Mon 21 Aug 2006

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

Posted by Daniel Swearingen under Books & Mags , Model Railroader , Model Railroading
[3] comments / Leave a comment 

Sean asked how or if the page count correlates with the editor at the time. Good question. Did the editor do it? Looking at August issues Model Railroader since 1966, it has had four editors.

Linn Wescott from 1966 to 1977

Russ Larson from 1978 to 1993

Andy Sperandeo from 1994 to 2001

Terry Thompson from 2002 to 2006

Page count over the years and the editors

Linn Wescott and Russ Larson were the editors while the Model Railroader was growing.

Things went poorly during Andy Sperandeo and Terry Thompson’s leadership. I do not know enough to say they caused the decline seen in MR but it’s clear they were unable to prevent the decline in Model Railroader.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

 

3 Responses to “40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4”

  1. Will Says:
    August 24th, 2006 at 6:58 am

    Page number is not the only thing. What percentage of the pages being ads. (Look at the NMRA bulletin) I remember MR in the 1990 where there were 3 pages of ads to 1 page of content. This could be something to try like your cover sheet survey.

  2. Daniel Swearingen Says:
    August 24th, 2006 at 9:44 am

    Good idea to count the ad pages. I have to admit that in model train magazines I *like* the ads whereas in other magazines I feel they interfere with the content.

  3. Dave Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Westcott was the editor when it was growing.
    Larson was the editor when it flattened and peaked. Also note that this is when MR fractured into a bunch of specialty mags, spreading the focus from one great mag to several mediocre mags.
    Sperandeo and Thompson are just the unlucky inheritors of Larson’s legacy.