Media

The ASG House Undivided

by The Editors on May 10, 2010

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For years the rivalry between Surfer and Surfing magazines has fueled progression in all aspects of action sports media and advertising. Even after the two magazines were brought together under the same ownership in 2001 when Primedia bought Emap’s U.S. magazine business they continued to wage war between their offices in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente.

A month and a half ago, however, the two magazines lost the benefit of distance when all of Source Interlink’s Action Sports Group titles moved together into a section of the same building in a San Clemente office park. Now er and ing are separated by a few steps and both staffs can see who is coming and going from the other mag’s cubes.

We wonder what the close proximity will do to the battle. Maybe the idea that they compete against each other at all is a complete fabrication and they’re perfectly happy cranking out similar product under different brand names.

If we ever read the print surf magazines, we’d be much better judges of how being new office mates works out. If you notice anything, please let us know.

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Transworld Snowboarding Wins Mag Medals

by The Editors on May 6, 2010

Untitled1Transworld Snowboarding Magazine won two awards in Folio Magazine’s Eddie and Ozzie Awards, according to a post on Transworld Business.

The December 2008 Issue won a Silver Eddie for overall editorial excellence in the “Consumer Sports Full Issue” category and the 2009 Buyer’s Guide took the Bronze Ozzie Award in the “Best Supplemental Annual or One-Shot” category.

“Snowboarding looks easy until you try to drop in on one of those Superpipes, the same might be said about making snowboarding magazines,” said TransWorld SNOWboarding’s Editor-in-Chief, Annie Fast. “We work hard to make it look easy, so we’re especially honored by the recognition of the greater magazine world with a silver and bronze—it’s like winning our own magazine Olympics!”

Nice run, Annie.

[Link: Transworld Business]

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Rockin’ Fig Is Off The Air

by The Editors on April 28, 2010

Rockin FigAnyone who grew up listening to LA and Orange County’s World Famous KROQ radio station will agree that one of the best parts of the Kevin & Bean Show every morning was when Rockin’ Fig aka Rick Fignetti would call in with the morning surf report. Fignetti’s sing-song, surfer-dude whine is synonymous with Southern California surfing and yet, KROQ has apparently decided to switch to an “automated online forecast,” according to a story on OrangeCounty.com.

Local surfers and fans are bummed that Fig’s upbeat voice is no longer waking them up during his 30-second radio spot, the departure leaving a void in people’s early morning routines. . . “Surfing is bigger than ever, and I can’t believe they took him off the air,” said listener Bob Kizanis, who listens to the report during his morning drive. “We have to let them know that this is a tremendous mistake for their station.”

Guess if we still listened to radio, we’d be bummed, too.

[Link: Orangecounty.com via Surfline.com]

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Vipe Desai: TWS’s New Senior Marketing Director

by The Editors on April 26, 2010

Picture-120Vipe Desai has deep roots in core action sports and after a short recent stint at Monster Energy Drink he’s landed at Transworld Media as their new Senior Marketing Director, according to a press release posted on Transworld Business.

With over 18 years of experience in the action sports industry, including retail, non-profit, youth brand consulting, and marketing, Vipe brings TransWorld Media a wealth of talent . . Vipe most recently served as the Director of Marketing for Monster Energy Drink. . . Prior to Monster, Vipe owned and operated H20 Surf and Snowboard Shop in Orange County, CA, for nearly eight years and also founded and managed Propaganda, a youth brand-consulting agency since 2000.

This seems like a perfect fit for everyone involved. For the rest of the release click the link.

[Link: Transworld Business]

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Mr. Galbraith On The Duck Hunt

by The Editors on April 21, 2010

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At certain times of the year Frequency: The Snowboarder’s Journal publisher Jeff Galbraith (pictured above left) has been known to get up early, trudge out into the cold with his dog, and blast low-flying, web-footed birds from the sky with a 12-gauge shotgun. While we have no interest in doing the same, nor in watching Mr. Galbraith’s bird murdering missions live and in person, we do still enjoy reading about them.

In the May/June issue of the Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine (whose Acting Deputy Editor just happens to be Steve Hawk (yes, that one)), Jeff has written touchingly about hunting in Washington State’s Whatcom Wildlife Area with his dog Dr. Gonzo Yellow Dog and friends in a story titled On Ducks, Jobs, and Farmlands Forever.

In the story he mentions his favorite flowering shrub (the alder), LEED-certified subdivisions, and former MBHC snowboarding badass and current Shell Oil employee Dan Donnelly.

Yes, it is a strange mix, but read it anyway.

[Link: Sierra Magazine]

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The King Shit Out Another One

by The Editors on April 13, 2010

Cover KsspringThe new issue of King Shit arrived yesterday (who said print was dead) and it’s loaded full of the stuff we’ve come to expect from our friends North of the Border.

Dave Carnie rants about why he has no cell phone, Dan Watson interviews guys who actually (rather than figuratively) “gay off” with skate shoes, comedian Zack Galafanakis sports a big rubber cock from the future, and Chis Nieratko asks a bunch of underage skaters if their moms and/or sisters are hot. You know, the usual.

And yet, it is still compelling. This issue was guest art directed by Altamont’s Mark “Fos” Foster of Heroin and Landscape fame and that’s Matt Berger heel flipping some industrial products on the cover. . . Ask for a copy at your local skate shop.

[Link: King Shit]

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Print Ad Pages Still In Downward Spiral

by The Editors on April 12, 2010

Mpa LogoThe Magazine Publishers of America released their Q1 2010 survey of magazine advertising pages last week and guess what? Things aren’t getting worse as quickly as they were last year at this time. Last year Q1 ad pages were down 26 percent industry wide. This year, they’re only down 9.4 percent.

What does this mean to action sports media? Unfortunately, the only action sports titles tracked by the MPA are Bonnier’s Transworld Media titles. And while last year they did better than the industry average, this year they are more than double below (even after shuttering Quad Off-Road Magazine last year).

Here’s how it looks for the Transworld titles:

                              2010      2009     %change
TRANSWORLD SURF             151.26    195.54       -22.6
TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING    242.79    304.15       -20.2
TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING     290.50    359.48       -19.2
TRANSWORLD MOTOCROSS        203.49    244.17       -16.7
RIDE BMX                     75.41     75.10         0.3

According to the MPA, in the first three months of 2010 Transworld Media print advertising was down a total of 215.3 advertising pages when compared to the same period in 2009. Assuming an average rate per page of $2,500 this represents about $538,250 in revenue for the quarter.

Then again, the Transworld titles look great when compared to many of Bonnier’s magazines. For instance, in the same quarter Wakeboarding was down 49 percent, Skiing Magazine down 41 percent, and Sport Diver was down 36.5 percent vs. 2009. In fact, of all the magazines tracked by the MPA, Bonnier had six of the ten biggest percent Q1 advertising losers in US publishing.

It wasn’t all bad news in print advertising according to a story in The New York Times. Three categories of magazine advertising were actually up:

. . . financial, insurance and real estate (up 11.3 percent from 2009); cosmetics and toiletries (up 7.6 percent) and automotive (up 1.3 percent.)

Guess we’re going to see more double pits to chesty advertising in the near future. . .

[Link: Magazine Publishers of America and New York Times]

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Mike Basher Talks Photography, Business & Life

by The Editors on April 7, 2010

4417785883 30A4Bae6A2 OLaura Austin interviewed former Snowboard Magazine editor Mike Basher for her Decent Exposure column on Rad Collector and got the behind the lens look at life, business, and the art of capturing the moment. Basher even talks about why he left Snowboard Mag.

As my role at the mag became more serious and involved, that left less time to shoot. I’m a photographer at heart, and I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do, and I didn’t have the time to devote to shooting for the mag, since I was the Editor, Photo Editor, and staff photographer. I was responsible for checking things off of lists, keeping in touch with over 150 photographers, tracking down photo files, color correcting, making sure stories were done, maintaining a strong relationship with key people at each brand, going to deadlines in Portland, and when time permitted; shoot. It had gotten to the point that I would dust my gear off one day a month to shoot some boots, or whatever the products were. Trust me, I don’t regret any of it. I did far more in the magazine business than I set out to, and the experience is so valuable. It was a good ten years.

Follow the link for the rest of the interview. It’s well worth the time.

[Link: Rad Collector via Yobeat]

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Bullabunga: Aussie Surfer To Join PBR Tour

by The Editors on April 5, 2010

R542541 3160772Sullivan McLeod, the 33-year-old author from Margaret River, Australia who wrote Tunnel Vision: The true story of my probably insane quest to become a professional surfer plans to move to California and join the Professional Bull Riding Tour Touring Pro Division, according to a story on ABC.net.au.

“I’m planning just to capture a piece of the world which is the bull riding in America. I think it must be an amazing subculture,” he said. . . McLeod’s first experience on a bull was two-and-a-half months ago, and he says he stayed on for a couple of seconds. . . “I think it’s a mental thing. If you’re prepared to really put yourself on and learn and try and stick on, you might get fairly good at it,” he said.

The fact that he’s only ridden a bull once hasn’t seemed to slow him down. It seems that McLeod has found the perfect occupation for an Australian: cluelessly dive headfirst into something without a clue and then spray about it for years.

[LInk: ABC.net.au]

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iPad Launch Brings Blogs To The 3 Bs

by The Editors on April 3, 2010

Ipad LaunchIn all the talk about the iPad saving the magazine industry few have pointed out the single most important change that Apple’s new magic slate is bringing. The iPad will finally deliver the Internet (blogs, social networking, and the realtime web) to the print media’s last stronghold, namely, the bedroom, the bathroom, and the beach.

Rather than offering print media a helping hand into their digital futures, the iPad will deliver the final knock-out blow to the magazine format’s quivering jaw. And, creating an environment where old media is enthusiastically cheering the approach of its own executioner is simply another example of the genius of Steve Jobs.

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