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Old 5th Dec 2017, 8:39 am   #16
GrahamN
Hexode
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Burnham on Crouch, Essex, UK.
Posts: 391
Default Re: Radiophile Auction - The future

There are some very valid points made, but I suspect most people don't understand the strain the auctions and publishing business actually put on Chas (and Jo for that matter). Chas has been under a huge amount of pressure for some years now, and has (in my humble opinion) done well to keep the auctions going. He did get some help a while ago from someone who more or less took over the running of the auctions, but there were issues when major changes were made without consultation causing quite a few complaints and the eventual parting of the ways - since then he has had to do the preparation work himself (quite a considerable task on it's own, never mind that he is working on the magazine at the same time) as well as struggling with a few health issues.

I know that Chas is very grateful for any help offered - even if he doesn't always seem to show it (!), but it isn't always available and the strain is certainly telling on him.

Unfortunately living so far away, and with health issues of my own, I can't help out at all with the auctions, and I suspect that they will cease in the not too distant future unless something dramatic happens. It's a shame, but realistically the magazine comes first - though the loss of income from the auctions (small though it is) will almost certainly mean a price increase on magazine subscriptions as even without the Radio Bygones takeover the profit was ridiculously small.

I have tried to help with the setting up of the website, and organising PDF copies of the magazine (which obviously saves some printing and postage costs), but these are all small things which make very little overall difference. Also, Chas lost his only helper on the magazine side a few years ago, so the work there has increased considerably, adding to the pressure. When you add in the number of telephone calls he gets as soon as the magazine is delayed (although he doesn't quote dates, a lot of people seem to 'know' when it's due and call to check why it hasn't arrived), the nett result tends to be more delays and ergo more telephone calls!

I wish I knew the answer....
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