It was no day at the beach for Surfer magazine employees.
In August, after L.A.-based Petersen Cos. Inc. bought Surfer Publications Inc. of San Juan Capistrano, the new owners called a 10 a.m. meeting at a nearby hotel.
“Anybody who didn’t get invited to that meeting got fired,” recalled Surfer Editor Steve Hawk. “When we came back from the meeting, there were all these people who had been given notice. I think that’s just the way it happens in business.”
Both Surfer and its rival, San Clemente-based Surfing, the flagships of this once-bohemian industry, are learning to swim in the considerably less mellow seas of corporate America.
Gone are the two magazines’ previous owners, a cement manufacturer and the brother of the richest man in Australia. In their places are two aggressive, publicly traded media conglomerates Petersen with Surfer and New York-based Primedia Inc. with Surfing looking for growth among hard-to-reach adolescent males.
Industry observers believe the 34-year rivalry is about to become more heated, and one magazine may catch the better wave and leave the other behind.
“It’s kind of bizarre competition,” said Bill Sharp, general manager of swimwear-maker K2, whose industry is the key advertiser for both magazines. “They both sell 100,000 editions a month, year in and year out. They’ve both been sold to large publishing concerns in the last couple of years. The deadlock is bound to break.”
Surfing magazine said it grossed $6.7 million last year and while Surfer wouldn’t divulge its gross revenue, it is believed to be in the same neighborhood. Insiders said profit margins at both magazines have been healthy, particularly in the past two years.
The two new parent companies, with their publishing skills, are expected to drive margins even higher.
“In the past, we’d have determined our growth ourselves,” said Surfing Publisher Bob Mignogna, whose magazine was acquired by Primedia in 1997. “Now the growth is predicated on the stock market and the investment community’s desire for our growth. I’m sure the exact same thing is happening at the Surfer group.”
After purchasing Surfer Publications which includes Surfer, Powder, Snowboarder, Skateboarder and Bike Petersen fired a handful of employees and consolidated Powder and Bike with its magazine group based in Colorado.
Petersen plans to invest more in circulation and marketing, which had little resources previously. Surfer also is planning an audit to verify its claimed monthly print run of 155,000 (108,000 paid circulation), which the magazine hopes will allow it to reach beyond its traditional advertising base of surfwear firms.
“Petersen is a machine. They know how to get their numbers up,” Hawk said.
Surfing’s circulation has gradually increased in the past five years, going from 99,200 in 1994 to 109,300 in the first half of 1998, according to Business Publications Audit International. Mignogna said the press run, which isn’t audited, is about 180,000 monthly. Surfing is the flagship magazine of Surfing Group, which also includes Surf Guide, Body Boarding and Surfing Girl.
In their efforts to expand, both magazines have to tread carefully around what’s known in surfing circles as “authenticity.” The surfer subculture still has a strong anti-establishment bent. Both magazines often have editorialized against developers and selling out. It will be a delicate balancing act for both media conglomerates to grow the magazines without alienating their hard-core readers.
“Thank goodness they have someone like me, who’s been running the magazine for 24 years,” quipped Mignogna, who said he had been out surfing that morning at San Onofre. “The challenge is how to grow while the core titles remain true to their missions. ”
Both magazines still have a definite non-corporate feel. They encourage their employees to bring their surfboards to work and have places for their wetsuits to dry.
