What the heck is SNEWS? Find out here.

Posted: 08/27/2007 In Category(s):

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Wake Up to Real News – SNEWS®

SNEWS® IS…
Specialty News…the best, most reliable, outdoor, wintersports and fitness industry source for:

• Late-breaking insider news – trend reporting – business education – dynamic product reviews – company info – community chat – juicy celebrity gossip

 SNEWS® DOES…
Everything with integrity, independence and a sense of humor. We promise:

• Inspiration, truth, open discussion: always curious, never too serious

 SAYS WHO?
A partial list of words top-flight industry pros have used to describe SNEWS® (your words may vary)…

– “…the first file I open”
– “bravo”
– “never cease to impress”
– “like having a former CEO around”
– “the only industry information worth the time to read”
– “the voice of the industry”
– “keeps it real”
– “humor and calculated rumor”
– “best source of up-to-the-minute information”
– “best independent outdoor business website in the world”
– “they have the contacts”
– “I make a point of reading every issue”
– “much more about fact than hyperbole”
– “straight up”
– “depth of knowledge”
– “invaluable”
– “better than any other source out there”
– “keeping up with the pulse of the fitness industry”
-- “indispensable”
– “the only industry source that tells it like it is”
– “read SNEWS®” – “truthful journalism….”

WANT SNEWS®?
Too easy and for only $3.75 per week, less than a large latte...just click here to get started.

 ADVERTISE IN SNEWS®:
Website, OR Planning Guide, OR Daily, Retail College, SNEWS TV...

• Click here to download our latest SNEWS media kit


• Click here to download the OR Daily and OR Planning Guide media kit

SNEWS® Youth Advisory & Reporting Team:
The SNEWS Youth Advisory & Reporting team (YART) was launched in 2010. The goal was to give youth a chance to write, report and blog about the outdoor industry. With an eye toward the future, SNEWS felt involving budding writers, reporters, videographers and bloggers not only could offer mentoring and training to a younger generation of journalists, but also could help them help more youth get involved in recreation and the outdoors. Plus, it would help SNEWS and the industry to hear the voice of the youth on product, trends and other industry events.

• To read some of the stories they have done for us, click here

• To download an application, which are accepted on an ongoing basis, go to: www.snewsnet.com/youthteam.

WHO'S SNEWS®?

Michael Hodgson President

 (click for Michael Hodgson's bio)

Megan Mulligan Editor-in-Chief

David Clucas Senior Writer

(click for David Clucas' bio)

Ana Trujillo Assistant Editor

(click for Ana Trujillo's bio)

Elizabeth Averbeck Sales Manager

(click for Elizabeth Averbeck's bio)

Andrea Neukom Associate Marketing Manager

(click for Andrea Neukom's bio)

SNEWS® TIMELINE…HOW IN THE WORLD DID THIS HAPPEN?

The '70s: The Noon-eolithic period

• There's only one outdoor trade publication, NOON – the National Outdoors Outfitters News.
• Disco.

The '80s: The birth

• NOON editor Ted Eugenis leaves the magazine, moves back to Oregon where he and fellow NOONie, Bob Woodward, conceive SNEWS® in November of 1983.
• The first issue is mailed to a subscriber list of 50 in February 1984.

Later '80s: The growth

• SNEWS® continues to grow offering what one reader called, "coverage that's a cross between the New York Times and the National Enquirer."
• Outdoor Retailer magazine begins publishing. NOON becomes Outside Business magazine.
• Eugenis leaves. Bob Woodward now sole SNEWS® czar.

1990s: Thwarting the pirates

• Pirated Xerox copies of SNEWS® start popping up in break rooms in outdoor industry businesses.
• The Macarena.
• Woodward buys reams of copy-proof hot pink and orange paper to thwart the non-subscribing pirates. Trees mourn.

2000: New kids in town and SNEWS 2.0 begins

• SNEWS® turns 16 and gets its driver's license.
• Woodward begins handing off leadership to Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian.
• In November 2000, SNEWS® launches its password-protected website www.snewsnet.com.

2001: Logging on

• SNEWS® begins covering fitness trade news in late 2001.
• December 2001 – it's all online – adios http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/04733.html to all printed SNEWS® news. Trees rejoice. Woodward stuck with reams of ugly pink and orange paper.

2002: Launching the network

• Ownership of SNEWS® transfers completely to Hodgson and Iknoian.
• Gene Treacy joins Hodgson and Iknoian in fall as a partner.
• The GearTrends® Network lifts off. Starts publishing feature- and trends-driven magazines for outdoor and fitness. Gearheads rejoice.

2004: Expanding the empire

• Fitness gets psyched – SNEWS® launches a spring newsletter called FitBiz.
• Outdoor gets its first industry directory – OIA Directory launches.
• SNEWS® acquires the Law Quarterly and launches the Law Review http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/01770.html.
• Woodward offers to sell reams of pink and orange paper – "nice stuff, real cheap."

2005: All grown up

• SNEWS® turns 21, can legally drink.
• Fitness goes nuts over its own news. The team adds a second FitBiz in the fall.  

2006: The electronic monty

• eFitBiz http://www.geartrends.com/cgi-bin/geartrends/eFitBiz_1006.html is born when FitBiz goes 100 percent electronic. Trees rejoice. Again.
• Woodward wraps holiday gifts in pink and orange paper. Again.

2007: Blowing out five candles

• Mike Mooers joins management team as Minister of Mojo.
• GearTrends® celebrates fifth year as a growing business.
• Dec. 21: SNEWS® is acquired by Active Interest Media. The legacy not only continues, it promises to grow.

• GearTrends® magazines become SNEWS® magazines wih the Summer Outdoor and Fitness isues.
• We completely redesign our magazines and launch with a new logo
• Our first reader survey -- so long it was dubbed the War and Peace of surveys, generates huge response and confirms SNEWS® remains the market news and information leader for both outdoor and fitness.

• GearTrends.com disappears and become the GearTrends® Ad Marketplace in SNEWS®.
• SNEWS® launches a new design and features based on reader feedback from our 2008 reader survey.

• A star is born. SNEWS TV® (www.youtube.com/snewstv) launches to rave reviews and feedback in August.
• SNEWS® announces in Sept. that it has been awarded the contract to take over production of the OR Daily and OR Planning Guide -- click here to read the announcement. With this, the OR Daily returns home, as it was founded in 1995 by SNEWS president Michael Hodgson and managing editor Wendy Geister...then part of the Outdoor Retailer magazine staff.
• We launch our WinterSports channel in November, headlined by none other than Peter Kray, a veteran wintersports journalist.

• David Clucas joins the Boulder offices as senior writer in January.
• We say so long to Wendy Geister, our managing editor, in March.
• Ana Trujillo joins us in June as an assistant editor, and we promptly send her packing -- on her very first backpacking trip to Yosemite with the Columbia crew. We know ... tough first week on the job.
• Therese Iknoian says goodbye after 11 years on Dec. 31 -- click here to read.
• We close our Grass Valley offices for good. SNEWS is now Boulder-based.

• January 3, Megan Mulligan joins the team in Boulder as our new editor-in-chief -- click here to read our welcome announcement and learn a bit more about Megan.