Below is Mr. Clark King's letter that appeared in the February 2008 issue:
Say It Ain't SoBy Clark King
It's time to break out and share some old, rare, behind-the-scenes history here at the Roundup with you all. I'd like to quote select portions of a letter that was written by Neil Maurer, the Roundup's editor from 1958 to 1982, to my father Dwight, who edited and owned the Roundup between 1982 and 2006:
"I've been giving the future of Ex-CBI Roundup a lot of consideration recently, and I have found it difficult to reach a decision to part with it. But I believe it's for the best; I'm sure it would be good for the magazine to bring in new ideas."
"Frankly, I have enjoyed editing Roundup over the last 24 years, and especially since selling other business interests in 1975 and 1977. And with the current upswing in nostalgia, noticeable in so many ways, I am convinced the next 5 to 10 years will be better than any experienced thus far. Of course it's a dying magazine - they aren't making any more CBI veterans these days - but there are some good years left."
That letter was dated May 22, 1982. Yep, as in coming up on 26 years ago now. Mr. Maurer then went on in his letter to propose a transfer of the Roundup over to Dwight, and they proceeded to engage in a "gentleman's deal" in which Mr. Maurer pretty much gave the Roundup to my Dad, other than to charge him for the existing inventory of tie tacks, decals and book binders that he had on hand.
His letter continued on: "In regard to time spent on the magazine, I think it depends on the individual and how much you enjoy it. When I was running a community newspaper, a printing plant with 15 employees and an office supply store, I had very little time to spend on it. I'd throw an issue together in an evening and rush it to press. A girl in the office took care of all subscription payments."
"In the last few years I've been doing it all, with some help from Grace. I probably spend an average of a couple hours a day on subscriptions, and also do a little work on the magazine each day as I go along. It doesn't interfere with my golf, trips we want to take, or hospital stays!"
Although Mr. Maurer was clearly trying to put his best foot forward in his letter to my Dad, I remember also seeing a subsequent letter in which he admitted that the Roundup had "seen some lean years" during the time he had it and wouldn't have been able to continue on without some outside assistance from some of his other interests. He was referring to some time in the 70's, I believe.
My Dad took on the project more or less sight unseen and from there spent almost two and a half decades trying to promote the Roundup and all causes CBI. I remember him going to numerous conventions and reunions related to the CBI Theater in some way, shamelessly crashing the reunions of groups he didn't belong to. Later on, he took to carrying around a cardboard cutout of the "Bartles & James" wine cooler salesmen that he sat behind the small cardboard desk that he had set up somewhere in the banquet room, trying to get somebody to come over to see what that was all about. His efforts brought in many, many new subscribers that even 40-45 years after the war still hadn't heard about the magazine. Some of you that subscribed with Dwight and his silly cardboard figures I'm sure still take the Roundup today.
For years, the Roundup flourished. Dwight's efforts were rewarded. It was a great deal for him, and he gave it all he had until he couldn't go anymore.
Which is where I came in. I had seen him operate the Roundup for years, and it wasn't that difficult to keep the ball rolling, although it did take a lot more work than "slamming together an issue in one evening and rushing it to press." With no editorial experience and no CBI credentials, it was no slam dunk at all that what I put out would be even remotely well received. And yet, a year and half later, I have received (nearly) overwhelmingly positive feedback about what has happened to the Ex-CBI Roundup, and how it has retained its quality and continuity from those produced by the previous editors. Yeah, there was one or two of you who gave me an earful over various things (and you know who you are!), and I addressed those concerns on an individual basis.
My feeling is that the Roundup definitely experienced a resurgence of interest when I took it over. Definitely not a knock on my Dad's work, not in the slightest. But he clearly was getting tired down the stretch there and as Neil Maurer felt in 1982, a change to perhaps some new ideas, or at least some renewed energy, was a good thing. It took a few issues, but once it started, you all responded in a great rush of letters, stories, photos, helpful and positive feedback, condolences and good wishes, you name it. This has continued on, in various levels of intensity, ever since October 2006. It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me.
So positive, in fact, that I wish we would continue on in this way indefinitely. That was certainly the plan from the get-go, to grab some momentum and hang onto it as long as possible. To a certain extent, this has been a very successful strategy for us here at the controls of the Roundup.
Until recently. During the last few months, despite my perhaps overly optimistic projections and hopes, the incoming subscription renewals have slowed down to a mere fraction of their former levels. Hopes and expectations give way to what is happening, and not what we want or wish to happen. For the first time since Dwight took the Roundup from Neil Maurer back in mid-1982, the Roundup's incoming subscription revenue failed miserably to keep up with its monthly expenses for the January 2008 issue. Although that was the first time, it may signal the changing of the guard in that the Roundup will never again be able to pay its way, which can only be attributed to one thing and one thing only; an absolutely precipitous drop in remaining subscribers. And I suppose the less I say about that, the better.
When I first determined to continue the Roundup, I saw that this scenario would eventually present itself, but the plan all along was to defer the inevitable for as long as possible. As I have mentioned in issues gone by, Dwight himself often marveled at the Roundup's longevity, and had no idea how long he could keep the magazine going, although in one of his last year's issues I think he said something to the effect that he planned on publishing to the year 2010. I seem to recall that was in response to the closure of the CBIVA in late 2005 and the closure of the "Sound Off magazine, which, as many of you have told me, left the Roundup as truly the last game in town regarding CBI publications. Even though he said it, I knew he didn't believe that. He told me as he himself was winding down that he would be real happy to see the Roundup make it until the end of the 2005-2006 campaign, or the July 2006 issue. That being the case, I guess he must have died a happy man. His last of almost 250 issues was July, 2006.
So ...the Roundup has had an absolutely fantastic, almost history-making run of it. It has exceeded the wildest expectations of the late Neil Maurer, and those of my late father Dwight, who was in a better position to know than anybody else these last few years.
Now that run is threatened in a major way. What makes it all the more difficult to administer is the fact that you subscribers renew your subscriptions on an around the calendar basis. That is, some of you renew in March, some in September, some in December, etc. No matter when the Roundup eventually flies its last mission, there's going to be some of you that have recently re-subscribed. So some of you are perhaps going to feel let down once I finally fail to succeed in continuing on with the publication of something that you all have unanimously indicated that you really enjoy and want to see continue for "as long as possible". I saw this situation looming when I first took over, didn't have an answer then, and am no closer to having one now.
So, after entirely too much consideration of this matter (think back to Neil Maurer's reluctance to part with the Roundup back in May, 1982), here's the best I can offer you folks.
The Roundup will continue to be published until July, 2008. As of the time of this writing (1/14/2008), that is still six more issues, beginning with February 2008. Since the January issue didn't support itself, I sincerely doubt the subsequent remaining issues will do any better. Especially once you read this.
The magazine will continue to have its blue renewal cards inserted in those subscriptions that are expiring in the coming few months. If anybody elects to send in a blue card and a check, please do so with the understanding that we are with the greatest of reluctance winding down operations shortly.
For those of you whose subscriptions do not expire until after September 2008, we sincerely wish to apologize for the way things are wrapping up a bit prematurely. Anyone who honestly feels that the lack of a subscription refund presents them with a bona fide financial hardship, please write the Roundup and explain the situation and we will approach any such situations on a case by case basis. Before you go that route, however, please take a moment to consider the situation here at Roundup headquarters. As of this writing and in considering the rather atrocious drop-off in recent subscriptions, the last five or six issues of the Roundup will be provided almost exclusively by my own personal funds, which is my version of going down with the ship.
You CBI vets have been an amazing story from start to finish, it has been a major honor to be involved with you all in some small way for this brief moment in time these past two years, and my hat will always be off to the job you did for your country at a time when your country needed it the most. This is my way of trying to do the best I can to thank you for your service to your country, to yourselves and each other, and for bringing back as many of your fellow soldiers with you as you possibly could, while remembering and honoring those that didn't make it back safely. And once again, what a spectacular, world changing victory you brought home with you.
My focus will be on getting you the best last couple of issues possible. We may be full of flak, down to two engines and running low on oil and gas, but we're going to try to keep this bird in the air long enough to get it back to base. I'll have more to say about this in issues to come.
I'd like to extend a major thank you to all of you for your ongoing support for nigh these many years, as we point the big bomber back to AAF headquarters.
Yes, yes, and drive that 6x6 the entire length of the Ledo Road one more time, for a victory lap...
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