[FARC] We're losing three Radio magazines

[Philip Karras]

Sorry for the no Subject e-mail. It should have been listed with the above subject, so in case you didn't read it here it is again with more information from Rob de Santos:

I called CQ and spoke with Sheral(SP?) today, 12/30/2013.

It is a sad day. Popular Communications is no more, as is World Radio and CQ VHF.

I understood from the conversation that all four magazines will be combined in the February issue of CQ as the new, "CQ Plus" So that's, CQ, CQ VHF, Popular Communications, and World Radio. They expect to add about 50 pages to cover various parts of the other three magazines so I expect much will be lost in the new combination magazine.

Last, if you had a printed version subscription to Popular Communications it will be rolled into a printed subscription of the new CQ Plus. This all starts in February 2014.

An e-mail I then received from Rob de Santos with a little bit different take on it. I guess we'll have to wait to see exactly what they end up doing.

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Hi Philip,

The staff, including myself, was officially informed about a week ago and I posted an announcement to the major shortwave mailing lists. I’ve been asked to continue writing my column as part of CQ Plus, but I have not made a decision yet. Unfortunately, there are only a few outlets to which I can take it and hope to remain paid for my work. I’ll make a decision in the next week or so.

Only WRO, PopComm, and CQ VHF are folding into CQ Plus although CQ Plus will contain some "overflow" from CQ itself. The new electronic version will not be a replacement per se of any of the 3 magazines ceasing print publication, as only a few of the regulars from each will continue. You are correct that they are rolling over unfinished subscriptions to CQ Plus. This has been a long time coming and I suspect that when the end of Monitoring Times did not drive up subscription numbers very much that was the last chance. How much of the content that PopComm has been known for will still be in CQ Plus in a year or two is debatable. Combining WRO and PopComm into one publication and CQ / CQ VHF into another would have made more sense but perhaps required more staff in a failing business area (magazines).

Thanks for your support. I will have a major feature article in the first issue of CQ Plus on the changes to the AM band.

Rob
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73 de KE3FL,
Phil
AEC Carroll County
OES, ORS, & VE
http://cs.yrex.com/ke3fl
Karras' Corner: http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php/1005-karras-corner