[TowerTalk] Off Topic

[W0UN -- John Brosnahan]

At 05:56 AM 11/13/2005, you wrote:
>This is a bit off topic but I have a conundrum for which I need assistance
>solving.  While perusing the monthly offerings of QST, CQ, and CQ VHF, I
>noticed various issues, anthologies, and other material from Ham Radio
>offered as holiday gifts.  I was not active in the hobby from the mid 1980s
>thru about 2003 during which time HR ceased publication.  I myself have
>purchased the complete CD set of HR.  I also managed to save my copy of the
>last issue.  This was a product which was clearly valued by all that I have
>spoken with, so why did it fail?  This was the quintessential "better
>mousetrap" that should not have failed.  When I see people responding to
>some of the things we poke fun at on ebay how tuff could it have been to
>market a product like HR?

Mike--

Ham magazines other than QST tend to be "labors of love" of one or a couple
of individuals.  Circulation is just too low to support more than a couple
key people.  Ham Radio Magazine was Jim Fisk's vision and when the
visionary passed away there was no longer the "force" needed to make
it happen.

(While I am sure that QST is a labor of love for many, it is in a different
category since it is the journal of the national organization, ARRL.)

I sure do miss HR magazine as well as Communications Quarterly.
QEX is great and is pushing the technology to new heights, but HR
and CommQuart struck a wonderful balance between esoteric and practical.

It would no doubt be even tougher to succeed these days with so much
stuff being instantly "published" on the internet.  Even magazines such as
PC Magazine and Computer Shopper have shrunk to 1/3 their size in
their heyday.

73--John   W0UN