Good morning ODV. I hope it’s warmer wherever you are this Saturday morning than it is here it CT (5 degrees when I woke up).

As is apparently usual in this forum, one question has morphed into two, somewhat unrelated issues. I’ll try to answer both of them.

Youth dues rate – As I understand it, this action to change By Law #6 was a precursor to a plan to eventually introduce a new “Student Rate” and I’m assuming that’s why the age moved up to 26 years old, which tracks with the federal rules in health care and other legislation. My understanding is that the new Student Rate would include an all-digital benefit structure for publications in an effort to attract younger people and deliver these in a way in which they want to get information. I believe that the original plan was to launch this when the new AMS system launched (and no, the current planned launch is not a year away as some have suggested – but that’s an entirely different email). In hindsight, what probably should have happened is to wait until the July meeting to officially change the By Law and have had a communications plan in place when the introduction date was clearer. At this point, we have two options as I see it. One would be to wait until we have everything in place to introduce the new Student rate with the appropriate rollout and communications plan or (2) move the current youth rate to age 26 immediately with the current set of benefits, including paper QST. This would, of course, increase the cost of the implementation as we’ll reduce the dues income we’re receiving from members between the ages of 22 and 26 and increase the costs to begin sending paper QST to any new members in that age range. I haven’t even begun to think about the internal process implications and how we’ll ask and receive confirmation of age for this new group of youth members. And to circle back to the original question, when the change is made, we will update all our printed and online collateral to reflect it.

Digital QEX/NCJ – without having the 2020 Plan at my fingertips, I believe that some of this may be included in that. However, I did find an email string on ODV which I have included below. I understand that the rollout for including digital versions of QEX and NCJ in membership would begin with the March/April issues and I assume we’ll announce it again at that time. I believe, although I’ll check on it when we’re back in the office on Tuesday (remember, HQ is closed on Monday for Presidents Day), that this will also be part of the new ARRL publications app for members-only and may also include the January/February issues in digital form as well.

I believe that is responsive to the questions, but I will try and answer any others you may have. Please remember, I’ve only been on the job for less than a month and am running hard to catch up on all the things going on with the ARRL.

Have a good weekend.

73,

Barry, N1VXY

-------- Original message --------

From: "Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)" <wb2itx@arrl.org>

Date: 12/2/19 2:46 PM (GMT-05:00)

To: "Tharp, Mark, KB7HDX (VD, EWA)" <kb7hdx@gmail.com>, "Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD)" <rjairam@gmail.com>

Cc: "Ford, Steve, WB8IMY" <sford@arrl.org>, arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>, "Ritz, Mike, W7VO, (Dir, NW)" <w7vo@comcast.net>

Subject: [arrl-odv:29050] Re: digital NCJ and QEX

Mark, Mike, Ria, ODV,

Yes, all members and subscribers will get the digital edition of NCJ and QEX free with either their membership or subscription. (Members will get both, subscribers who are not members will only get one.)

The digital edition will be available in the new ARRL magazine app that we will rollout with the addition of On The Air. We anticipate that some members who have not subscribed to either NCJ or QEX will try the digital version of one or both and increase engagement in the respective topics. We are trying this approach because subscriptions to both magazines have been declining. Both are becoming increasingly difficult to support. If we can increase readership of the magazines, even if they are not as profitable as in the past, ARRL will benefit from increase engagement and members will find increased value in membership.

Financially, we are not expecting many subscribers will switch to the digital only version. Previous survey data tells us that current subscribers want the paper copy. In terms of income, we receive about $51K for NCJ and $172k for QEX from subscription fees. Direct costs for printing and mailing are $26k for NCJ and $72k QEX. Direct costs do not include staff or overhead/indirect costs, or lost opportunity costs. These magazines are not a large source of income for ARRL.

I put the risk of providing a free digital edition as a few thousand dollars. The upside is that a targeted subscription with more readers may increase revenue from advertising. That, coupled with increased member value, and hopefully increased recruitment and retention, should more than offset any potential reduced subscription income.

I discussed this with A&F. You will see the projected numbers in the 2020 plan.

We also received enthusiastic support from the editors.

73, Howard, WB2ITX

On 12/1/2019 6:42 PM, Mark J Tharp wrote:

" We don't anticipate a significant drop in subscription or adverting revenue."

Sounds like everyone is going to get it.

Is this something like vanity call fees? Where the cost of processing the subscription is more than we can charge, and it actually cost less to give it away free?

Howard, please provide some background on this decision.

Thanks.

Mark, KB7HDX

VD NW Div.

On Sun, Dec 1, 2019 at 3:10 PM rjairam@gmail.com <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:

I’m also hoping it’s subscribers and that was my impression.

Clarification is in order.

Ria

N2RJ

On Sun, Dec 1, 2019 at 5:56 PM Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net> wrote:

Howard;

"....we will be providing both NCJ and QEX in digital form to all members starting with

the March/April issue or the May/June issue."

This makes no sense. Did you mean to say "current subscribers", or is this really to be free to all "members"?

If so, why would anybody want to subscribe? What are the projected long term cost/benefit impacts of this decision? What are the short term costs? How will the decision affect revenue?

73;

Mike

W7VO

> On December 1, 2019 at 1:06 PM "Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO)" <wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote:

> Dear Officers, Directors and Vice-Directors,

> Because of the positive feedback we have received regarding On the Air,

> and consistent with the "mini-mags" that I discussed, we will be

> providing both NCJ and QEX in digital form to all members starting with

> the March/April issue or the May/June issue. Current subscribers will

> continue to receive their paper editions. We don't anticipate a

> significant drop in subscription or adverting revenue. We are planning

> to roll-out a messaging campaign next month or after the holidays, but

> consider this email as part of a soft rollout. Feel free to discuss

> this with your members starting on Tuesday.

> 73, Howard, WB2ITX

> --

> Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX

> Chief Executive Officer

> ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio®

> 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA

> Telephone: +1 860-594-0404

> email: hmichel@arrl.org

> _______________________________________________

> arrl-odv mailing list

> arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org

> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv

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Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX

Chief Executive Officer

ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio®

225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA

Telephone: +1 860-594-0404

email: hmichel@arrl.org

From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> On Behalf Of rjairam@gmail.com
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 6:49 PM
To: Tharp, Mark, KB7HDX (VD, NW) <kb7hdx@gmail.com>
Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Subject: [arrl-odv:29694] Re: Youth rates/Membership application

AFAIK the QEX and NCJ thing, while promised by Howard, was not yet implemented.

Is there a timeline for implementation? When will we know?

Ria

N2RJ

On Fri, Feb 14, 2020 at 2:01 PM Mark J Tharp <kb7hdx@gmail.com> wrote:

Barry,

Per minute 37 of the January meeting, will the application form ( http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Membership/MembershipApplicationSEC.pdf ) be updated anytime soon to reflect the new age requirement? If not do we have a timeline on when this change will take effect? Hamfest/convention season is well underway, and I would like to have the correct version of the application.

We may also want to add a line that QEX/NCJ are free to full members online and only the print version requires a subscription.

Thanks.

Mark, HDX

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