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Eddie Alterman: Ready To Bring HOPE... To Car & Driver
Eddie Alterman: Change We Can Believe In


12/18/08
12/17/08
People lament the "old" Car & Driver. One of my favorite magazine articles of all time was a comparison test of 4x4 minivans that C/D drove from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay back in the early 90's. There's no way the average blog could commit the kind of time, money and manpower to pull off that sort of article, but it makes perfect sense for a magazine with a 1.2 million subscriber base. People still like reading about cars on the john, as that subscriber base proves; the way to make the magazine thrive is to separate it from a blog or website and focus more on features and full reviews, less on news, the website or bull$%@! minitests that basically just summarize technical info you could pull off of Edmunds. The way to kill it is to go the other way, as exemplified by this January's issue, which has _one_ full road test, the 10 Best list, a bunch of mini-reviews, some preview stuff I got online months ago and 26 pages of tire rack ads.
Could C/D die? Of course, through mismanagement, bad writing or bad luck. But it doesn't have to. Here's hoping that whoever takes over sees this and keeps a good thing going.
12/17/08
12/17/08
12/17/08
@Astigmatism: Jalopnik can be read on the john as well, you know. Here's my solution:
There. Now you don't need magazines anymore.
Reviews? What? Sorry, I skim-read.
12/17/08
And by "that photo", I mean "all photos".
If I agree to pay this mook's mortgage for 2009, what are the chances we can see an end to this particular Jalopnik series? At this point you're only 396 episodes behind "Down On The Street" and closing fast.
12/17/08
Actually, we'll probably stop now. But it's more funny to make people think it'll go on forever.
12/17/08
12/17/08
I reiterate my support for graverobber for C&D Editor-In-Chief. It might actually make the magazine worth buying then.
12/17/08
12/17/08
and who the hell is Ray Wert?
12/17/08
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12/17/08
And what is this "Wert Roll" I keep hearing about? Some kind of confection?
12/17/08
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12/17/08
[www.nytimes.com]
[forums.vwvortex.com]
[www.mensjournal.com]
[www.autoblog.com]
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12/18/08
Jeez, sounds like I have a man-crush or something. Stopping, now...
12/18/08
12/16/08
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12/16/08
12/16/08
E. Alterman 22-1 Good instincts, no C/D experience
M. Gilles 21-1 Already in the chair, easy transition. But a Brit.
L. Webster 21-1 Well respected, long-time C/Der. Could come back.
F. Markus 21-1 Well respected, long-time C/Der. Could come back.
S. Cole Smith 26-1 Beloved former Exec. Editor. Mag was strong while he was there.
K. Smith 30-1 Now at Edmunds.com. But a known quantity with a strong background at both C/D and MT. And at Automobile.
J. Jennings 30-1 Surely already campaigning. And a suitably big personality.
S. Oldham 50-1 Has run Edmunds.com's Inside Line well. Hard worker. Ambitious. Did a good job at Sport Compact.
D. Freiburger 80-1 Hardcore hot rodder who needs a job. Big talent, did a great job at Hot Rod. May not care about new cars.
D. Neil 80-1 Has a Pulitzer and was a regular C/D contributor. But liable to throw firebombs at advertisers.
M. Stone 80-1 MT Exec Editor who really wanted the R&T job. But more impressive to himself than anyone else.
R. Farago 100-1 Mass insanity could grip Hachette... it's possible.
C. Van Tune 100-1 Rumor is, he's still alive. Somewhere.
12/17/08
12/16/08
How about: Alterman for Editor, Gear Change we can believe in.
or Alterman; experienced, passionate, pronounceable.
or Alterman, because alterboys are too busy with catechism and sodomy.