[CQ-Contest] what else is lost

[Gerry Treas K8GT]

All advertising rates are down.  Having retired from 50 years in Radio 
and Television, I've seen Television advertising rates drop to a fifth 
or less, compared to the "Golden Years" of the late '70s through the 
'90s.  Competition from all the burgeoning cable channels, diluted the 
amount of advertising dollars available.

Print magazines have also suffered due to internet advertising.  The 
cost of paper and publishing has gone up.  CQ made a mistake trying to 
take on publishing CQ VHF and Popular Communications as well as CQ 
magazine.  They've now dropped print publishing CQ VHF and Popular 
Communications and folded those into CQ online now called CQ+.

Those that would like to see a business fold, especially when confronted 
by circumstances way beyond their control, simply do not understand the 
far reaching consequences to the communities and support businesses and 
the economies that are affected, when all that they may need is a 
helping hand.

I have lived in southeast Michigan, mainly the Metro Detroit area, all 
my life.  Where we'd be now if the automobile companies had been allowed 
to go belly up, is hard to contemplate.  The distruction of the many 
support businesses, families and communities would have been 
catastrophic.  Now we have the Big Three doing well and contributing to 
the local and state economies.  Thanks to a relatively short loan from 
the government, the repayment which has garnered the government a decent 
return on investment, helping the U.S. treasury.

Be careful, the far reaching effects may be much worse than you imagine.

So I support CQ magazine as another voice to be heard, contributing to 
the health of Ham Radio.

All this IMHO.

73, Gerry, K8GT


On 2/2/2014 11:58 AM, Tom Osborne wrote:
>
>> Charly, why are you so quick todismiss the idea of a web-based,
>> advertiser-supported magazine?  It requires more than QST's images of
>> the paper magazine, but as someone suggested a few weeks ago, there
>> *are* successful hobby magazines on the web.  Of course, some people
>> will always seek out "echo chambers" that reinforce their own views, but
>> quality still has a chance.
>>
>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> Do these magazines actually make money from subscriptions or from the 
> advertising revenue?  Maybe fewer vendors are advertising in CQ.  I 
> know that QST is about half ad's now.  73
> Tom W7WHY
>
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