#300 - Heartbreaking: GUNS Magazine is Gone!

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Hi there, and welcome to

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for the last Time,
The Guns Magazine podcast.

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I'm your host and the editor of guns
magazine, Brant Wheat.

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Thanks for joining us here
on one of the world's

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biggest gun talk, audio
and video programs.

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As we chat with the interesting folks
who make up the world of shooting.

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Before we get started, of course, please
make sure you like and subscribe.

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That's how we, kind of pay
the bills around here.

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So it's really important that you do that
if you haven't.

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I know I sound like a broken record,
but it's that important.

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So our interesting person today

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is Roy Huntington, of course,
our unofficial co-host.

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And Roy, thanks for joining us.

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Today is a pretty momentous occasion
on several accounts.

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So before we get started
talking about that, though,

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thanks for joining us yet again
on episode number 300.

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You know, when we did number one.

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And you were the first guest.

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Yeah. Who would have thought exactly.

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Well, let's jump right into it.

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We've got some, I would call it huge news.

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It's not sad news.

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It's just, life, life changes.

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And that is the announcement
that you've heard it here first.

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Guns magazine
and American Handgun magazine.

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The print versions are going away.

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Or actually,

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when you, get that latest November
issue of guns in the mail as a subscriber,

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or if you can still find a newsstand
someplace, that's it.

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It's over.

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I can't express how much I hate that
70 years of history,

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are being put to bed, so to speak.

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But, the future's looking bright,
and we're going to talk about that.

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But, I know some folks are
probably in shock as to what I just said.

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Yes. Guns magazine, the physical magazine,
American Handgun or magazine

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are going away.

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Actually, they're they're gone already.

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So, Roy, the big,

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kind of big picture question here.

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What does this mean to you?

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You've worked here for decades
and you were

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the editor of American Hand Gunner.

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You were the publisher of both magazines.

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Hearing me make that announcement,

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what's that do for you?

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A it was inevitable.

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And, I accepted it five years ago.

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You know, and I think we both have lived
through the last few years.

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We knew that we
we kept it going, basically

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just by sheer grit.

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That's true.

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And investment of money
that really wasn't there to invest. And,

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so I, I've really been preparing for this,
and I'm

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a real diehard when life and you lemons,
you make lemonade.

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And I think we focus

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so much on print editions and,
you know, people

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don't realize that's a huge, investment
in labor and money.

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And I think we need to talk
a little bit about that. Too.

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But we're not going to have that.

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And, I'm going to say distraction right
now, but

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but we're not going to have that
distraction, which means we've been doing

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print and digital products,
you know, our websites

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and YouTube channel and direct
email blasts and podcasts and all that.

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And we've been doing both,
which means that, you know, both

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were getting 100% true. So,

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I mean, I've

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seen the compromises as our digital side
has grown, because, you know, when I came,

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when I took over hand got to in 2000,
it was that's all I did.

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You know, I worked on one magazine.

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I had two months to build it.

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And so it was just like

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the best quality possible, you know?

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And and gun's magazine was the same way.

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That was all.

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And then, you know, then, like,
the website kind of got bigger,

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you know, and I remember people saying,
do we really need a website?

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You know,

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so maybe not today.

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Yeah, maybe not today.

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And, so I sort of tried to start

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preparing the company
about ten years ago and,

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you know, unfortunately
there's a lot of old school guys,

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you know,
who own the company around the company,

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and it was a little bit difficult
to nudge everybody in that direction. But,

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finally, mostly in,

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appreciation for the older print readers,

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we've we've kept the magazine alive and,
but you just reach a point

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and we let's talk about that,
about how you just can't do it anymore

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and why thank you, millennial marketers.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And, you know, it's

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it's hard to, point at any
one factor there.

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It's like anything there's
a lot of factors that lined up, but,

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we've, we've kind of reached
the end of the road here and, you know,

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it was incumbent upon the company
because after all, we're a business.

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We're not a nonprofit.

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And there's a lot of people
that depend on a weekly paycheck.

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And, it's it's been hard.

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This has been a, an awful process on us
personally.

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All of us.

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The work here, the bosses, the,
the folks that put everything together.

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And, I got to say, Roy,
I've worked a lot of places

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and, including newspapers,

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and this has been the greatest team
I've ever worked with.

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And it's not completely gone away, but,
some of those folks are.

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And, that's probably the worst part.

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It's the potential to really do
stuff was there.

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But at the end of the day,

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you got to make a profit
or you don't have any product whatsoever.

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We're not government.

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So talk about the team a little bit.

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You bet.

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Well,
you know, first of all, people think,

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you know, they look at our competitors,
Guns and Ammo magazine,

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for instance, you know,
well, it's owned by a billionaire.

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Okay.

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And, and I've talked to the people there.

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He doesn't care if it makes money or not.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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You know, which is a nice, you know, thing
to have of you're the staff.

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Yeah.

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We're a very teeny
tiny family owned business literally.

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I mean I don't know
what do we have right now?

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Ten employees maybe. Yeah. You know,

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at our heyday, we used to have 40,

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45, 48 employees and, but, of course,

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you know, as the market changes
through the years, all that has to change.

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But I agree with you completely.

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I mean, you and I worked with hundreds of
different people on the police department

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squad after squad, different people,
different leaders, different everything.

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I've worked, I've worked
in other segments of our industry.

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And this was absolutely,

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I enjoyed coming to work every day.

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I still do,
you know, and I know you do, too,

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because I remember
when when I invited you to join the team.

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You. I mean, you made it clear
right from the beginning.

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It's like,
you know what this is really fun.

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And I'm enjoying working with you people.

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And, I mean, we're not whiners.

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We're not motors.

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We always try to see the way
to get something done.

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What's the positive thing?

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And I will say this is that,

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Tom von

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Rosen, who hired me, was my original boss,

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that he was the son of George von Rosen,
who founded the company in the 30s.

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And Tom, from the my first day,

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as a freelance writer for the company,
we would have a meeting.

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And the first thing
if an idea came up, Tom would

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say, well,
how does this affect our readers?

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Is this how is this good for the readers?

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You know, and that was always
the number one thing on the plate.

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And I have to say, that
never changed. It really has.

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And I think that's one thing that pains me
so much, is that I know

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what's good for most of our readers
is to get a print magazine.

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Yeah.

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And it makes me crazy
that we can't do that.

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Yeah.

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Well,

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one of the things we've been talking about
is doing away with a print magazine.

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It hurt your legitimacy because there's

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a billion websites out there,
but there are very few gun magazines,

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and there's only one original newsstand
gun magazine, which is us.

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January issue, 1955.

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We were the first ones on a newsstand.
Yeah.

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You could buy, some of the NRA pubs,
if you remember, the NRA

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and things like that.

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But to actually go to the corner
drugstore and buy a shooting magazine

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on the newsstand, we were it.

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And Guns and Ammo actually came after us.

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But, you know, it's it's it is,

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it is
almost heartbreaking to see the magazines

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go, but, point you made there
that I wanted to address, and I'm

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pretty proud of is normally
when these things happen and

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and in the publishing industry in general,
what happens is it just goes away.

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You never hear anymore.

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It's people go, what happened?

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And I will say that when we started
having these meetings, there's four

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editors here, of the of the brands,
there's Jade day,

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editor of Shooting Industry, which
is our business to business publication.

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Eric Gal, the editor of American cop.com

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and of course, Tom McHale,
the editor of American Handgun or myself.

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And we all said we owe the readers
an explanation.

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And from a business perspective,
it's better

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if everything just kind of goes away.

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But we were united in the fact that,
we do look at our readers

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as, as, certainly as friends
and in some cases, quasi family.

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And we owe it to folks.

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And that was my final thing

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I said after 70 years,
we need to tell people what's going on.

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And, they're adults.
They can figure it out.

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They can understand,
and there's going to be some,

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you know, heartache and discontent.

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That's just normal with any change.

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But, I was really proud of my coworkers
that that we really stood firm and said,

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we got to tell folks
what what this was about, so.

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Well, you know, I agree with you there.

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I think part of it is because
our customers, our clients, our readers,

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maybe often

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don't understand the mechanics
of magazine work because to them

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they say, well, I sent my subscription in,
so why can't I get a magazine?

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Yeah.

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And, and just let's talk
just for a couple minutes about that.

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Is that in the magazine industry,

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subscriptions pay
for about 40% of the magazine.

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Right.

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And so the balance has to be taken up
by investments that the company have

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that make profits
on, you know, and, and, but,

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but most of
that is all at paid advertising.

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And so that's what that's what encompasses

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that 100% of income necessary
to successfully send out the magazine.

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Well, over the last ten years,
and over the last five years,

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the cost of paper has gone
up 3 to 4 times what it was.

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And which

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we have never pass that on to readers.

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So, postage has gone up

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about four, almost five times.

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It used to be there were independent
magazine distributors,

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which means that you would send
your magazines to these people who

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and they would physically deliver them
to, you know, the local neighborhood

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grocery store
and go in and put them up on the rack.

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Yeah.

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And over the years,
all of those have been consolidated.

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And so essentially, in today's world,
there's one distributor.

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And so you're at their mercy.

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And whatever they decide to charge,
that's what they charge.

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Yeah.

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And and I think
a lot of people don't know to

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if you send ten magazines to a store
and they sell five.

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Well, yeah, you get,
you know, maybe a dollar out of that.

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Maybe if you look at all
the other expenses involved,

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but you, you eat the cost of the five
that didn't sell. Yep.

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So all that postage, all that
transportation, all the paper costs,

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all the paying, the writers,
all of that stuff, you lose that.

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Yeah. Right.

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That, you know,
that's one thing that really blew my mind

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when I first really got into the writing
business.

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And, magazines and books are
one of the only, industries that do this.

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Imagine if your local Chevrolet dealership

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at the end of the model
year had 15 cars left over.

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They're not going to put them
in the shredder.

242
00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:39,520
But that's essentially what happens
in the magazine and, and, book business.

243
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,160
So it's, it's
that's the way it's always been.

244
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,280
And people have tried to change that.

245
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,920
But yeah, if something doesn't sell,

246
00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,360
you are not only out the cost
of building it and sending it to them,

247
00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,680
you're out the cost of those ones
that didn't sell.

248
00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:57,360
So really is and and so what has happened
now is that we're over the years,

249
00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,920
we've increasingly lost
the print advertising.

250
00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,320
And it's not because we don't try hard.

251
00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,080
Subscription rates are the same.

252
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,760
In other words, the cost of the magazine
really hasn't changed in years.

253
00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,480
And our number of subscribers is strong.

254
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:13,680
It's where we want it.

255
00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,120
Unfortunately, that only pays
for 40% of the production costs.

256
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,640
So over the years, as I think

257
00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,080
everyone who's listening to this realizes
as the move toward digital has occurred,

258
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,400
there are younger
people who are coming into the industry

259
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,400
and they're assuming positions of power
and authority,

260
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,520
especially in the
marketing side of things.

261
00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,840
And they personally don't
read anything print.

262
00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,880
And so they think nobody else does.

263
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000
And Brant will attest to the fact,
I can't tell you how many times

264
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,480
I've sat across from a millennial marketer
at the shot show and showing them

265
00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,680
the magazines, and it's hard to get them
to even look up from their phone.

266
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,040
Yeah. You know.

267
00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,840
And you kind of get that,
oh, that's nice, Papa, you know.

268
00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:01,680
Right.

269
00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:02,600
Yeah. That's it.

270
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,160
And I say, well, except
I want you to realize that probably

271
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:07,480
I don't know what it is.

272
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,480
Now, 70% of the people
who buy things in our industry

273
00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,920
are older
people who like to read print magazine.

274
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:15,720
Yeah.

275
00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:17,160
And they have the money.

276
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,280
Their houses are paid for, their cars are
paid for, their kids have moved out.

277
00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:21,840
The college is paid for.

278
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,800
They have the disposable income,
and they want to spend it

279
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,520
because they couldn't before.

280
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,560
Yeah. And you're not going to catch them,

281
00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,560
you know, with a, with a quickie
digital blast.

282
00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:34,200
Yeah. You know, and.

283
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:35,400
You know, it's been

284
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,280
this is the only place I've ever worked of
of magazines, certainly newspapers.

285
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,440
But we get emails,
I would say almost weekly of folks saying,

286
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:47,040
hey, I really like that story
on, you know, the Master Blaster 5000.

287
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:49,360
I went out and bought three of them.
Oh, yeah.

288
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,760
And we get that all the time, and
we pass it along to our marketing folks.

289
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,560
But you might as well be, you know,

290
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,480
talking to the wall when you're talking
to some of these marketers.

291
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:03,160
And I got in trouble
one time with a sales person my first year

292
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:08,680
here at the shot show, I was getting that
basically cold shoulder, and I'm like,

293
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:10,680
okay, look, Mr.

294
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:11,600
Marketer or Mrs.

295
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,960
Marketer, you know who my audience is?

296
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:15,160
Well, yeah, yeah it's older.

297
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,280
And I said, yeah,
and they've got money to spend and where

298
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:23,640
your influencer may sell a few holsters,
I can move, you know, guns by doing this.

299
00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,240
And they just look at you like okay,
that's nice.

300
00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,400
But I know on the flip side of it,
it's been very gratifying.

301
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,040
The folks at Ruger, Springfield Armory,
etc., etc.

302
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:35,880
many of our long time customers,

303
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,600
they know that if they want to move guns
or accessories, they put it in

304
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,680
print and especially in guns
and American handguns.

305
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,840
And you know, that that to me, is
is one of the big,

306
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,600
downsides to to our, our partners,
our friends

307
00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,280
and our clients is they're not going
to have that outlet anymore.

308
00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,320
And it's it's a shame because
if more of these marketing directors

309
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,880
understood what they were getting,
the value they were getting.

310
00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:02,280
Yeah, they don't understand it.

311
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,280
They don't subscribe to magazines,
they don't read magazines,

312
00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:07,320
and they don't understand it.

313
00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:08,400
No. Well, you.

314
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,760
Know, and and I have to say
that I personally know for a fact.

315
00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,800
And so to you
that our readers are motivated

316
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,600
and they believe what they read
in the magazine because we tell the truth,

317
00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:20,760
we vet advertisers.

318
00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,760
So that's why you don't see,
you know, weird

319
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:26,560
old cigaret ads or the are you right?

320
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:27,400
I mean, I mean.

321
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,400
I just turned one down the other day
because,

322
00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,600
they advertised previously
and the product turned out to be,

323
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,960
I wouldn't call it garbage,
but whatever is one step above garbage.

324
00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,760
And, hey, they're wanting to come back,
and I'm like, not doing it, not doing it.

325
00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,080
I'm not going to put my
my byline on the line.

326
00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,160
If they want to buy advertising and,
you know, that's all fine, but,

327
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,640
I'm not going to put my name attached
to anything recommending it.

328
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,000
And, we're all that way here.

329
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,520
That's that's one of the cool things.

330
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,720
Well,
but we and we shoot ourselves in the foot

331
00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,000
because we could go out tomorrow

332
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,480
and get all these one page ads
for chewing tobacco and stuff.

333
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:04,480
Our readers would hate that.

334
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,280
And you've made that clear. But.
But they do.

335
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,040
By, I mean, I talked to Les Barron.

336
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,560
Nighthawk, custom and all these people,
and that's why

337
00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,440
they advertise, as they say,
when I put an ad in your magazine, people

338
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,920
call my business and want more information
and buy guns from me.

339
00:17:20,120 --> 00:17:20,400
Yeah.

340
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,040
So unfortunately,
there's just not enough of that.

341
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:30,560
So, yeah, I mean, I will say, I mean,
if people were willing to spend, you know,

342
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,960
$50 a year,

343
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,120
we could probably send out a magazine,
you know?

344
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:38,040
Yeah.

345
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,960
If you wanted to pay a little more
than that, we could send out a quarterly.

346
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,200
That's perfect bound. I mean, it would.

347
00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:45,920
I would love to see that, you know?

348
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,920
But but people, unfortunately, even though
older guys, you know, and girls,

349
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,720
they don't want to spend that money
on what they perceive as just a magazine.

350
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:56,640
Well, it used to be $5.

351
00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,960
Yeah, well, your car used to be $3,000,
and now it's $50,000.

352
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,040
Yeah. You know, so.

353
00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,720
But so that's the reason
is that we just can't physically,

354
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,680
support a print magazine anymore.

355
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:11,760
So now.

356
00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:12,320
Okay, I.

357
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:12,880
Wanted to interrupt

358
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,480
one thing we didn't cover,
and it's just another facet is newsstand.

359
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,440
Newsstand
used to be really important to us.

360
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,320
Can you even find a newsstand anymore?

361
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:26,080
I can't in my town, there isn't one
other than at the grocery rack at the,

362
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:30,120
you know, UFOs abducted President Trump.

363
00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:33,240
And, then the, you know, 17 recipes

364
00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,240
for pumpkin spice cookies.

365
00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,760
Other than that,
you're not going to find magazines

366
00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,680
around anyplace and especially and gun
magazines, there were a lot of places

367
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,880
that took us off the,
the shelf as part of their rush

368
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,120
to embrace, whatever you want to say.

369
00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:54,160
But we
we were a casualty of that culture war.

370
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,280
So long story short, is
we used to depend on newsstand

371
00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,680
for a lot of our revenue,
and it's it's essentially evaporated.

372
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,720
So I just wanted to get that point.

373
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,080
I, we used to always have high, newsstand
sell through rates.

374
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,960
You know, anything above 20% is
is significant on the newsstand

375
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,280
which if you think about it's weird
because that means

376
00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,200
if you put ten magazines in a newsstand,
you sell 2 or 3, you're doing

377
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:19,120
really, really well.

378
00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:21,880
Well, handguns used to have

379
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,920
almost 50% sell through rate, and guns
magazine

380
00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,920
used to always be 35%, 40%.

381
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:29,320
Both of those are incredible.

382
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:30,400
Yeah, but you're

383
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,880
but you're right in the sense, though,
that it's difficult to find a new stand.

384
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,600
You the other interesting thing
that happened and

385
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,600
and I think it's one of the reasons
why handgun was successful,

386
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,560
is that magazines
have become very vertical,

387
00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:48,200
you know, and it's as you know,
it's difficult to be a general magazine.

388
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:49,680
Guns magazine.

389
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,400
That means you have to do
shotguns and rifles

390
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,520
and pistols and hand loading and,
you know, hunting and everything.

391
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:55,400
Right.

392
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:59,080
Which means that the person who picks up
your magazine, he may be a hunter.

393
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,920
So he's just really looking for
hunting articles,

394
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:03,880
and the next guy
might be a handgun shooter.

395
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,600
So now he's only getting,
you know, that many, with a handgun or.

396
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,160
Well, if they buy it, it's
because they like handguns, right?

397
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:12,840
So they like everything.

398
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,080
And if I've noticed on the newsstand,
because we have a books-a-million here

399
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:20,720
and it's got actually it has a, a huge
magazine rack with hundreds of titles.

400
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,720
But whereas it used to be,

401
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,280
you know, bicyclist.

402
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,600
Well, now there's ten titles.

403
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:28,920
Yeah.

404
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:32,040
Mountain biking on Electric
bike quarterly.

405
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,800
Yeah. You know. Exactly.

406
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:39,400
Road bike lightweight carbon
fiber monthly.

407
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:40,880
Yeah. You know, I.

408
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,640
Mean, I mean, even in in the hunting
that's not that's even too broad.

409
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:49,760
Now people just want to know about long
distance horn hunting in Wyoming.

410
00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:50,200
That's it.

411
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,200
And that's all they, they talk about.

412
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,400
They go online,
they find all the the forums

413
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,560
and you know, and then the algorithms,
we didn't even talk about that.

414
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:02,320
That's another whole thing that's
destroying our society in general is

415
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,880
you only see what you
what the computer thinks you want to see.

416
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,800
And it reinforces that, that perception
that are not perception that,

417
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:15,600
it retrains your brain to
I only want to see what I want to see.

418
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,120
I don't want to find anything else.

419
00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:19,360
That's not part of my thing.

420
00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,080
It's distracting.
Yeah. No, you're exactly right.

421
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,920
I've also seen magazine circulations
shrink dramatically.

422
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,440
I mean, you know, there was a time
when one of our competitor

423
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,880
gun magazines was 775,000 circulation.

424
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,960
And now they're in the high 200,000.

425
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:38,080
You know,

426
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:42,960
I and I recall other magazines like that
were we do remember popular science and.

427
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,480
Oh, I see there were like a million,
you know, circulation

428
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,480
and, you know, now
now they're like, 50,000 and barely alive.

429
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:52,560
Yeah.

430
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:57,160
National Geographic, I noticed
that you went from 10 million, you know.

431
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:57,440
Yeah.

432
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,600
And these big, thick, perfect bound,
beautiful magazines,

433
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,600
and now they're just embarrassing
to see. So.

434
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:05,640
So that's the reason, okay?

435
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,840
It we cannot afford to do it anymore
unless you guys are willing

436
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,200
to spend $50 a year on a subscription.

437
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:13,640
So if you want to let me know

438
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:15,960
that, maybe we could do that.

439
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,480
But I think it's important.

440
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:23,200
Now let's talk about though,
what's the new, picture going to be?

441
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,320
Because I know
I've already had people say,

442
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,960
well,
I mean, I only read two gun magazines

443
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,440
and now I'm not going to be able
to read those magazines.

444
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:31,680
I don't know what I'm going to do.

445
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:32,360
Right.

446
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:35,600
Well, what you're going to do
is get your iPad out

447
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,680
and you're going to have to learn

448
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,600
that if you go to American Handgun
or Comment Guns magazine.com,

449
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,960
if you go to the YouTube channel
and type in FMA publications,

450
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,120
you will find us.

451
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:51,720
I mean, it's as simple as that.

452
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,720
And there's still going to be articles,

453
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,800
and sign up for our direct email blast,
because if you don't already get them,

454
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,560
you should be getting them,
because they're vetted.

455
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:02,760
They're high quality.

456
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,200
It's not just trash.

457
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,960
It's not internet, digital noise. It's.

458
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,320
Yeah, it's core information
that people like

459
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,400
our readers want to know about,
which is why they sign up for them.

460
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,600
And so, you know,
you may find something else interesting,

461
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,640
which is when you when you read a magazine

462
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,880
and you put it down, well, yes,
it's still there.

463
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,040
And you can pick it up and read it again.

464
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,880
Right. Which is a valuable thing, I think.

465
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,760
But the hard thing to do is, for instance,
I have a complete collection

466
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:33,760
of American handgun.

467
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,080
And from the first issue to today.

468
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,800
And but the problem is I go, well,
you know, I remember

469
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:45,240
reading about that new sig, but man,
I sure can't remember which issue it is.

470
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:46,040
Yeah, right.

471
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:49,800
Well, when you get introduced
to the website, you can do a search,

472
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,640
say 2 to 6 search.

473
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,320
Here's
all the articles about the sig 2 to 6.

474
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,920
And so if you don't know
you know don't let it scare you off.

475
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:03,880
Look at it as a new tool

476
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,560
and a new way to get what you want,
which is the information about guns.

477
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,480
And we'll still have the same faces.

478
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,840
I mean, maybe to your chagrin,
you'll be seeing my face in Brent's

479
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,480
face, and, you know, the all the writers
that, you know, and stuff.

480
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,920
So it's all going to be there.

481
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,240
It's just we've
we've had to cut our losses

482
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,560
in order to stay in business
and focus on the on the products.

483
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:29,640
Exactly.

484
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,120
Actually, you know,
can I say one more thing?

485
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,120
Yeah, that

486
00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:38,280
interestingly enough, the vast
majority of companies who are print

487
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,120
advertising have transferred
their accounts to our digital side.

488
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,360
Yes. And the digital products.

489
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:49,200
And I think that shows confidence
because these are senior

490
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,920
companies in the industry, and they don't
just spend money because they like you.

491
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,280
Yeah. You know. Yep.

492
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,240
And that was what was very gratifying.

493
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,880
I know, our sales team, was worried about,

494
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,960
you know, our folks kind of transfer
their print, budgets over to digital.

495
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,560
And overwhelmingly, it's been positive.

496
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,680
So I think that's reflective
of our audience,

497
00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:15,240
our writers, editors and the whole team
that has built this thing.

498
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,280
I, I hate to say it. I've said it a lot.

499
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,760
We're the best kept secret
in the gun business.

500
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,400
But for the folks that know,
they really value what we've got.

501
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,240
And one other thing I'm going to add is,
as long as I'm associated

502
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,560
with the magazine,
we are not going to, embrace

503
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,960
the lowest common denominator,
what's frequently called digital writing.

504
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,440
I know guys, senior gun writers
who are working for digital publications.

505
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,240
Yeah, I got to do 40 articles a month.

506
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,200
Well, those aren't gun reviews.

507
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:46,880
Those are,

508
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:50,160
As Jim Shepherd, our

509
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:54,360
friend said, it's
digital potato chips for the time being.

510
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:57,360
Anyway, we're not going to embrace
digital potato chips.

511
00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,840
We're going to keep bringing you
the same stuff.

512
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,280
We're just bringing it,
a different method.

513
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,440
So as long as I'm here
and Tom's at hand, gunner,

514
00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:08,040
we're going to resist the urge
to play that game,

515
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,280
because I think it's ultimately
just devalues everything even further.

516
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:13,560
So we'll keep bringing
the same great stuff.

517
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,800
You'll just have to see it on a screen
somewhere instead of, the pages

518
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:23,320
of your favorite gun magazine in the,
the outhouse at the hunting camp, so.

519
00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,200
Well,
you know, if you think about it, though,

520
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,440
if you have an iPad and if you don't
have one, you you should go buy one.

521
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,320
You can get a cheap one for $300.

522
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,400
So you just leave one of the pages
open on American hand.

523
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:35,200
Got economy.

524
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,200
Leave one of the pages
open on guns magazine.com.

525
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:43,800
And now, actually you'll be getting new
gun content almost every day.

526
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:44,200
Yeah.

527
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,440
And, and you can look through it,
and the pictures are bright,

528
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,880
you know,
and if you, if you see the podcast,

529
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,880
you click on it,
you can listen to the podcast.

530
00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,360
So there's a lot of positive things to it.

531
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,760
And I know as the years have gone by,
a lot of these millennial marketers

532
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:02,680
have told me that said,

533
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,640
well, yeah, but these old guys, you know,
they're not really digital.

534
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:06,560
And it's like, you know what?

535
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,760
I beg to differ with you. Exactly.

536
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:13,240
I mean, everybody
I know who's 70 years old

537
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,720
has an iPhone
and iPad, has a desktop computer at home.

538
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:20,480
I mean, we both know that.

539
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:25,280
I don't know, 99.99% of the reader mail
we get is an email.

540
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:27,400
Yeah, yeah.

541
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,480
And so no,
and that's what I could never understand

542
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,600
why these people didn't they didn't
realize the fact that the older

543
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,600
people are very digitally savvy.

544
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:38,200
Yeah.

545
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:43,360
And but they also read magazines
and buy stuff they see in the magazines.

546
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,280
So they should be taking advantage
of both of that, you know?

547
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:47,520
Yeah.

548
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:49,280
Well, that

549
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,520
discussion went longer than I thought,
but there's so much there.

550
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,160
You know, we could probably talk
for a long, long time, but

551
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,160
let's close this thing out. Roy.

552
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:00,480
What what do you think?

553
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,600
Can the soul of a magazine have a brand?

554
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:05,960
My brand.

555
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:07,880
And that's the way
I've always referred to it.

556
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,360
I. I don't own guns magazine,
but I own guns magazine.

557
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,120
At least I have for the last seven.
And some years.

558
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:18,520
Can that sole survive
this transition to digital, do you think?

559
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,200
Absolutely.

560
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,840
Because it digital you know,
is is only digital.

561
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,200
It if there are no people involved
that it's soulless.

562
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,240
It's potato chips like you said.

563
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,760
But the same passion and the same faces
and the same knowledge

564
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,800
and the same attention to detail
that you saw in a print article

565
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:43,000
is going to be exactly the same
if you read it on the website.

566
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:44,080
Delaware.

567
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,320
Is it those same people who feel that

568
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,640
the readers are important are still there
and they're still doing it?

569
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,280
It's just the medium is different now.

570
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,760
I mean, and I know, you know,
there are websites that I go

571
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:02,640
to a lot of makers websites,
machinist websites and things like that.

572
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,320
And a lot of times I'll see one
and you go to read it and you realize

573
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,120
this is just nothing, you know,
it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

574
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,320
And that seems. To be getting worse.

575
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:13,480
Oh yeah it is. Thank you.

576
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:14,640
I but then there'll

577
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,640
be another real simple website
or simple YouTube channel channel.

578
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,840
And you can tell
it it's done with, honesty.

579
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:25,560
And, and whoever's doing it

580
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,680
has the experience and has the, the,

581
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:34,200
respect for his readers or viewers
and it shows and,

582
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:38,400
and I like to read those or watch them
and I think that's what people

583
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,600
need to understand that just because it
they have bad experience with digital.

584
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:44,280
Yeah.

585
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,480
That doesn't mean
that they're going to have that with us

586
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,720
because I promise you they won't.
You know they won't.

587
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,600
But, you know, I mean, we wouldn't
be a part of it if they had said,

588
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,920
okay, we're going to take a digital now
and all the articles are going to be,

589
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,080
I and we don't really with keywords.

590
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:00,880
And so okay, well, yeah.

591
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,800
So so so and all our YouTube videos
are going to have everyone's face going.

592
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:10,120
Like that.

593
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,520
Right.

594
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:12,160
We both would.

595
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:13,720
It's like turn the switch off.

596
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,080
Yeah, yeah, I don't think so. Not today.

597
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:17,920
Thank you very much.

598
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,200
But no,
the general consensus has been true.

599
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,640
Let's carry the flag on.

600
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,640
You know, we're just kind of
using this additional medium now.

601
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:27,600
Yeah. So.

602
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:29,040
And that's what it is.

603
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,560
When you think about the actual term
media and medium, it's

604
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:33,920
just a way to get something.

605
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,360
And, going forward,
you're not going to get the paper,

606
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,080
you're going to get the,
the electrons coming in in your house.

607
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:45,200
So hopefully we will keep the soul of guns
magazine American handgun alive. So.

608
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,000
Well, you know, go ahead.

609
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:51,120
And I say, when there used to be
a magazine in San Diego called The Reader,

610
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,960
and it was a free magazine,
it was, I think, a weekly.

611
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,280
And it was printed
on really crappy newspaper,

612
00:30:58,320 --> 00:30:59,400
because it was free.

613
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:01,520
Right. And but you know what?

614
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,480
Everybody always read it, because it was
always full of really interesting things.

615
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,680
It was good articles and it was vetted
well and the editor cared,

616
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:10,360
you know, and all that.

617
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,920
And then as time went by, it changed
and it became more glossy

618
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:15,960
and more fancy and stuff like that.

619
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,280
But it became more commercialized.

620
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:21,240
And then pretty soon nobody cared anymore.

621
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:22,160
Yeah, right.

622
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,440
So I'm sorry I zoned out.

623
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,720
Were you talking about Cracker Barrel?
Oh, right.

624
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:28,320
There you go. Yeah. Exactly.

625
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,600
Yeah. And so,

626
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,360
just because you're you're losing
the print magazine doesn't

627
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,760
mean you're losing the quality.

628
00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,920
And the information and the people
and the passion that are in it.

629
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:41,040
Now, you're not,
you're just going to get a sort

630
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,040
of more live that than ever before.

631
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,040
Yeah, well, that's a great place
to end that discussion.

632
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:51,360
Other than I want to say, I'm sure there's
a lot of questions, regarding this.

633
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,920
And frankly,
we don't have a lot of answers.

634
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,040
We're, we've never done this,
so we're going to wing it.

635
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:58,440
But, yeah, I can assure you

636
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,160
we're going to do the best we can
and bring you the great quality content.

637
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:04,160
As long as we're associated with it.

638
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,200
And, we would really appreciate
your support.

639
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,680
Not just for the podcast,
of course, our YouTube

640
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,680
channel,
but make sure you visit the websites and,

641
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,800
let us know how you how our the good
and the bad of what you see.

642
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,600
So now, our second big announcement.

643
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:26,360
And this is the one that is near and dear
to me, the gunge magazine podcast.

644
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:31,440
Hopefully that'll be the last time I say
that is now guns podcast U.S.

645
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:34,680
But I will tell

646
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,680
you right now, as much as I love
the magazine and I love writing,

647
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,720
the podcast has been a passion
project for me.

648
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:45,800
This is episode 300, which is
pretty remarkable for a weekly podcast.

649
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,800
And actually, I got to tell you,
I compiled an entire list

650
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:54,240
of podcast episodes
and I'm not exactly sure I didn't count.

651
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,200
I think we're we're actually over 300
because there was

652
00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,800
I know there was one case
where we messed up the numbering,

653
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,200
and then there's been some specials.

654
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:05,040
So I actually think we're over 300,
but it's pretty remarkable and a milestone

655
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:06,200
that we got here.

656
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,440
But given all these uncertainties
that we're seeing, I realized a couple

657
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,280
of years ago, I need to be preparing
for whatever may come.

658
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:19,080
And for the time being, I am staying
associated with guns magazine.

659
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,080
But we decided to go ahead.

660
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,640
Episode number 300 was the perfect time
to make this switch.

661
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:29,280
So Guns podcast U.S it's the same podcast

662
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,280
we're just putting,
we're giving it a refresh a little bit.

663
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,360
Yeah, the logo's changed.

664
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,360
We're going to try and streamline things
somewhat.

665
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,360
But it's
still going to be the same podcast.

666
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,440
And my hope is for the future,
we're going to do a lot more.

667
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:48,160
So before I get into that though, Roy,
any any thoughts as the original guest

668
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,640
and guest number 300.

669
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,400
Of the The Guns podcast, us

670
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,400
You know, I you've done a great job
and I know

671
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,880
I remember when you started,
it was really important to you that we are

672
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:09,480
we are valid and current,
you know, and we don't B.S.

673
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:10,440
anything.

674
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,080
And so I tend to look

675
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:17,040
at all of the comments on the podcast
and all of our YouTube videos.

676
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,880
And so I read them,
I answer the vast majority of them.

677
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,240
And the single thing that I hear
most often about the podcast is

678
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,520
even if they don't agree with us,
they always say, you know what?

679
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:34,800
It's really nice to hear people
who are sort of sane and fair

680
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,040
and honest, sort, and, and speak

681
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,400
from experience and admit it
when they don't know something

682
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:47,040
and make fun of themselves when they mess
up, you know, and talk about that.

683
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,080
And I think that's important to us.

684
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,400
That's how I and I'm, I'm
looking forward to a lot more so

685
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:54,400
with this new change.

686
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,400
I think it's interesting because we have
a little more independence,

687
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,080
because now it's really what

688
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,360
Brant wants to do,
which is a little is scary.

689
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,080
Yeah, if you think about it.

690
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,080
But I'm really I'm really looking forward
to it.

691
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,960
And also,
you know, Brant will will still be

692
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,160
you'll still have the podcasts
on the YouTube

693
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,160
channel if that's where you find them now.

694
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,360
But that's all the more reason
to sign up for the direct email blast,

695
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,360
because that way you're notified
when things go live.

696
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:26,640
I'll still be doing and,

697
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,640
most of the videos on the YouTube
channel and,

698
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,360
and it'll be kind of just like it has
been, you know, I mean, I'll be expanding

699
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:38,120
it, doing other things,
doing some longer videos,

700
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,880
the more how to videos, people seem
to be really interested in that.

701
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,520
So but I think you're going to be seeing
this sort of partnership,

702
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,960
more and more between Brant nine.

703
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,360
Yes. And, and we will continue
to support the magazines.

704
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:53,760
Yeah.

705
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,960
Well, and that kind of leads right into,
where I want to take this thing,

706
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:00,120
looking at what has

707
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,360
worked and there's been some things
that sure didn't work.

708
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,840
What's interesting
is when you think a show, you do it

709
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:08,280
and you think, man, that was good stuff.

710
00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:09,160
I'm really proud of that.

711
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:13,640
It's going to going to be 2 million
downloads and then it does nothing.

712
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:14,400
Crickets.

713
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,760
And then one that
none of them are a throw away,

714
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:18,360
but some of them
you really don't prepare for it.

715
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,600
You just kind of talk
and it's like an was okay.

716
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,080
But you know, I don't think
it's going to change the world.

717
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,320
And suddenly it's exploded.

718
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,800
And, it's funny, anybody that tells you
they've got it figured out

719
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,320
and they know how to make stuff popular
or viral, as they say they're full of,

720
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:34,040
you know what?

721
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,440
Because there there is no rhyme or reason.

722
00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,440
So what we do is just keep doing
what we do.

723
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,520
And, one trend
that's very clear is folks really like Roy

724
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:48,480
and I, conversing and, it's
it's fun for me.

725
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:50,800
Yeah, it's fun for me.

726
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:52,680
It's it's I think it's fun for Roy.

727
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:56,760
And so my, you have to make a content plan

728
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:01,480
on this kind of stuff, and so basically,
the guns podcast,

729
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:05,400
you, ash, will come out every Friday
as it has been, with a few exceptions.

730
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:09,840
Occasionally I get sick or, you know,
the sky falls in, but for the most part,

731
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:14,880
every week you'll get Roy
and I, talking about what we talk about.

732
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:19,560
And then my eventual goal, we got to,
as I often say, crawl, walk, run.

733
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,320
We want to do a, additional episode.

734
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,360
And that's going to be more freeform
and not even strictly guns.

735
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,200
So I was looking at the audience
and they really like the gun stuff.

736
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:33,480
Our, our

737
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,640
non gun stuff doesn't
usually perform as well.

738
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:37,920
Sometimes it performs better.

739
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,240
But for the most part it's a little less.

740
00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:41,720
But we still enjoyed doing it.

741
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:44,840
And folks and they still do fairly well.

742
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:46,800
So my thought is we'll start

743
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,800
doing a midweek component
and I don't even have a name for it.

744
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:55,120
But as soon as we get this new,
brand established and kind of get things,

745
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,320
on a smooth track, then
we're going to start looking into that.

746
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,080
And that's probably the place
I'm going to bring in

747
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,640
some of the other guests,
because we have been blessed.

748
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,320
And I'll say, I've been blessed

749
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:08,120
by my association
with guns magazine and FMG publications.

750
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:11,640
I've gotten to talk
with all the top folks in the industry,

751
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,480
and by that
I don't mean the latest YouTube star,

752
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,200
because there's folks that are far
bigger than I've talked to.

753
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,040
But when you talk about people
that really have made a difference

754
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:23,040
to the shooting industry,
to the shooting business,

755
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:28,880
or have been involved in some real, things
that, you know, you can't even imagine.

756
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,840
I've been blessed to talk
to all these folks.

757
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,960
I've talked to the CS, CEOs of Ruger and
and Savage and,

758
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:38,080
you know, I've,
I've talked to Vince Bancroft,

759
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:39,960
who is in the middle of the North
Hollywood shootout.

760
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:45,400
I've talked to, you know, Jerry Mish
Lik and Lena and the list goes on and on.

761
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,240
And, I've been blessed.

762
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:50,240
So those kind of things, the,

763
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,280
the, the interviews with personalities,

764
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,520
maybe a discussion of Roy's workshop
and his current, cabinetry.

765
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:00,240
That'll probably go mid-week.

766
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:02,160
And so keep keep an eye out for that.

767
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:03,720
I hope to do that very soon.

768
00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:05,160
But we got to get guns

769
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,880
podcast, you ass rolling and get everybody
accustomed to that.

770
00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,720
So, Roy, my personal thanks you have,

771
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:17,040
been a major, reason
this podcast has been successful.

772
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:21,720
And when I say one of the world's
biggest gun talk programs, that's true.

773
00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:22,800
If you look at our numbers,

774
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:24,960
podcast numbers are always

775
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,800
very closely held
because for a lot of different reasons.

776
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,640
But from the numbers I can
find, were were one of the, the leaders.

777
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,640
And, that's a credit to you
folks, our audience,

778
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,400
you obviously like what we're doing
and you like our approach.

779
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,680
And I appreciate all the support you get
and all those comments.

780
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:46,440
And like Roy says, he he reads every
comment I try to, but with everything else

781
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,920
I had, like that little old print magazine
that I don't have to deal with now.

782
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:51,840
I hope to be more active.

783
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,560
So, the other thing I need to talk about
is Guns

784
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,480
Podcast U.S that's a website
now, and I built it with my own

785
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,920
two little hands,
and I think it's pretty good.

786
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,000
It's got of course, that's
where you can find all the podcasts.

787
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:08,760
And I did something
you don't normally find with podcasts.

788
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,880
I made a list
of every single solitary episode

789
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,920
and where you can click to listen
to the audio version.

790
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:20,280
So if you remember, like Voice of Man
the way back when they talk to, you know,

791
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,760
Al Casper, the former CEO of Savage,
it'll be there.

792
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:25,400
And the problem

793
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,920
is, with the podcast directories,
you can only go back a certain distance.

794
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,000
So every single episode is on the website

795
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:35,240
guns podcast us
we've got a blog page will be

796
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,120
just talking about when I feel like
I want to say something.

797
00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,080
We can we can do that.

798
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,880
There is also information about,

799
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,320
some of our partners and sponsors,

800
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,880
latest gear news stuff that I don't
just throw all the gear news up there.

801
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:53,640
I throw it up at folks that we know
and we trust and we believe in their gear.

802
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:55,920
And so you can find that there.

803
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:57,600
I'm allowing comments.

804
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,720
I that may be a bad move on my part,
but for now,

805
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:04,680
I want folks to create
a kind of an interactive, world.

806
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,120
So, make sure you check that out.

807
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,240
But guns podcast dot U.S.

808
00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:13,000
and you may say, well,
why not.com because, well,

809
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,840
it's not available and they won't sell it
for a reasonable price.

810
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,120
So we had to go with guns podcast U.S.

811
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:22,320
and frankly, we have a lot of
international, listeners and viewers, but,

812
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,440
really, we're based in the United States,
and we're talking about the U.S

813
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:26,400
firearms industry.

814
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,400
So that just seemed like a natural.

815
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,600
And I really like, supporting that.

816
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:36,200
U.S so guns podcast dot U.S
so did I miss anything there? Roy

817
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:38,360
I don't think so.

818
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:43,560
I mean a lot of this I don't want to say
we're shooting from the hip, but I mean,

819
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,920
because we have a lot of experience
with all this other stuff too, you know?

820
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,760
But I think that just to have an open mind
and through this transition,

821
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:55,640
if you have any questions about any of
this, please post them in the comments.

822
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,280
And, and I'll get back to you or Brant.
Will.

823
00:41:58,280 --> 00:41:59,280
Yeah. Oh, cool.

824
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:00,840
I'm looking forward to it, actually.

825
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:01,920
I mean, it was inevitable.

826
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,080
It's almost like it's
a weight off our back.

827
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,520
Yeah, I mean, we were expecting
this other shoe to drop at some point.

828
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:08,360
Yeah.

829
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,120
It's been being maintained about more
by a miracle than anything else.

830
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,360
So, Oh, yeah. Don't you know it, brother?

831
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,800
Yeah. So.
So I think it's going to be good.

832
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,920
And I think there's going to be
a lot of positive things,

833
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,240
and I think everyone just
needs to have an open mind.

834
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:26,520
So I have some

835
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:30,320
online sites that I go to
that used to be print magazines.

836
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:33,920
And I found that
actually it can be really convenient

837
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,000
because, you know,
especially that search engine, it's like.

838
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,240
Yeah. Gee, now my interest is this.

839
00:42:39,240 --> 00:42:41,560
So now you search for that
and there it all is.

840
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:42,440
Yeah.

841
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,800
And I was reading recently
that search engines

842
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,920
are intentionally degrading their results.

843
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,680
And I'm like, well why would they do that.

844
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,120
Well it's because they want you to.

845
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:56,160
And I noticed myself doing this.

846
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:57,880
Page one didn't have what I wanted.

847
00:42:57,880 --> 00:42:59,240
Let's go to page two. Page three.

848
00:42:59,240 --> 00:42:59,800
Page four. Well,

849
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:03,960
every time you do that, they're serving
you more ads and gathering more data.

850
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:08,520
And, the nice thing is, now,
if you know a website that you like,

851
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,760
like guns magazine or Guns podcast.us,
you can go there

852
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,080
and you don't have to put up with that.

853
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:18,080
And bunch of Mickey Mouse
where there's a word for it I won't use.

854
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:21,000
But, as these big companies,

855
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,360
get to a certain stage,
they really don't care about you.

856
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,600
They just care
about sucking all the dollars out of it.

857
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:28,200
They can.

858
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:30,360
And that's where, a couple of these
big companies have gotten.

859
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:32,040
But we have not. Roy.

860
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:35,000
We still think you get what you see.

861
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:36,280
That's an important point.

862
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:39,480
In other words, when you go
to, American handgun, ecommerce, guns

863
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,840
magazine.com and you search,
you're not going to be blasted with,

864
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:47,440
you know, pop up ads of girls and,
you know, bikinis or whatever.

865
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:49,560
Maybe that's bad, I don't know, but,

866
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:51,120
yeah.

867
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,160
So I just keep an open mind
and just go do it.

868
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:59,760
And this could be a good excuse to tell
your wife or girlfriend or husband that.

869
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:00,560
You know what?

870
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:03,560
I need an iPad for Christmas. Yeah.

871
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:05,120
Yep. Exactly.

872
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,040
Well, I just look down at the timer.

873
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:07,800
Oh, my goodness.

874
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:12,080
This episode is certainly going long,
but we've been living this for a while.

875
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:17,840
And, again, I think the overarching thing
here is unlike a lot of, brands,

876
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:22,120
we try to explain what's going on
because I think people want to understand,

877
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,080
you know, I like to know what my favorite,

878
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,400
musical artist is doing
and what guitar they play.

879
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,640
And, Roy, I know
you like to know what chisel they're using

880
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,640
when they're doing a mortise and tenon.

881
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,040
So. It.

882
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:41,480
I feel like that makes everybody
pulling back the curtain,

883
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:43,880
helps folks,

884
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:47,120
really get invested in what we're doing
and feel like they're part of something.

885
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:51,840
And when you read guns magazine
at guns magazine.com, or you listen

886
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:56,120
to the podcast on a podcast directory,
or you go to guns podcast dot U.S.,

887
00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,120
you are part of a community, a small
but mighty community.

888
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,600
So I'm hoping
this is the start of a brand new day

889
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,440
where a lot of great stuff
is going to happen.

890
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:08,840
So, Roy, we've gone really long
for a podcast episode.

891
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,360
For us anyway, any closing thoughts before

892
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:15,400
we wrap this thing up in a nice neat bow?

893
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:20,040
Well, this was big news,
and so I think it deserved the attention.

894
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:20,800
And I agree with you.

895
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:25,280
I think the readers, deserve
to know what was going on

896
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,120
and some of the mechanics behind it,
and so I'm glad we were able to do it.

897
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:30,600
I'm looking forward to the future.

898
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:34,640
It'll be the same quality, the same
people, the same ideas, the same fun.

899
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:38,000
So stay with us.

900
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:39,240
Stay with us.

901
00:45:39,240 --> 00:45:40,320
Great words.

902
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:40,840
Well, thanks.

903
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:42,000
Roy Huntington.

904
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,840
Again, many, many
thanks for everything you've done for me

905
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:46,880
and for the podcast over the years.

906
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,960
And I thank you for listening to this
entire episode of the guns podcast.

907
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:54,960
Dot U.S
make sure you check out guns magazine.com

908
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,160
for great Gun Writing,
and also check out Guns Podcast.

909
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:02,680
Plus for all the the fun stuff
and random brain dribble from your host

910
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:03,880
I, Brant Wheat,

911
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,760
who is currently the editor of guns
magazine, and I'm planning on being

912
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:08,560
that for a while.

913
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,640
But you know, we'll see
what the future brings.

914
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:15,120
But hopefully folks are going to rally
around us and support what we're doing.

915
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:17,880
Both the podcast and guns magazine.com.

916
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:19,280
So I really appreciate it.

917
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:23,200
Please make sure you do that like and
subscribe thing that's really important.

918
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:24,760
And that's how we keep going.

919
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:27,760
And we explain
to those millennial marketers that, hey,

920
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,960
they've got a pretty significant
audience here who really likes

921
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:32,960
and believes what they're doing
and they buy stuff.

922
00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:34,400
So I appreciate it.

923
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:39,560
So on behalf of Roy Huntington
and all my current and former family

924
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:43,480
and friends here, FMcG publications,
I am guns magazine editor

925
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,560
Brant Wheat, reminding you yet again
and for the future.

926
00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:48,800
Now get out there and get shooting.

927
00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:02,480
And.