ink and eraser crumbs for this wretched creature
First things first: Every time I post one of my cartoons from CQ Amateur Radio Magazine, I also post a link to the page where you can buy a subscription.
If you did happen to buy a subscription on my recommendation — and you haven’t received any issues — well, I apologize. Unfortunately, you’ll have to get in line with me. I haven’t received any recently, either.
And I am hearing (unofficially) that the chances of receiving any issues, at least in the immediate future, are slim.
After almost 80 years as the independent voice of the radio hobby, CQ has suspended publication. I have no inside gossip to share, so don’t ask. You can get the sad story from the Better Business Bureau website and various ham radio forums. Then you’ll know as much as I do.
I have nothing but affection for the staff at CQ, from my editor, Rich Moseson, to everyone else I’ve worked with over the years. They have, as the Good Book says, “fought the good fight” and stayed the course, but it may not have been enough.
These are hard times for journalism in general, of course, and print journalism in particular. The once-revered Baltimore Sun, after being kicked around by a series of indifferent owners for several years, has just been sold to the family that controls the far-right Sinclair Broadcast Group. (Sinclair owns Channel 22 and Channel 53 in Pittsburgh, along with almost 200 other TV stations.)
Sinclair has a reputation for running its properties very cheaply, and using them to push far-right-wing conspiracy theories. During 2016, they ran anti-Hillary Clinton and pro-Donald Trump “documentaries” in lieu of real newscasts.
The Baltimore Sun, in other words, has been rescued from slow death at the hands of venture-capitalist goons in favor of quick torture at the hands of a group of propagandists and neo-fascists. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Hobby magazines like CQ had a niche, and I honestly thought they would survive, but they’ve been falling by the wayside for a while.
When I got into the hobby, there were a dozen radio magazines available down at your Barnes & Noble, including CQ, 73, Ham Radio, Monitoring Times, Popular Communications, QST, WorldRadio, and probably others I’m forgetting.
With CQ suspending publication, QST — the official journal of the American Radio Relay League — is the last one remaining. And from the scuttlebutt I see online, the print edition is in danger of going away.
Until recently, CQ was selling about 60,000 copies a month. But the advertising in practically all publications has been rapidly shrinking. In the case of the radio hobby magazines, the electronics stores that once filled their pages with glossy ads are being clobbered by Monoprice and Amazon. As a result, even though electronics-related hobbies — fired up by the maker movement — are thriving, several large established electronics retailers have recently closed their doors.
And the classified ads hawking used equipment that once packed the back pages of hobby magazines such as CQ have been eaten up by eBay and Craiglist.
I will admit, in the interest of full disclosure, that it’s been a while since I last was paid for a cartoon by CQ, so I knew times were tough. (They promised to make it up to me some day, and I decided to take them at their word.)
Well, last month, the bad news began to trickle out: Publication has been suspended pending a cash infusion from an outside investor or possibly a buyer.
I hope an investor is forthcoming. CQ is a good product, and besides the magazine, they’ve long supported a series of very popular ham radio contests and awards programs.
I first started cartooning for Popular Communications — a sister title to CQ, owned by the same company — in 2007. When “Pop’Comm” was merged into another magazine, they graciously took me along to the title. And when that magazine was folded into the main magazine, they kept me on as an contributing editor.
It’s been a good run, of 16 years, and I’ve enjoyed the notoriety it gave me in the hobby. (More than once, someone has come up to me at a ham radio event and mentioned one of my cartoons, which gave me a nice feeling.) A few years ago, I got to paint a cover illustration, and three years ago, I got to illustrate the early history of Pittsburgh’s KDKA for a full-page feature.
All good things, as they say, must come to an end. If CQ resumes publication, I hope they’ll have me back.
In the meantime, I’m available to illustrate your publication at reasonable rates. Email me at jaythurbershow@gmail.com.
Would anyone like to rent a slightly used cartoonist?