The New Republic has announced what has long been rumored: It’s going from a weekly to a fortnightly. This is very big news indeed for those of us in the opinion-mag biz, because The New Republic has been weekly since its founding 93 years ago. It’s written into the magazine’s DNA. Now that DNA is being rewritten largely due to a new owner.

The fortnightly format is a wonderful one — National Review is, of course, the nation’s preeminent fornightly. But publications profit by having a very basic and determined identity that allows them to fix themselves into the consciousness of their readers and (if they’re lucky) their country. For everyone who’s read it through their lifetimes, The New Republic is a weekly, not a biweekly. The publication that arrives every other week and is twice the size will be called The New Republic. But it will not be The New Republic as far as its readers go.

I can’t think of a publication that has ever altered its publication schedule in this way that has benefited from the change.

Of course, some people can’t ever get publication schedules straight in their heads. When I was part of the founding team of The Weekly Standard, at least three times a week I’d have the following conversation with someone:

Someone: What’s the name of your magazine?

Me: The Weekly Standard.

Someone: That’s interesting! How often does it come out?