HFU HF Underground
General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: Fansome on July 25, 2013, 1856 UTC
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[UDXF] Monitoring Times to Cease Publication
Utility World (Hugh Stegman)
To: UDXF@yahoogroups.com
December 2013 will be the last issue of Monitoring Times.
Yes, I'm as surprised as you are.
This isn't April first, so I have to assume the following message from
Bob Grove is real:
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After 33 years of publishing the most informative and lauded
magazine on monitoring the radio spectrum, Judy and I are finally going
to retire. We are grateful for the dedicated efforts of our fine staff
of writers for the excellent work which has kept MT alive for all these
years. While we know the discontinuation of MT, with our December issue,
will be a disappointment to our readers and writers alike, we realize
that a combination of a down-turned economy, as well as the ready
availability of free listening and technical information on the
Internet, has reduced sales and subscriptions throughout the market
place. I would like to thank you personally for your knowledge, your
dependability, and your professionalism in making MT the publication
that is most often referred to in the radio monitoring hobby. It is a
legacy that we have all inherited.
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They haven't even changed the web site yet.
I'm going to miss my column a lot. I will keep my blog and web site up,
with the appropriate changes, as they are hosted separately.
Presumably, I'll have more time to spend on these, so they'll be more up
to date and informative.
-hugh
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I find that kind of sad. Back in the day, MT was my best source of utility monitoring info. I still have a subscription for old times sake.
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This is very sad news indeed. The arrival of MT is one of the highlights of my month. With the arrival of MT Express I had hoped that the future of the magazine was guaranteed, but it seems not.
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I have no sympathy for Bob Grove and MT. After they canned George Zeller I cancelled my subscription and told Bob I'd never read another issue. They also fired Glenn Hauser and Uncle Skip Arey. Their downhill slide started back then. On a more positive note, Pop Comm just revived their pirate column called "COPS" which debuted in June, edited by Steve Handler. It also covers numbers stations, clandestines as well. They are giving him 5-6 pages to work with. The July issue has a nice write up on Andy Yoder. We need to support this.
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I wondered what happened to Skip Arey's column? It and George's "Outer Limits" were the two main reasons I read MT.
Unless MT had a technical article that interested me, I rarely bought it after George got the boot.
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What happened to get them fired?
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The official story was lack of reader interest.
I think Bob's email said it all - there is a huge amount of online content today that is free [and up to date, the bane of printed SWL material is that it is months old by the time you get it, which is why the SWL/DX clubs all folded]. It's difficult to compete with free.
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It's too bad. I genuinely enjoyed it when I could find it. Now I'm stuck with the puff pieces in Pop Comm, which is also a shadow of its former self.
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hu,... :-\
one less tree to chop down, breathe a little more oxygen into the atmosphere... ;)
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Doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that Pop Comm has outlived MT. In recent years, despite the cheap black and white format, MT was superior in content at the technical and informational level. Pop Comm is essentially 12 issues a year of a Gordon West doll in different poses. Puff pieces, for sure. It's sad, and I admire people for keeping these things going on as long as they have, but they are really not viable businesses in this day and age and it shouldn't surprise anyone here.
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Puff pieces, for sure
I believe that the term is Same Sex Publication Couples *sniggers*
Sad to see a popular magazine going away
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Puff pieces, for sure
I believe that the term is Same Sex Publication Couples *sniggers*
You mean like what Brits call cigarettes?
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No surprise. The only viable market for most niche magazines is in the collectible or zine format for hardcore fans of print media for its own sake. It's not about the information as much as it is the palpable product and unique style of the fanzine.
Reminds me, for years I've been intending to pester Frederick Moe for copies of his zines.
Andrew Yoder's revived pirate annual indicates there might be a market for an annual or irregular periodical zine. Something heavy on graphics with an insider's nod toward the unique culture of shortwave pirate radio in North America. It's relatively affordable now with on-demand printing. Blurb books now offers magazine formats for just such stuff. Adobe Lightroom photo editing software includes a Blurb book module that's pretty much drag-and-drop, possibly the easiest DIY pre-publication package around.
I know of some fellow photographers in England who share each others work through the most affordable way possible - photocopied zines stapled together. Crude but effective for the vibe of the participants - mostly documentary, street and candid photographers.
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Funny that Hugh Stegman had no advance warning, they might have at least sent him advanced word via Japanese Fishing Boat Fax, Coast Guard RTTY or some such thing. I'll miss seeing it on the Barnes and Noble Stands, another sign of the times for HF radio >:(.
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I used to buy MT and PopComm religiously... then money got tight, and magazines cost so much now, they've become a luxury item for a lot of people.
I sometimes wonder how any of them stay alive.
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I've subscribed for a few years now, and used to back in the late 80's-early 90's. Unfortunately, the old magazine are gone (unless buried in a forgotten box somewhere). That's one good thing about the printed magazines, referring to them later. Still have old copies of WRTH & Passport to Worldband Radio. They may not be current information at the time of publishing, which is a bit of a problem, but sure are nice & historical.
Will miss MT.
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A sign of the times. One of the biggest costs in publishing (next to salaries which in MT's case were minimal due to mainly volunteer columnists and the Van Horn family) is hard printing. In a digital age these costs are rising more and more. Seems that people simply didn't flock to subscribe to MT Express in their droves as hoped for. The hard copy was still the most popular among the readership. Hence the collapse. I understand that Pop Comm's digital magazine, delivered via Zinio, is proving a great success. That's how I read it on my tablet, saving money and printing out only when needed.