine this week will have almost no text and a "soundtrack." It also claims the first-ever "audio crossword puzzle." 

You can find the audio portions on Sunday morning on the Times website HERE.

"We've never done anything like this before," Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jake Silverstein said in the statement. "It's definitely an experiment in magazine-making, but that's what we love to do." 

And also an experiment in wrap-around promotion.

But will avid readers of the magazine, which is still one of the top revenue magazines in the country, want to switch back and forth from print to web? We'll see.