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I want to call out John Atkinson's farewell to Sam and Wes in the March 2015 Stereophile magazine.
I found the writeup a very classy way to send good bye wishes to both gentlemen. Wes' contributions in the 1990s always left me impressed. And for the tenure of my very long time subscription to the magazine, Sam has held the place of the first thing I'd read upon receiving it in the mail.
Sam, you had a great run, and have done a fantastic job during your tenure. You're already missed.
Thank you, JA!!!
Follow Ups:
My March came today and another great issue and I thought JA's response to the "resignations" was very classy and just a time for all to move on to new things that are constructive and creative.
I do wish that $4500 lp cleaning machine was not beyond my reach, but that Pioneer turntable is not. But, I must say that those speaker responses in AD's room are driving me crazy, but it must not bother him and I'm over 1,000 miles away. Maybe to fix it would really alter to cosmetics of the room more than AD wants.
Anyway, thanks for another great issue. Music reviews were great as well.
Jim Tavegia
It is a sad departure, but everyone gets to make choices that suits them for whatever reason. Whether it is missed deadlines or money matters little in the overall scheme of things.
As a Math teacher in a second career I can tell you that "late" does not work for me as deadlines are made clear in my classroom from the beginning and everyone has deadlines in getting articles together to get the Magazine to print. Business is business and good jobs are hard to come by these days and this magazine is a respite for many of us for the daily grind of our lives.
JA has always taken to much crap for what he has to do to put out the best audio magazine out there. One can never forget that the Boss gets to decide....period. It should not surprise anyone that he has bosses as well and a career in the middle of all of this.
I hope the dirty laundry can get lost as it is time to move on. Change is everywhere. Unfortunate for some, but the reality of it all. I respect ST and WP for all they contributed and they will be missed. It was not our choice for it to end.
Jim Tavegia
The public airing of dirty laundry is unbecoming. Glad that the editor chose to take the high road, at least publicly in this forum (we will never know the true story of what went on behind closed doors, nor it any of our business).
JA's comments in the March issue were a professional, complementary sendoff to Sam/Tom and Wes, and I expected nothing less. Unfortunately Sam doesn't come from the same mold and he has chosen to pepper the AA forum with coy remarks alluding to unspecified financial or other problems at Stereophile.For what it's worth, I will just add that in my opinion the departure of Sam Tellig is no loss. For my tastes, Stereophile will be even better than it already is if JA gives the page space previously taken up by Sam's commentaries to Art Dudley or Michael Fremer.
Edits: 02/16/15
Here is what I know...we do NOT know what lead to Sam's retirement...other than he does not want to work for the new parent company...I totally get that...
I got hired away from a company that I worked 17 years for, by one of our much larger competitors...the reason I took the position was an opportunity to work with a guy who had a great reputation in our industry and we wanted to work together...
After about 6 months, I realized this guy had ZERO ethics...he wanted me to compromise mine for the good of the company...I left shortly after that...my personal karma could not work for someone who sold their soul for a dollar...
JA has some of the thickest skin that I have ever seen...he takes a beating on this forum and ALWAYS takes the high road...I have great respect for him, Stereophile and his technical expertise...he is also a recording engineer...so which I feel just adds to what he brings to the table...Cradle to Grave knowledge of the Recording Industry...
JA did exactly what I thought he would do, graciously thanked and highlighted the achievements of two of his longtime colleagues...
I own a Music Fidelity DAC 21 based on a review of Sam's...I have yet to replace it...it still delivers goose-bumps...
It really isn't any of my business to the why Sam retired, other than to wish him well and hope to see his writing somewhere in the future...
thanks
Mark
It does seem odd that Sam didn't see fit to write a farewell to his readers. Unless this was a 'take this job and shove it' kind of situation. Which, in that case, is sadder still.
Regardless, I agree that JA did a nice job with his acknowledgement.
Apparently not, Sam decided to retire. Wishing him the best.
As JA accurately noted, I resigned. I may or may not have retired.
I no longer want to write for Stereophile.
Stereophile is owned by TEN: The Enthusiast Network, the rebranded remnant of now-defunct Source Interlink. TEN is said to be largely owned by Golden Tree Asset Management, a hedge fund.
You can Google TEN and Source Interlink. You can also Google Source Interlink and Bonita Springs, Florida ... and Time-Warner.
Would you want to work for these people?
I, as well as the majority of people interested in hi-fi I would go out on a limb to say, feel that you have a lot to offer.
I wish you the best and am still puzzled at anyone asking you if you want to be paid for your work.
I always told my kids and wife that the main issue in doing work for anyone is that the cheques don't bounce. A delay in payment is usually a precursor of trouble of the rubber kind.
Professionals like Sam want to be paid for their work, and promptly.
Can anyone blame them? Trouble is, there are plenty of wannabees who are more than willing to review equipment free, just so they can call themselves "Reviewers".
When payroll isn't being paid regularly and on time you know damned well that trouble is brewing. Remember that old cliché - "Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul". Pay the suppliers first one month then cover the payroll checks the next! Anything to keep the doors open, but that can't last indefinitely.
About twenty years ago I worked for a corporation whose payroll checks had become so unreliable that the employees would grab their checks and haul ass to the bank that they were drawn on to cash them the instant those checks got into their hands. The people who were slow to do that wound up with bounced checks that week. I didn't stick around, but those who did arrived at work one day (about two months later) only to find chains securing all of the doors with Federal Marshal's notices proclaiming that the business was seized for non payment of their quarterly employment taxes.
Most of us know that print publishing is probably on its last legs. Only those at the very top of their game will survive. I don't think that todays Stereophile can make the cut. I gave it a maximum of five years under the present regime on a post that I made a couple of months ago. I've just revised my prediction down to two years tops.
Bye Stereophile, it was great at the beginning. No so great during the recent past.
Cheers,
Al
> When payroll isn't being paid regularly and on time you know damned well
> that trouble is brewing.
For the record, payroll has been paid regularly and on-time for all
full-time staff at Stereophile. I request you not to repeat baseless
rumors like this.
As Sam Tellig correctly wrote, contractor payments were late for the
November 2014 issue but those for the December issue were actually early.
There were then issues with contractor payments for the January and
February 2015 issues that affected some contractors but not others. These
problems were connected with the transfer of the company's accounts
payables activities from an internal department to an outsource company.
As of 10 days ago, all Stereophile's contractors are up to date with
their payments through the March 2015 issue.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Hey Atkinson, a little defensive huh? That was a general statement that I made and I related it directly to personal experience with a former employer.
How full of s**t can you be, you ass-licking turd? You show me exactly where I "repeat(ed) baseless rumors like this" and I'll retract them. But you can't, can you? To begin with, judging from other posts in this thread they're not just rumors nor are they baseless, are they? I didn't post my comments in this thread to directly address you and your magazine only, but since you seem to think that I did perhaps I'll tell you how I feel:
You've taken what was once a very interesting niche magazine and destroyed it in your sleazy efforts to increase readership with no regard to content. You're nothing but a (supposedly) smooth talking corporate shill. I wonder how you can look at yourself in the mirror before you go into work.
Get off your high horse and get out of the ether. Anytime a business is late paying bills or payroll it's either suffering from a lack of operating capital or just doesn't have any regard for its employees and/or its suppliers. Face it, your days are numbered.
Well Atkinson, what else can I say except F**k you.
Al
> > Well Atkinson, what else can I say except F**k you.
You could say you screwed yourself. See you in a few weeks. Maybe.
Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum, et cetera, et cetera...
Memo bis punitor delicatum! It's all there, black and white,
clear as crystal! Blah, blah, and so on and so forth ...
This is an editor's responsibility.
How many times did I have to remind you?
Plenty of places to publish articles and reviews around...
But if you also want to get PAID.. Well???
"I cannot deal with late copy."
JA in an e mail to me last October 6. I was asking for a few more days to complete my February column.
The day after he e mailed writers that checks would be -- er, somewhat late. Yet again.
That's when I exploded. JA cannot "deal with" late copy and I cannot deal with late payments.
Ironically, I was paid up in full at the time, having skilled that mont and was not affected by that particular stalling memo, the latest of many. I decided to leave it that way.
I told JA that I found it humiliating to plead for payment after 32 years with Stereophile.
But I sat on this for a while to see if things might reverse themselves ....
ST,
I wish you good luck where every you land and I'm sure "late" was the trigger , obviously not the main issue. JA is also in a pickle "late" has to be answered (bothways) and sometimes the shoulders dont sit square from the load.
If JA goes , I'm stuck with Harley , dread the thought :)
Regards
That is surprising. I would have figured you guys were salaried. If you are salaried, then I believe there are federal guidelines requiring timely paychecks.
I'm pretty sure that FLSA does not cover that. And even if there are laws covering timely payroll, I'm sure that the Congress is in the process of dismantling them due to the unreasonable burden that they impose on US businesses.
I presume the salaried writers were paid on time.
Don't see TEN in a listing of what Golden Tree owns, and it seems they got rid of their position in Time Warner.
That was the only reason you quit S'phile?
> Don't see TEN in a listing of what Golden Tree owns...
Golden Tree bought a majority stake in Source Interlink in the fall of 2013.
They split the company into two: Source Interlink Media, which publishes
magazines; and Source Interlink Distribution, which distributes magazines.
SID was shuttered last summer; SIM was renamed The Enthusiast Network
or TEN.
Through all the corporate changes since Larry Archibald and I sold
Stereophile Inc. to Petersen Publishing in June 1998, I have kept
Stereophile true to its ethos as formulated by J. Gordon Holt. I won't
pretend that doing so has always been easy, but the longer I sit in the
editor's chair - 29 years on May 1 - the more gravitas I can pretend to
have. :-)
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2.
Dear Sam,
WP
Alluded to something amiss in the partial email JA posted in piece. I'm glad you're taking a stand against something that you find wrong.
I Hope to see your writing somewhere. I miss it greatly. For nearly twenty years I've looked
Forward to your column and it's a great loss to not have it anymore.
I thank you for the joy your writing brought me all these years.
Best wishes,
Ian
While I had no direct objection to Larry Archibald selling out to Peteresen (I thought Guns and Ammo and Teen to be well-edited niche publications, even though I had no desire to own a gun or a teenage girl*), it left Stereophile to be bought and sold in an indiffeent marketplace to whomever, even unto Rupert Murdoch, horns, cloven hooves and all. )para) I hope you will keep me/us aware if you decidr to continue writing. (footnote) *If forced to choose, I would select a gun. They are quieter!
...so, unless you are totally independent (almost impossible) - there is no liberation!
Good Luck!
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
"Derrière chaque fortune se cache un crime"...
You were working for us, the readers, who derived a lot of pleasure out of the writings.
Regards
Bill
It is sad that an era has come to an end with Sam/Tom's resignation from Stereophile. I will miss his regular column which I always looked forward to and read first. I can only recall a few current and past writers who had developed such a distinctive voice and identity as Sam. He will be sorely missed as will be Wes. I congratulate JA for his heartfelt and classy tribute to both men. It does credit to the writer, the subjects, and the publication.
Edits: 02/14/15
I've always thought Atkinson comes across as a class act generally. Never understood why some on this forum seem to feel the neesld to bash him or his publication. I look at it this way: whenever he decides to retire, who the heck is going to carry the mantle of this industry? His commitment to backing subjective reviews with lab measurements is a grounding that high end audio needs, and shouldn't be underestimated.
I couldn't agree more!
Bill
Thanks! for posting. I look forward in reading about ST & WP.
> I want to call out John Atkinson's farewell to Sam and Wes in the March
> 2015 Stereophile magazine.Thank you. Sam and Wes played major roles in Stereophile's growth and
sustained success and I was saddened that neither saw contributing to
Stereophile in their futures.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Edits: 02/15/15
Those are two audio reviewers who will be sadly missed.
I would imagine Musical Fidelity, Music Hall and others will rue Sam Tellig's departure sorely!
Andrew L.
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