Contests were never money makers for any magazine. The difference is the cost
of the contest was easily covered by other revenues, including subscription
revenue, which dictated advertising revenue: the more subscribers, the more you
could obtain for advertising.
That formula holds in reverse: the fewer readers, then you have fewer
advertisers each willing to pay less.
As revenue falls, something has to give.
73, Kelly
ve4xt
Sent from my iPad
> On Aug 30, 2015, at 12:57 PM, Rudy Bakalov via CQ-Contest
> <cq-contest@contesting.com> wrote:
>
> If this is the case then the magazine has outlived its usefulness and
> relevance as a contest sponsor. Perhaps some of the equipment manufacturers
> would be interested in more prominent sponsorship in return for better
> visibility and publicity.
>
> Rudy N2WQ
>
> Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or inappropriate
> autocorrect.
>
>
>> On Aug 30, 2015, at 11:38 AM, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd@charter.net> wrote:
>>
>> " The publishing business is all about eyeballs and without the contests
>> there will be no eyeballs."
>>
>> Sadly (for us contesters) this is not true.
>>
>> If you look at reader surveys conducted by both CQ and ARRL, contest
>> coverage and line scores receive some of the lowest interest marks. This is
>> why you have seen the line scores migrate out of the magazines and on to the
>> web.
>>
>> Let's say there are 75,000 active contesters. And there are 200,000 active
>> DXers. Now compare that to a global ham population of 1.5 million hams...
>>
>> One of the great aspects of ham radio is its diversity of interest areas.
>> Covering that range of passion is what sells magazines. Contesting is just
>> one part.
>>
>> Contesters and DXers are active. And they do buy stuff. But, they are not
>> the market makers. This may have been different many years ago when there
>> were fewer hams and getting on the air was more of an achievement.
>>
>> All that said, we love what we do. We take pride in building skills,
>> improving international goodwill, and enjoy a competitive fun outlet.
>> Contesting fulfills many of the purposes of ham radio and that's why the
>> National ham radio organizations support and promote it. The question is
>> who should pay for it...
>>
>> Randy, K5ZD
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>>> Rudy Bakalov via CQ-Contest
>>> Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 12:16 AM
>>> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
>>> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Future of Paper Certificates
>>>
>>> I personally don't care about a paper certificate, but do remember the
>>> excitement of receiving my first one. In fact, it was the certificate
>>> that encouraged me to come back to the contesting world having left it
>>> when I was in my early 20s.
>>>
>>> One thing that I genuinely don't understand is what exactly is CQ
>>> Magazine's sponsorship? If they have a problem with mailing the
>>> certificates then what's left?
>>>
>>> The way I see things, it is the contest that is funding the magazine, not
>>> the other way around. Without the different contests the magazine will
>>> have no appealing contest, circulation will go down, advertisers will
>>> pull their marketing dollars, the magazine will cease to exist. The
>>> publishing business is all about eyeballs and without the contests there
>>> will be no eyeballs.
>>>
>>> Rudy N2WQ
>>>
>>> Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or
>>> inappropriate autocorrect.
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Aug 29, 2015, at 9:15 AM, Joe <nss@mwt.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Extremely interesting.
>>>> I like the idea of the printable also.
>>>> Just curious tho.
>>>> With the paper they make certs, how down the scores did they go in say
>>> 2013? Where they automatically sent one to someone?
>>>> I just looked for the fun of it, went to CQWW and entered my call, and
>>> it tells me all the times I entered CQWW. Pretty cool, but then I see
>>> that a cert is there too! what?!
>>>>
>>>> Aparantly I took 2nd place for CQWWSSB 10 M low power 9 land, and I
>>> never knew it. And too bad only ran 12 hours a few more maybe one more
>>> and I could have had 1st place! I was that close in second place.
>>>>
>>>> BUT I know for sure I never got a Paper cert. so just wondering I know
>>> things may be changing, but in say 2013, how deep in the winners listins
>>> did they go and send out paper certs.
>>>>
>>>> Joe WB9SBD
>>>> Sig
>>>> The Original Rolling Ball Clock
>>>> Idle Tyme
>>>> Idle-Tyme.com
>>>> http://www.idle-tyme.com
>>>>> On 8/28/2015 10:01 PM, Randy Thompson K5ZD wrote:
>>>>> There is an important conversation about the future of paper
>>>>> certificates happening on the CQWW blog. Please visit
>>>>> http://cqww.com/blog/the-future-of-paper-certificates/ and add your
>>>>> opinion to the mix.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Randy Thompson, K5ZD
>>>>> Director - CQ WW DX Contest
>>>>> email: k5zd@cqww.com
>>>>> web: www.cqww.com
>>>>> Facebook: www.facebook.com/cqwwdx
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> CQ-Contest mailing list
>>>>> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
>>>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> CQ-Contest mailing list
>>>> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
>>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CQ-Contest mailing list
>>> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
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