[Editors’ Note: Okay, just for historicity sake here goes the media story that we hinted we weren’t all that interested in covering because you don’t hold funerals for zombies.]
Today (October 3, 2020) it was announced that the Bible of the Sport of surfing, Surfer Magazine has been shuttered by what remains of American Media Inc. (now called A360 Media). The 60 year old chronicle of the surfing life will live no longer. Longtime Photo Editor Pete Taras said it this way on Instagram:
It’s with great sadness that I write that today was my last day at SURFER. Between Transworld SURF, SURFER, and SURFING, that was half my life. 21 years between the three. It’s really hard for me to put into words right now the feelings. I’m a weepy mess. I taught. I was taught. I cared so much for all the creatives I worked with over the years. We were family. Thank you @fijichili for providing that 16-year old film when I needed it. @chriscote , Marc Hostetter, @the_check_republic and Joel Patterson, you took a chance hiring me as a 23 year old Photo Editor. @eslate you gave me confidence to go full bore with my visual vision. @chatoaganza , you were always the creative guiding light. @jimmicane you always brought the heat! @todprod you taught me patience and professionalism. Lastly, I want to thank my wife @grettygt123 for having to deal with it all through thick and thin. With much love – Peter
Taras (and the rest of the Surfer Magazine staff) were only the first wave of “furloughs.” The employees in the Carlsbad, California offices who survived the first round will reportedly stay on the payroll until November 20, 2020. Then they too will be out of a job. Happy Thanksgiving to them and to you all.
Bike, Snowboarder, and Powder magazines are also being put to rest: RIP. Oh, and David Pecker remains true to his name, one more time.
You really shouldn’t let any of the free time you have these days get gobbled up by your electronic devices. No, now more than ever analog is the solution. The Snowboarder’s Journal is sliding out their back issues (by volume) so you can checkout the ones you missed, and replace the issues that got worn out or lost. For a limited time you can pick up an entire back volumes of The Snowboarders Journal for only $40. Also makes a perfect gift.
To purchase back issues (or to buy a subscription) click the link. It’s that easy.
Shop Eat Surf founder Tiffany Montgomery announced today (December 9, 2019) that she has sold her industry focused website to trade show and events company Emerald X for what is likely, not a whole lot, because, hey, she’d probably like a more consistent paycheck and better health insurance (wouldn’t we all).
“We are proud of what we have accomplished as a stand-alone, bootstrapped start-up in a rapidly evolving media environment,” Montgomery said in a post announcing the sale. “What started as an experiment 12 years ago has turned into a news service that is read by industry leaders around the world.”
We always hated the site’s name. We also felt that Montgomery was an opportunistic, interloping, outsider looking to feast on what was left of the rotting corpse of the action sports industry, but turns out she is a talented, likable, honest journalist who took seriously what we often write jokes about. So, nice work Tiffany. Sad to see you go.
[Editors’ Note: We’re posting this news a long time after the actual sale and in light of current events it seems like Montgomery had perfect timing.]
Leave it to the skiers to properly appreciate the work of a snowboarder. In Flylow’s most recent video profile we get the best, most succinct explanation of the Snowboard Journal, Funny Feelings LLC, and its co-founder Jeff Galbraith that we’ve seen yet.
As the founder and publisher of three print titles, based in Bellingham, Washington, Galbraith has provided endless pages of high-quality content, including top storytelling and world-class imagery, during an era when everyone else has said that print is dead. He’s out to prove them all wrong. All three magazines celebrate the rich history and culture of their respective sports, as well as look to the future.
In the continuing saga of strange zombie brand shenanigans, it is being reported that Authentic Brands, the company that just purchased Volcom is very seriously considering purchasing Sports Illustrated, the fading print magazine known most widely for it’s annual bikini issue, for $110 million, according to a story on Pitchbook.com.
If Authentic Brands ultimately wins the auction, it would keep SI’s print product alive for at least another two years, per retail-focused website WWD. But its bigger play would be licensing SI’s brand, which could reportedly include launching kids’ sports camps and injury rehab clinics. That sort of cross promotion is what Authentic Brands has specialized in while building consumer brands for celebrities such as retired NBA star Shaquille O’Neil and ex-pro golfer Greg Norman. Here’s to hoping this strategy could produce a viable business model to preserve SI’s journalistic aspirations.
ABG has enough women’s wear brands to pack that bikini issue, and when you look at print advertising costs, it may be cheaper to just buy the magazine. We’ve said it as a joke before, but it’s looking more and more like Jamie Salter really will own everything soon.
American Media LLC, the company that purchased a gutted Adventure Sports Network in January 2019 has apparently sold the National Enquirer (and a couple other tabloids) to Hudson Media. for $100 million, according to a story on WWD.
James Cohen, part of the family that founded Hudson News Distributors, is buying the U.S. and U.K versions of the gossip magazine from David Pecker’s American Media LLC (recently renamed from American Media Inc.), which acquired the title 20 years ago. The $100 million deal also includes two other tabloids, Globe and National Examiner. . . Pecker — whose friendship with President Donald Trump and the use of the Enquirer’s coverage to aid Trump’s candidacy and perhaps even his personal vendettas has come under intense scrutinyover the last year — wrote in a statement that the group of magazines actually pull in $30 million in profit annually.
Not sure what this really means other than Snowboarder, Skateboarding, and Surfer Magazine are no longer siblings of the politically embroiled gossip rags and AMI is a little less in debt — only $355 million now. Ouch.
In a keynote address yesterday (March 25, 2019), Apple’s Tim Cook mentioned that their newly launched News+ app is like having an “entire newsstand on your iPhone,” but for us, not so much. First, as we’ve been saying lately there aren’t many surf, snow, or skate magazines left, and second, the only one that made it onto the Apple app is Surfer Magazine. The new “Netflix for magazines” app charges users $9.99 a month for unlimited magazine viewing from at least 300 different magazine titles.
For the olds who enjoy reading The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Week, and Surfer, this new subscription model might not be terrible, but spending $120 a year for magazines that can only be read on iPhones, iPads, or Apple computers, doesn’t seem like the best deal when a Surfer Magazine subscription can be purchased online for $14. For more info on Apple News+ please click the link.
Monster Children (another surviving print magazine) and a blue-collar beer company invite you to FOOLS, a two man show by Porous Walker and Todd Francis featuring the artists’ mutual love of irreverence, bad situations, and bodily functions.
Shown will be all new works never before seen by mankind, as well as a large collection of unique, signed and numbered products designed as gifts for the April Fools in your life.
FOOLS launches with a March 21, 2019 opening at 1700 Naud, an evening that will be filled with music, food, laughter, and lamentation. It run until March 28th and is in partnership with Vans. For more details and to RSVP please click this link.
In letters to subscribers that began arriving in mailboxes the week of March 3, 2019, American Media Inc, the current owner of TransWorld Skateboarding and Snowboarding magazines announced that both publications will “no longer be published.” Adding insult to insanity, the company also promised to fulfill remaining subscriptions to the legacy titles with copies of their recently acquired (June 2017) magazine Men’s Journal.
Founded in 1983 by Tracker Trucks owner Larry Balma and Peggy Cozens, Transworld Media built a place where creative kids could flourish mostly undisturbed by outside forces. Aside from helping to usher in the modern board sports era and making skateboarding and snowboarding central to mass youth culture, TransWorld also served as a launch pad for innumerable success stories in fashion, design, photography, music, and filmmaking. Simply put Transworld’s contributions to pop culture cannot be overstated.
When we mentioned to a publishing executive that this must be what it feels like to outlive an era, he replied, “I think the era we have outlived is the era of niche media as corporate commodity. Doesn’t seem to work so well.”
And that is true. Independent action media brands like Thrasher Magazine and The Snowboarder’s Journal continue to thrive in print, suggesting that the end of print at TransWorld may have more to do with corporate greed/overhead than anything else. Then again, we have yet to see anyone under the age of 30 lamenting the news, so there’s that as well.
As for the future, TransWorld Skateboarding will live on as a digital property (the staff has already begun posting “thanks, but we’re still here” to their social media streams) and sources tells us that management is working out the details on how and/or which of the company’s two snowboard brands will be preserved online rolling forward.
We’d be more optimistic about Transworld’s digital future if it weren’t for AMI. Their reputation for always doing the wrong thing (along with their reportedly toxic CEO David Pecker) doesn’t bode well for the brands.
Through all the sadness we are cheered by the fact that these magazines lasted 20 years longer than we thought they would when we first began preaching the digital revolution. Good work. And, as this has all happened before (remember Skateboarder Magazine and Action Now?) we’re looking forward to what the next generation of creative kids will assemble out of the wreckage.
Lately, we’ve been wondering what it’s been like for that small group of action sports media professionals who survived the AMI takeover of The Enthusiast Network. How is working for Trump pal David Pecker?
So far we’ve heard nothing from inside the building, but The Daily Beast posted a profile on March 2, 2019 titled How David Pecker Built His Tabloid Empire on Fear that might give some insight into how it could be going for those who still remain. The old story, written nearly two decades ago, suggests that Mr. Pecker has morphed his management style very little over the past 20 years.
Shop Eat Surf founder Tiffany Montgomery announced today (December 9, 2019) that she has sold her industry focused website to trade show and events company 
In the continuing saga of strange zombie brand shenanigans, it is being reported that 
American Media LLC, the company that purchased a gutted Adventure Sports Network in January 2019 has apparently sold the National Enquirer (and a couple other tabloids) to Hudson Media. for $100 million, according to a story on 
In a keynote address yesterday (March 25, 2019), Apple’s Tim Cook mentioned that their newly launched 
