Goodbye, Worldradio

It is with profound sadness that I (belatedly) report the death of Worldradio, at least as a monthly print publication. WorldRadio, which had been published since 1971, was purchased by the publisher of CQ magazine, which is converting WR into a free, Internet-only publication. The print version is being discontinued.

In a press release (November 12), Armond Noble, N6WR, Publisher of WorldRadio, said that at the age of 74 the time had come for him to retire. “I wanted to be sure that WorldRadio found a good home, and that our readers would continue to be served by an independent voice in amateur radio,” Noble said.

Gee, it’s hard to say that killing the print version qualifies CQ as providing a “good home.” Also, CQ is an “independent voice” only in the sense that it isn’t published by the ARRL. I suppose QST is also an independent voice because it isn’t published by CQ. No matter how you figure it, what used to be three independent ham publications now becomes two.

What I will miss most about WR are the columns. The best days of Kurt N. Sterba’s “Aerials” column were probably 20 years ago, but it was still the first thing I read each month. Jerry Wellman’s “Search and Rescue” columns from Salt Lake City were always interesting, too. WR also gave space to many membership groups, which I think will be missed.

Now, I know what you’re saying, “Isn’t this what the Internet is for, small specialized publications?” That’s true to a point. There is still something special about paper magazines. First, they arrive in the mail and grab your attention. The articles can be longer and better illustrated than most online articles I’ve seen. The advertising is more accessible.

The closest online comes to this are emailed newsletters, which arrive, grab the reader’s attention and then link back to a web site where the content lives. I used to do one of these for CNET and I still think it’s a great way to keep readers involved in a publication—and reminding them to come back.

The primary value of being online, compared to print, is the unlimited page length. WR wanted to be a larger print publication than the advertising would support. Online, the magazine can go as long as it likes. Which gives me an idea—why not publish WR online, but as a PDF document so it can be easily printed by readers? Send an email every month to readers that includes links to online versions of the articles (in HTML) but also to an entire PDF magazine.

I’ve been getting Monitoring Times as a PDF for more than a year and, while I generally don’t print each issue, I find the Acrobat version much more satisfying to read than a web site.

It will be interesting to see what happens to WorldRadio, but I am not expecting good things under CQ’s ownership.

Update on Fri, November 28, 2008 at 5:14PM by David Coursey, N5FDL

It is my understanding that WR may very will continue as HTML and a PDF version that will look very much like the current print publication. And, yes, there will be email. I am assured that Kurt and Jerry will continue their columns. So, there is some lemonade to be made of this sad situation.