Route 66 online magazine coming next month

A Route 66 online magazine — supported by advertising, with content generated by Route 66 fans — will be launched in late April.

The magazine, called 66 The Mother Road, is the brainchild of John and Judy Springs, who are based in Palm Desert, Calif. According to the magazine’s media kit, it will be published every two months. It will consist of 24 to 32 pages each issue.

Springs said he wants to have the inaugural issue launched by April 24, before the Arizona Historic Route 66 Fun Run in early May.

John Springs is listed as advertising manager, and Judy is publisher. It has enlisted Bob “Crocodile” Lile, a former ad rep for the dormant Route 66 Pulse newspaper, as sales rep. Staff includes a copy editor, graphics designer, events consultant, and web developer. Prominent Route 66 historians and authors Jim Ross, Jerry McClanahan and Michael Wallis have endorsed the effort.

Springs said it will be constructed online like a magazine, where readers can flip through the pages, with ads stacked on many of the pages. A “working” cover of the first issue can be seen at upper left.

Springs e-mailed a few thoughts about the venture:

We want this to be a ‘one stop shop’ for businesses to get the word out and for travelers to find the word. […] No one will EVER pay to view the magazine – ads and our personal dollars will fund the project.

We have absolutely NO experience — we just saw a need and followed a dream.  However, my experience in the tour business will help and Judy has been in advertising and marketing for about 30 years.  We also have an award winning writer and two senior advisers with a great deal of experience.  One, Frank Furino, was head writer for Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and General Hospital – and he worked for Dick Clark Productions and he remains Dick’s best friend! The other adviser wishes to remain nameless, but he comes from one of the most famous Hollywood families of all time. You would immediately recognize his name.  They are all personal friends, and are helping us at no charge!!! […]

Our biggest challenge will be getting our website rated high enough on world wide search engines – no small feat, but we have employed an experienced web designer to handle that chore.  […]  The advertising revenue will make or break us.  If we stay true to our Mission Statement, which is simply “If it’s good for The Road – DO IT’, we’ll be OK.

This is a labor of love.  We’d love to make money at it, we absolutely would love to turn a profit, but our goal going into this venture was to bring much needed attention to SMALL businesses on Route 66.  We have no other agenda other than getting the word out that life, and commerce, on 66 truly does begin at the off ramp (stolen from Michael Wallis). Judy lives by a personal motto of “pay it forward.” We fell in love with Route 66, and wanted to find a way to help. When the online idea came to us, we felt it was a fabulous way to “pay it forward”.

At least 66 The Mother Road doesn’t have to worry about the enormous weight of printing and distribution costs. Those two factors — plus a weak economy and a downturn in the newspaper industry — have essentially scuttled the Route 66 Pulse twice. Going web-only removes a ton of expenses.

Whether this magazine becomes successful enough to be self-sustaining is an open question. Competition for Route 66 content online remains intense. With many Route 66 businesses able to establish their own presence online cheaply, it may be a difficult task to persuade them to part with dollars for a fledgling site.

Still, it seems like a worthy venture, and I’ll be keenly interested to see how this turns out.