Poptronics Is Gone???

This is the place for any magazine-related discussions that don't fit in any of the column discussion boards below.
greg123
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2002 1:01 am
Location: St. John's NFLD Canada
Contact:

Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by greg123 »

Hey Guys,<p>Whats this about poptronics being gone? Their site is down saying they are no longer in buisness. WHAT THE #@*(. That sucks. <p>goto www.gernsback.com<p>Does this mean i loose my subscription? And my subscription to their interactive site??<p>Dean, you out there??<p>greg<p>[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: Greg ]</p>
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Dean Huster »

Fear not. Poptronics is alive and well. The original gernsback.com site has been living with a nearly twin parallel site at http://www.poptronics.com/ for a couple of years, where all the forums, both old and new, and all the other material are still available. I think they're closing down the original gernsback site which was on a different server since it is a waste of space and time. Actually, I didn't know that note was popping up on the original site until you mentioned it since I access the forums there directly without going through the home page. Those "inner" URLs weren't affected. I'm surprised that they didn't redirect folks to the newer site. I might have to talk to Chris LaMorte about that little oversight.<p>Dean<p>[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: Dean Huster ]</p>
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
greg123
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2002 1:01 am
Location: St. John's NFLD Canada
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by greg123 »

Hang on now, I am a subscriber to both poptronics and poptronics interactive. I got an email this morning saying that the magazine is gone, and that is because gernsback is gone (i.e. out of buisness like their website says). <p>I had an issue with the interactive site because i paid for it and there were never any updates. The email said that is going too.<p>So dean, is gernsback still publishing? And, have they given up the poptronics interactive website.<p>The interactive site is now showing as "Talking Electronics" interactive as they write the site. Is this for real?? <p>Whats on the go?????<p>thanks for the reply by the way
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Dean Huster »

Forget that "fear not" crap, Greg. I'm now not sure what the heck is going on. http://www.gernsback.com is obviously dead with that ominous warning, "Gernsback Publications, Inc. publisher of Poptronics magazine is no longer in business effective 12/13/2002."<p>My original comment was based upon the fact that as a writer for a monthly column in the magazine, surely if something like this was going on, they'd let me know. After all, I have columns submitted for March already (the lead time is that long). The http://www.poptronics.com site is still going and the old forums are still active. I haven't checked the new ones yet. However, I'm not getting any answers to my e-mails to my editor. This morning, I fired off an e-mail to the owner of Gernsback, Larry Steckler. At least I have an e-mail address for him that doesn't go through the "gernsback.com" system. I'll report back with details when I hear something.<p>If Poptronics and Gernsback indeed are gone, this is a sad day for electronics hobbyists everywhere. The magazine hails from the "golden age" of electronics magazines of the 1950's and 1960's when there were many titles from which to choose. Popular Electronics died a horrible death under Ziff-Davis and the title was resurrected and redirected toward its former glory under Gernsback. I was always uneasy about the folding of Electronics Now and Popular Electronics into the new title, Poptronics. And now my fears may not be unfounded. There will now be more electronics magazines in either the U.K. or Australia from which to choose than there will be here in the U.S.A.<p>If the death is indeed true, I may attempt a shot at my own magazine. Ha! Now to figure out the funding .....<p>Dean
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
Ron H
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Boise, ID
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Ron H »

Have you guys looked at this?<p>http://www.poptronics.com/interactive/<p>Ron
Larry Lemieux
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Corona, CA
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Larry Lemieux »

I spoke to Larry Steckler this morning and he confirmed that Poptronics is indeed gone and that Gernsback Publications no longer exists.<p>We were as shocked as any and sorry to see them go.<p>He did say that the interactive web site will continue, but is being migrated to a different server. I got the impression that there might be some service problems that will be resolved when the move is complete.<p>I'll let you know if any other details are brought to my attention.<p>Larry Lemieux
Nuts & Volts
greg123
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2002 1:01 am
Location: St. John's NFLD Canada
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by greg123 »

Wow! As dean said, it's a sad day for electronics. It was great every month to have two great mag's that filled all needs; Poptronics and Nuts and Volts. <p>Is it a financial issue? God, poptronics had much more advertising than all the other mag's. Ads stuck in every corner possible.<p>Anyway, that sucks. Dean you sould get your own mag!!<p>Or we, the forum boy's, could start one....
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Dean Huster »

Like Larry Lemieux, I just got a reply from Larry Steckler, the owner of Gernsback. Yes, Gernsback is gone. I suppose I feel a little like the poor kid who find out after the court decree that his parents just got a divorce.<p>Larry (S.) also mentioned that the mailing lists of Poptonics may be taken over by other magazines, providing replacement issues.<p>I am assuming (I don't really know) that the closure was financial in nature. I was very concerned when Popular Electronics and Electronics Now were merged into Poptronics. I had figure then that it was a declining subscription base and probably a declining advertising base. Yes, there were a lot of ads in the mag, but it may be that there were a lot of major advertising contracts that weren't being renewed.<p>Larry (L.), I hope that Nuts and Volts is running healthy vital signs and not suffering from the same problems. I know that you guys were smart enough to see that the Internet was going to be killing your traditional classified ad base and that you had to spread out into a tradional feature article and monthly column format. It was a timely move.<p>Need a new columnist?<p>Dean
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Dean Huster »

Just for the record, I've updated my profile:
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
Carl Pugh
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Newark, Californis, USA
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Carl Pugh »

It appears that Poptronics death has been greatly exaggerated.
I received the January 2003 issue yesterday.
greg123
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2002 1:01 am
Location: St. John's NFLD Canada
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by greg123 »

Sorry Carl,<p>I got mine as well. The publisher is dead, i.e. Gernsback. Which usually means the magazine is dead. I guess the jan issue is the last issue.
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by Dean Huster »

Oddly enough, even though I write one of the columns in the mag (similar to T.J. Byers' in N&V), I usually don't get the newest issue until I've had several readers pop some questions through about the current column. Well, that means that I should hopefully get a January check from Gernsback, since they pay upon publication.<p>My question had been whether or not they'd continue to publish through March since most folks had their March columns in by December 5th. It would be nice if that were to happen.<p>Dean
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
User avatar
jollyrgr
Posts: 1289
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Northern Illinois
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by jollyrgr »

Does anyone rememeber "Radio Electronics"? That the magazine before it became "Electronics Now"? <p>So what other general electronics magazines are left besides Nuts & Volts? I'm not talking about things like QST or CQ, but TRUE electronic magazines.<p>Maybe Don Lancaster will have time to write for N&V again.<p>[ December 23, 2002: Message edited by: Jolly Roger ]</p>
No trees were harmed in the creation of this message. But billions of electrons, photons, and electromagnetic waves were terribly inconvenienced!
User avatar
haklesup
Posts: 3136
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2002 1:01 am
Location: San Jose CA
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by haklesup »

I sure do remember Radio Electronics. I started off with it in 1982 and rode it all the way through Elecronics Now and a couple years into Poptronics when it stopped serving my needs. I had most of my back issues until a few years ago when I let someone clean them out based on the 10-year rule (if you don't touch it in 10 years you probably don't need it)<p>Check out the circulation licence statement in the middle of the Poptronics issue that they have for download (jan 2002 on the site now) for a clue to the drop off in subscriptions. Look at the number of issues printed vs those returned, sold and given complementary for the two years listed (also note the date errors). I don't know if those are good numbers or not but it does show a clear decline. This should be in the jan and July issues of each year if anyone has back issues (and cares to summarize it for us).<p>To answer your other Q.
Most of the trade mags are more in the engineering direction and usually limited to some topic as opposed to the hobbiest mag which is a little broader in scope. I just picked up a copy of "Circuit Cellar" which seems to somewhere in the middle and has some good articles but few thoroughly worked out projects. Although their byline is " a magazine for computer applications" they do cover plenty of analog stuff in this issue. Anyway, It's new to me and these are just my initial observations. Let's see how long they last but with 100 pages and 115 advertizing clients, it looks pretty good for now.
bodgy
Posts: 1044
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Poptronics Is Gone???

Post by bodgy »

Well the UK had a big shake out 5 or 6 years ago and there are now only 5 electronics magazines.<p>EPE Mag - aimed at hobbiests and secondary schools
Elektor - Advanced hobbiests and spare time EE's
Electronics World/Wireless World - For EE's these days - rarely do they have a complete project
Practical Wireless - Not too sure these days - used to be aimed at the hobbiest with radio slant
Practical Television - Aimed at the TV/Vid Engineer.<p>I haven't included the 3 amateur radio mags in that list (Shortwave Radio,RSGB mag and Amateur Radio).<p>The last time I was in the UK they were all hard to get from newsagents, even from WH Smiths - the main wholesale distributor and retailer of newsprint.<p>I recall Hobby Electronics, ETI (now EPE), Radio Constructor, Maplin Magazine and one whose name I forget but only lasted 6 months back in the late 70's early 80's.<p>
Colin<p>Correction looks like Practical Television is with the dodo's<p>[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: bodgy ]</p>
On a clear disk you can seek forever.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 15 guests