GeezerJock spins off Masters Cycling — first of many?
GeezerJock magazine is launching its first single-sport title. Called Masters Cycling, it could be the beginning of a media empire. I wrote to GeezerJock editor Sean Callahan and asked if track might be next on his list. Sean replied: “We’re looking into a soccer magazine next, and we see a number of single sport publications in our future. It will take some time, though, but we believe these kinds of publications can be very successful.” This should concern National Masters News. A lot.
Sean also wrote:
As for Masters Cycling magazine, more of our subscribers listed cycling as a sport they participate in than any other sport. So the first thing is that we believe there’s an audience out there. It’s also tends to be a well-heeled audience that spends a lot on equipment, travel and competition.
So the second thing is that there is a broad group of advertisers who want to reach this group. We’ve had many discussions with cycling advertisers who were intrigued by GeezerJock but most of these companies didn’t want to reach participants in other sports. They just wanted to reach cyclists, so most of them took a pass on GeezerJock.
So here comes Masters Cycling.
NMN publisher Randy Sturgeon has to be nervous for other reasons as well. He and his new editor certainly need to do better than the July issue that arrived in my mail today (July 16).
On the front cover alone are these curiousities:
The main story says of the USATF masters multis nationals in Alabama, “Held June 9 and 10 at Spain Park High School . . . . Phil Raschker smashed the world mark in the W60 Heptathlon by 1009 points with a mountainous total 6885 points.”
Yet at the bottom of Page 1, under the headline “Raschker smashes world record,” a separate story says: “At the National Masters Heptathlon and Decathlon Championships, held June 8-9. . . . Phillipa (Phil) Rascheker smashed the the world W60 heptathlon mark by 999 points. Her two-day point total was 6,865.”
Raschker/Rascheker?
June 9-10/June 8-9?
6885/6,865?
1009/999?
Phillipa?
Whatever.
But while these flubs are amusing, the booboo evident on the back page ‘taint funny at all.
The back cover of any publication is prime real estate — much-coveted by advertisers. The full-page NMN ad was bought by the Trojan Masters Track Club and included an entry form for its annual masters meet at USC.
Only one problem: “Entry form due by June 30, 2007. . . “
The back-page ad — which ran with the slogan “Don’t forget, Sunday, July 8th, 2007” — never made it to its intended audience in time for the meet, much less the entry deadline. Completely unforgivable. I assume Randy has refunded the Trojan Masters TC the cost of the ad (which a couple years ago would have been $420).
The future of NMN is moot if GeezerJock ever decides to launch a magazine called Masters Track. Hope Randy gets his act together.
5 Responses
I can definately see Geezer Jock going after the soccer market next. Where I live in New England, the Over the Hill Soccer League has about 4,000 participants, ages 30 and above. And that is just the men’s league. If you include other women’s and men’s leagues into the mix, there are probably 6,000 plus sub masters and masters age soccer players alone in the USATF NE association area.
If you tally up the active track and field participants in the same region, we probably total about 500. I’d guess that the soccer/track demographics in New England probably hold true for most of the country. If I were Randy I wouldn’t be too concerned about Geezer Jock yet.
What he should be concerned about is the content and layout of the NMN. I agree with your observations on the latest edition. I received mine yesterday, and noticed many of the same mistakes in the decathlon/heptathlon story, as well as untimely advertisements.
I’m not sure if he needed to change the inside format due to where it is published, but it doesn’t seem to be as clear and concise as it was in the past. To be honest, I don’t find the current publication to be as timely, accurate, and as interesting as it was under the former editors. I hope the quality improves before my subscription expires in January, or else I’ll be an ex-subscriber.
I have also received my latest NMN and since I live
in Texas I always check the results from meets around the country. But, for the Southwest region on page 30, there was the heading Jonesboro, Arkansas, and listed the Men’s pole vault. Nothing more. Just wondering what happened to the “rest of the story”. Or other meets.It was not on page 3l.
Hey, you’re right. There’s gotta be some changes made at NMN. As assistant editor to my wife Carmel Papworth-Barnum, I can assure you there will be. Since Track and Field relies on accurate measurements, it’s important that the results are in fact accurate. I know it’s frustrating when you’ve run a good race and they don’t have your time or it’s incorrect.
Part of the problem for the past few months is that NMN is labor intensive an’ there’s not been a lot of laborers. Juliet, who actually is quite knowledgeable, with an extensive journalism background, did the best she could under the circumstances but didn’t have enough time to give to this project. Randy was trying to wear five or six hats and not all of them fit. That’s changing.
Catman. I agree with some of your assessment; it looks like we’ll be having some great articles, interviews and lots of results this next edition. I’m pretty sure you’ll wanna re-subscribe come January. Keep us posted if we’re not meeting those expectations.
Phyllis, RE: the single entrant, Pole Vault. In an Open meet, Jeff Hartwig, the only Masters competing, set a M39 world record. Rest assured they’re a lot of results comin’ out of the Southwest in the next issue. Sorry for the delay, I know that gets frustrating.
The NMN is too important, and we’re too passionate about it and the Master’s running community to let it stumble. We all benefit if it’s successful and meets more of our needs. We’re in this together so we invite your contributions and suggestions. Okay, even your criticism.
Larry: It’s great to hear that more people with the passion for masters track/field will be involved. I hate to be overly critical, but I used to be delighted when my copy of NMN arrived in the mail. I knew I had at least a week of evenings worth of reading ahead of me. I enjoyed reading the detailed stories about recent meets or events, the monthly columns that contained training, medical, commentary, etc. The results section was extensive, and gave me a chance to compare my times/distances against other athletes around the USA.
Since Randy’s ownership of the paper, there only seems to be about 10-15 minutes worth of reading interest. Hardly enough to sustain me through my evening constitutional, much less the remainder of the week.
Those of us that have enjoyed the publication through the years are pulling for you to be successful in the future. Just hope the recent changes will get you there.
Personally i find Geezer Jock to lack depth and real content…great pictures i might add but ive found it to be somewhat superficial.They “touch base” on many subjects but never give you any real content on them. This again is my humble opinion. NMN in the past was ALWAYS a treasure to me…it provided many years of satisfaction. Presently im no longer a subscriber BUT with Carmel and Larry getting involved..people who i trust and have great faith in..i think im going to subscribe again. If NMN is done right .. with the ability to focus on ALL the athletes not just the “stars” ..they would blow Geezer Jock out of the water in regard to Masters TRACK and FIELD coverage…and thats EXACTLY what im interested in..
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