Driving Sports

With the popping of a million Champagne corks, tonight we’ll be saying “goodbye” to the first decade of the new millennium. You’ll excuse me if I take this opportunity for a little self-indulgent retrospection.

The previous decade was a fascinating rollercoaster for me, professionally. I entered it as a refugee, an injured soldier of the 1999 dot-com implosion. Initially, my work as a magazine publisher-for-hire provided well-paying solace. By the end of the decade, however, with the rise of digital media and the fall of the magazine industry, my profession had become a tantamount to a cage.

Not to put too dramatic of a point on it, but think about what has changed for the world in the past 10 years. The rise of the Internet and changes in everyday mobile communications have changed everything: The way we connect, the way we interact, the way we’re informed and entertained – even the way we read and write.

When I was in High School I had a teacher that loved the book Generations. In it, the author theorizes that there was a cyclical nature to the personality of entire generations. My generation in particular was matched with the leaders that caused the United States to become independent from Europe. I think it could be argued that our generation has lived up to this.

In 2009 the world of media, in this context a commercial form of communication, was destroyed.  It took years of crumbling, followed by an atom bomb straight to the head to finally take it down. Now it's up to our generation to rebuild.

Enthusiast media is one corner of this world that now lies in tatters. Institutions like Car & Driver, Sport Compact Car and others have enjoyed growth and success for many years, but the razing of advertising revenue, even stalwarts will have to be reborn. Or, as in the case of SCC, die. Car & Driver was one of the first automotive enthusiast titles, and as such it has enough critical mass to probably be the last to go. But by the end of this next decade, I can guarantee you won’t be able to pop down to the local bookseller to pick up a copy of even Car & Driver. Nor, will you want to. If this is a point you really want to argue, it only expresses your lack of imagination.

In a future article I’ll write about how Driving Sports TV plans to fit into, and hopefully help shape, this new world.

For my own story of the decade of destruction, I’ve selected one or two items from each year to highlight my journey through this past decade.  Through this, you may gain a better understanding of who I am, and why I do some of the things I do. (If you figure it out, my wife would love to know) I see the past as preparation for the future. Given where we’re headed, I seem to have set some decent groundwork even though it was in my usual haphazard style.

2000 – The new decade stared off with a bang for me:  my career as a magazine publisher was just getting started as I took over Computer Source Magazine. This was my first publishing job and was quite an interesting time. The magazine was owned by a Lebanese family that also owned (directly or indirectly) many of the computer stores in the region. Regardless, we ran the magazine as though it were completely independent… which often landed me in hot water with the owners. (Note: we parted amicably in 2004)

2001 -  I was named “Sexiest Geek Alive in Seattle” and was a finalist for the “Sexiest Geek Alive” title, which ultimately went to Ms. Ellen Spertus, who is now immortalized in the game Trivial Pursuit (I found this out playing the game with friends many years later and I was asked this very question) “What dubious distinction does Ellen Spertus hold?” (Or, something like that). For this honor, I was featured in Wired Magazine, was highlighted in many international papers and appeared on more than a couple silly daytime news programs. If you do a Google search for “Ryan Douthit” and “Sexiest Geek” you’ll get more than you want to know.

2002 –  This year I put together my first magazine launch: Tekbug Seattle, a bi-weekly tabloid tech/lifestyle magazine that printed 120,000 copies every week. It was everywhere. Even the producers for the horror flick “The Ring” contacted me. They wanted Tekbug stickers, so they could make Vancouver, Canada (where they shot the film), “look like Seattle, because you guys are everywhere.” We sent them a big roll of stickers and some copies of the magazine, but you never see them in the final cut. (At least that I noticed.)

My Alcan 5000 ended badly.

2003 – The year I did my first (and last) Alcan 5000 Rally. The Alcan is a 5000 mile run from Kirkland, Wash., to Alaska, through the Canadian Interior to Yellowknife, NWT, and back down to Jasper. It’s epic. My adventure even moreso, since I rolled my beloved 1992 Subaru Legacy Turbo on mile 3600 – middle of nowhere in the Northwest Territories, a road dubbed the “Highway of Death” by the locals. My passenger, a reporter for National Public Radio was not amused. You can read the transcript of her report here: http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org

This was also the year I launched my first automotive magazine, which was called Northwest Auto Sports. I published one issue before I changed the title to Driving Sports Magazine and took the magazine nationally. This, it turns out wasn’t a great idea. I had no idea what I was doing regarding national distribution, and I made more than my fair share of costly mistakes. I see new print magazine launch every year, and make the exact same mistakes. It’s really sad just how magazine distributors seem to thrive on this cycle.

2004 – Driving Sports Magazine is re-launched as Subiesport Magazine in December of this year. The new focus on Subaru-specific content is an immediate success.

2005 – After a year of shooting, editing and waiting the first Driving Sports Video DVD was shipped. The DVD featured footage from the first GT Live event at California Speed, in addition to some other cool things. There were several delays on this project caused by our hired producer’s lax work schedule. It was at this point I decided all future productions should be done in-house. This, it turns out, was a pivotal decision.

2006 – First “Subiefest” event held at Pacific Raceways in Seattle, Wash. This was the first big motorsport event I produced, and other than one of the cars crashing in epic style, it was an amazing success.

This is also the first year I recognized that YouTube was the future of video and we took a first stab at producing content exclusively for online distribution. You can see one of our early studio shows here: http://www.youtube.com/rd2711

Ali Dudek, first host of DSTV

2007 – "Driving Sports TV" makes its debut on the Portland, Ore., sports channel. The show was a weekly 30 minute slot, with a mix of sports, new car reviews and a studio presentation. In spite of decent viewer numbers, after a few months we wrapped the season and called it quits on the format. Not long after, the station went under. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

This same year we acquired a couple other print titles. That was a mistake.

2007 was also the year Driving Sports became a YouTube production partner. This was not a mistake.

2008 – Driving Sports does the fist live webcast from Rally America series event, in the middle of rural Pennsylvania, nonetheless. Producing a live show for the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally was an amazing challenge that pulled in 8,000 unique viewers over the two day event. On the show we had live interviews with drivers, as well as tape-delayed footage from the stages. It was another over-the-top undertaking that we pulled off thanks to the many volunteers that pitched in. (Thanks especially to the extended Woods clan from Canada.) We continued to produce live shows after this, to refine and experiment, but ultimately I decided this is a medium that best serves very specific uses. Still, we're ready to pull out all the stops the next time a unique live opportunity presents itself.

2009 – What began as a slight decline in the end of 2008 becomes the biggest single dump I’ve ever faced in an industry.  Advertising revenues literally disappear overnight and many long-lived car titles are forced to shut their doors permanently. If you're a spectator and not actively involved in the business side of media you probably only know the half of it. In response to this climate, and considering the bleak future for print titles in general, I sell Subiesport to the publisher of Grassroots Motorsports to focus on the next phase of Driving Sports TV.

Today, I stand on a precipice looking at an industry very much in ruin. The challenges I face going forward are similar to the challenges all of us face. The question is if we will face the future boldly or will we flee to a false refuge? One thing I hoped we all learned in 2009 was that the concept of “safe” is a myth.