USA (9 Oct 2002) -- Skin Diver Magazine has shut down nearly 51 years after the publication was launched in December 1951. The November 2002 issue of Skin Diver, which has already been mailed to subscribers, will be the final edition of America's first national scuba diving publication. Originally published as "The Skin Diver", the 16-page black and white magazine (with a two-color black and green cover) was the creation of Jim Auxier and Chuck Blakeslee, a couple of southern California spearfishing enthusiasts. The first issue contained spear fishing stories and the cover featured spear-fisher champ Doc Nelson Mathison showing off his "monster" sea bass. Back in the 1950s, when the bounty of the seas seemed unlimited, diving was synonymous with killing marine life, and for many years the pages of Skin Diver reflected the focus on underwater hunting. From its humble beginnings as a thin 16-page compilation of underwater hunting stories, spear fishing competitions and snapshots of "tough guys" with big dead fish slung over their shoulders, Skin Diver gradually became a successful mainstream publication. With improvements in equipment and training, scuba diving developed into a popular mainstream recreational activity, which steadily boosted ad revenue for Skin Diver and other monthly scuba magazines, especially during the 1980s and 1990s when the print media still controlled the information flow via conventional advertising formulas. Skin Diver editor Al Hornsby flashes a little tattoo as the ship goes down. During his tenure at the helm of Skin Diver, Hornsby and co-editor Ty Sawyer were often on the wrong side of environmental issues, which hastened the demise of a publication already drowning in red ink. According to one industry analyst, Hornsby's strident promotion of marine wildlife harassment suggests he may be headed to PADI Project Aware, an organization that promotes shark feeding thrill dives as "conservation". | | "A magazine for spearfishermen" But with the advent of the electronic age, dive consumers turned to the web for more reliable news-based information, and diving companies were able to bypass Skin Diver and other costly print media publications by promoting and selling online. The inevitable result according to Percy Harrington, editor of IN-DEPTH, a leading online scuba consumer advocate, "…were sharp declines in both subscription and ad revenue, which ultimately drowned Skin Diver in red ink." "The scuba industry is experiencing revolutionary changes as millions of dive consumers worldwide turn to the net as their primary source of information about diving, their discount scuba equipment store and their 'dive operator direct' travel agent," explained Harrington. "It's more than a tough sell trying to convince astute dive company managers to spend a small fortune on a single ad in a regional scuba magazine with necessarily limited circulation when they can reach so many more divers for so much less via leading scuba portal sites such as Cyber Diver, ScubaLinx and of course CDNN." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
