Monday, December 15, 2008

San Pedro Today Magazine Coming

First I will start off with the informational Email from Mr. Joshua Stecker, the former publisher of San Pedro Magazine.

Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 8:22 AM

Subject: San Pedro Today Premieres in January!

**PLEASE FORWARD****PLEASE FORWARD TO EVERYONE**(Apologies if you receive this multiple times... because you probably will.)

Hi everyone, Well, the cat's out of the bag.

Yes, the Press-Telegram has quietly ceased publication of San Pedro Magazine, and in turn, I have been laid off.

Getting laid off is never fun or easy, but what's worse than me losing my job is watching the two newspapers that serve San Pedro officially abandoning our area. First it was MORE, now San Pedro Magazine.

Well, I wasn't going to sit idly by and let my hometown lose a magazine that was hugely popular, profitable, well-respected and incredibly fun to produce.

So, in good ole' San Pedro do-it-yourself fashion, I'm launching San Pedro Today, a new independently owned and operated monthly magazine serving my hometown of San Pedro.

Premiering the week of January 5, 2009, San Pedro Today will have the same great 30,000 copy circulation (still the largest circulated publication in San Pedro), free home delivery to homes and condos, the beautiful glossy cover and include all the great columnists and contributors who helped make the former publication the success it was.

I’m taking the best parts of what made San Pedro Magazine great and enhancing it with all the features I wanted to do but could never get done working for my former corporation.

Now that I independently own and operate San Pedro Today, I can finally give San Pedro the type of quality publication it has always deserved.

And talk about launching with a BANG! Our first issue will be a special commemorative issue featuring the San Pedro High School Football team celebrating their L.A. City Section (co-) Championship!

This premiere issue will feature a cover and story celebrating the exciting and historic 21-21 tie championship game between San Pedro and Narbonne High School. (I was there, it was an incredible game!)

It will also include a multiple-page photo spread chronicling the entire game, including photos of fans in the stands and candid on and off-the-field celebrations.

It will definitely be a highly sought after publication when it hits the streets. I'm excited to launch the new magazine leading with such an awesome hometown event.

In addition to our regular content, we're also accepting "SPHSFootball Pride" ads if anyone is interested in adding a personal ad congratulating our SPHS Pirates to our premiere issue.

All the information is at http://www.sanpedrotoday.com/.

On a personal note, I want to be very clear that my parting from the Press-Telegram was an amicable one. The situation that unfolded this past week was due to the incredible hardships facing the newspaper industry as a whole. I do not envy those in charge at the Press-Telegram, they have a huge mountain to climb and have to deal with a huge corporation that has completely lost focus of what it means to produce a quality local newspaper for the community.

It’s sad, really.

Newspapers are dying, but magazines are alive and kicking.

To all our current (and future) advertisers, thanks for shifting your support to San Pedro Today.

The transition will be painless. My former advertising representative from San Pedro Magazine, Patricia Roberts, has joined me on San Pedro Today and will be assisting you in the turnover process.

I’m also pleased to announce we’re LOWERING ADVERTISING RATES across the board for the new publication. Since we do not have to go through the corporate bureaucracy to get things done, our working experience should be much more fun and easy. We’re here to help you succeed.

Lastly, those who have worked with me and have known me through the former magazine know how much I love my hometown. I’m a fourth generation San Pedran and proud of it. When I got the news about the abrupt cancellation of San Pedro Magazine, without being able to produce one final issue to let everyone know, well... I wasn't going to let that happen.

So, San Pedro Today was born.

I hope you join me on what will be one incredible adventure!

Sincerely,
Joshua

P.S. Make sure when you visit www.sanpedrotoday.com that you subscribe to our email newsletter on the top right-side column. This way you won't miss out on all the new content we'll be producing. :)

P.P.S. (or is it P.S.S.?) Please forward this email to anyone you think would be interested.

Thanks!
Joshua Stecker
Editor, San Pedro Today http://www.sanpedrotoday.com/

San Pedro Today contact information:

Phone: (310) 923-4084

Story Ideas/General Inquiries: contact@sanpedrotoday.com

Advertising: ads@sanpedrotoday.com

Event Announcements: events@sanpedrotoday.com______________________________________________

San Pedro Today is joining San Pedro News (see links above) as the two news operations providing information and resources specifically to San Pedro and I think it is great that Josh is going to produce a magazine with both a physical appearance and including an online edition.

I hope both Andrea and Josh can work with Jeromy Rogan at Rogue's Yarn and Diana Chapman at The Underdog For Kids, and other bloggers to produce the best coverage of events and news worthy items from all over the area.

We all come from different prospectives and having the online and print possibilities is wonderful.

San Pedro Today will be joining Random Lengths News focusing more on San Pedro than The Daily Breeze seems willing to do, using print formats.

I wish nothing but good luck and good fortune to Joshua Stecker, his writers, editors, advertisers, and everyone who subscribes to the new publication and has the chance to have it delivered to their driveway or door.

When Josh was running San Pedro Magazine, he sometimes felt there was too much negativity being offered for publication dealing with Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

He felt that there needed to be something published favoring the project. That is why he went to the Ponte Vista Outreach Team and asked for something from a supporter to put into the Magazine.

We now get to wonder how Mr. Stecker will be dealing with the future of the site and the project.
It has been shown by more than a few sources that the plans laid out by the former developer were not in the best interest of San Pedro and San Pedrans.

I hope Mr. Stecker will follow the future activities and proceedings very closely and have his reporters and editors deal with Ponte Vista to help provide the best outcome possible for OUR community.

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