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Skin Diver Magazine is Out of Air! |
| © Copyright 2003 Bill Jones World Rights Reserved |
Originally published as "The Skin Diver", the
magazine was the creation of California spearfishing enthusiasts Jim Auxier and
Chuck Blakeslee. Promoted as "a magazine for spearfishermen", the
first 16-page black and white issue featured spear-fishing champ Doc Nelson
Mathison showing off his "monster" sea bass.
Two years ago, Sport Diver magazine was suffering from
the same lack of revenue sources. PADI purchased, revamped, and provided CPR
to this publication with its wealth of members as new subscribers along with a
large portfolio of eager advertisers. At the same time, PADI’s snobby and much
more expensive to produce Aqua magazine was quietly allowed to drown
with no hope of rescue.
Editor Note: Bill Jones, The Scuba
Guy, is a PADI Master Instructor and a Published and Award-Winning
Writer
Questions & Comments: The
Scuba Guy
Launched in December 1951, the November 2002 issue of Skin
Diver Magazine was the final edition of the first nationwide SCUBA diving
publication. After 51 years of trying to find itself in a continuously changing
market, the magazine seemed to be diving too deep in red ink to survive.
Blaming sharp declines in both subscription and ad revenue, there was no
decompression chamber that could revive this horrible case of the bends.
Even the publication’s name never really embraced its most productive market
segment.
With the rapid improvements in equipment and training in the
1980’s, SCUBA diving was becoming a very popular mainstream recreational
activity. During this same period, Skin Diver Magazine was reinventing itself to
cater to this new trendy audience steadily boosting subscription and ad revenue.
Manufacturers, stores, clubs, and other scuba publications were
simultaneously benefiting from the growing demand. By the late 1990’s, a dozen
new diving specialty publications had hit the newsstands. Supply began catching
up with demand.
