A few years back I put together a book called Lives on Board. Below is a brief synopsis, followed by a cool excerpt from a good friend, Dave Dash, who was the Publisher of SkateBoarder during its golden days. I hope you enjoy. A piece of wood, two trucks, four wheels...a skateboard. You start by rolling down a sidewalk, and end up rolling through life. For some the ride stops at the end of the street; for others the ride never ends. This book was written by those for whom the ride is never-ending: by the 15-year-old grom who falls asleep dreaming of skateboarding; by the 40-something pad dad you see at the local skatepark; by the women whose stories have never been told; and by the 73-year-old architect who didnt begin skateboarding until the age of 65. Over 170 stories and 200+ photographs. The everyman/everywoman are accompanied by contributions from some notable skateboarders, and other personalities from the skateboard world that I have come to know since I began skateboarding in 1974. Some of the great skateboarding photographers have graciously contributed to the book. The introduction is by Stacy Peralta. The Beginning of an Era of Excellence: SkateBoarder Magazine Dave Dash - SkateBoarder Magazine Publisher. Wow, what a ride it was. Eight wild years with a product that defined the sport of skateboarding: SkateBoarder magazine. Here’s a little history on how it all started. Some of you will find this information interesting and others will find it boring; for me it was life-changing! I started as advertising manager for Surfer magazine in 1973, a dream job come true for a 32-year-old surfer and father of three kids. Working for Surfer was a blast and everything I had dreamed it would be. My clients were Dewey Weber, Con, Natural Progression, Jacobs, Val Surf and about 100 other legendary surfboard and surf equipment manufacturers. I was also put in charge of the growing skateboard advertisers that were beginning to place some small ads in Surfer because there wasnt any other magazine that reached out to the beach community. After a few months my immediate boss didnt like skateboards and said I was “in charge” of all the skateboard advertisers. That was cool with me, because the skate manufacturers were all very positive and paid their bills. The problem came when the skate-related ads became so numerous that the Surfer readers began to complain. I did some research and found out that Surfer had published a magazine in 1965 called The Quarterly Skateboarder. It lasted for just four issues but it meant, according to our copyright attorneys, that Surfer still owned the name and had the legal rights to the title. So I suggested to Surfer’s publisher, Steve Pezman, that we print a “one-shot” magazine called SkateBoarder based on the format of Surfer. That meant lots of color action photos, well-worded photo captions and an editorial-to-advertising ratio of 60/40. Steve told me to “run the numbers” and see if it made sense as far as economics. At that time it didnt, but in May 1975 it did. Pezman took my numbers to the president of the company that owned Surfer and made a presentation. We got the OK a few days later, and SkateBoarder magazine was born in June 1975. The original idea was to produce SkateBoarder with the staff of Surfer. That meant extra work for the Surfer crew, but everyone (all eight employees) was cool with that because it was just for one issue. Well, once I got out to all the potential advertisers with the news that we were going to do a special “one-shot” magazine called SkateBoarder, I sold every bit of available advertising space in a few days. It quickly became apparent that SkateBoarder was destined to become its own magazine. I must mention some of the real industry visionaries that jumped on the SkateBoarder magazine concept – guys like Bill and Bob Bahne (Bahne Skateboards), Frank Nasworthy (Cadillac Wheels), Tom Sims (Sims Skateboards) and Larry Gordon (G & S) were there in the beginning with advertising support and help in finding us the hot riders all over California and the nation. The first issue was a roaring success and set the course for what was to follow. We numbered that first issue Volume 2, Number 1 because Volume 1 had been printed in 1965. We were often asked where Volume 1 was, and as it turned out there was only one set of Volume 1 Quarterly Skateboarders in the Surfer archives. I don’t know if they are still around or not, but I can guarantee you that Volume 2 looked a lot better. We followed the Surfer formula for success: lots of color action photos, artful photo captions and relevant editorial articles. The “one-shot” concept lasted for just one issue, and I decided that because of the incredible ad revenue it was possible to publish SkateBoarder on a bimonthly basis, alternating with Surfer. We originally wanted to use the Surfer staff to do SkateBoarder in the alternate months because of the cost savings. That meant SkateBoarder was like the little brother to Surfer. But after just two issues, SkateBoarder had more advertising volume and revenue than Surfer, which meant something had to change. I was made publisher of SkateBoarder, and it became my task to assemble a new staff for SkateBoarder because it was impossible to continue use the Surfer staff any more. Advertising was pretty much under control at the moment, but there quickly became other issues. Getting the right editorial content was a huge and crucial issue. Art Brewer was very instrumental in the early days of SkateBoarder with his soulful photo contributions of skaters in California and Hawaii. He captured the surf influence in skating with his classic photos of Gregg Weaver skating both on the streets of Carlsbad, California and local pools. But the guy that really had the skate vision was surf photographer Warren Bolster. Warren was living in San Diego and was dialed into the surf and skate underground. His ability to capture the intensity and beauty of skating put him into a league of his own. Warren’s photos were the basis for the magazine’s quick success, and he was asked to be the original photo editor, which quickly turned into editor because he had a writing talent as well. I went on to hire Paul Haven as art director and Rus Calisch as advertising director. Then I stole the multi-talented Kathy Freygang from Surfer and made her my executive assistant. And so the original SkateBoarder production team was created. SkateBoarder became legendary in the magazine world because of its incredible worldwide popularity. We broke into uncharted territory at Surfer by becoming the first magazine in the group to go monthly; the first to print more than 300,000 copies; the first to exceed the 60/40 formula; the most popular youth magazine in 1978-1980; and on and on. It was an incredible journey that later saw the extraordinary talents of Brian Gillogly, D. David Morin, James Cassimus, Ellen O’Neal and Jack Smith put to good use I could go on with a thousand more stories about SkateBoarder and the cast of characters that surrounded it. Craig Stecyk, Skip Engblom, Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, George Powell, Dave McIntyre, Dave Dominy, Chuck Stevens and so many other players all left their mark. Ask me anytime for a story, and I’d be happy to tell you some secrets.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 05:06:26 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015