Ski Racing starts its 38th season with editorial staff additions and significant promotions. Don Cameron, former sports editor for the Vail Daily and currently a Boston Herald staffer, has been named editor. Alex Pasquariello, an award-winning reporter who cut his teeth at Mountain Sports Media and High Country News, takes over as managing editor. Assistant editor Eric McCollom is promoted to features editor. Advertising director Andy Hawk takes on additional day-to-day brand responsibilities as associate publisher. Rounding out the strengthened Ski Racing team are European editor Nate Vinton and advertising sales executive Ryan Lowe.
Cameron comes to Ski Racing from the news desk at the Boston Herald, where he is a copy editor. Previously he was sports editor of the Vail Daily and the Summit Daily News, and Olympic News Service Manager for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Pasquariello won a Colorado Press Association award for feature writing at the Douglas County News-Press.
Cameron's goal with Ski Racing is to broaden the publication to appeal to the sport's burgeoning fan base while keeping its core audience happy: “Who won? Who lost? Who had the fastest setup? Those questions will always be central to Ski Racing's content, but the magazine can venture deeper into the lifestyle, celebrity, human-interest side of the sport. That's especially true with the Turin Olympics on the horizon as it'll be easier to get newcomers and fans excited about the winter sports scene. I'm anxious to help extend Ski Racing magazine's appeal to a broader audience. Without sacrificing the magazine's strength — alpine World Cup coverage — the opportunity exists to seek out features on the periphery of the sport, dive into new angles, new personalities, new approaches in graphics and presentation.”
The recent staff additions and promotions at Ski Racing come on the heels of a successful 2004-05 publishing season. The publication doubled its advertising revenue, and increased web traffic at Skiracing.com by 40 percent, with some key winter months topping 500,000 page views. New automotive and resort advertisers helped drive this growth, as well as continued support from ski hardgoods suppliers.
Associate publisher Hawk explains the magazine's momentum: “The industry has been looking to the media to take the lead in promoting the sport, and Ski Racing is poised to do just that. The success of our magazine, and our sport as a whole, depends upon getting more people involved more often. Therefore, each of our marketing initiatives, including joint ventures with the U.S. Ski Team, is designed to bring legitimate growth to the sport, and more excitement to snowsport competition. While our efforts are grass-roots in nature, our advertisers recognize the value they provide, and are now willing to extend their partnership with us beyond traditional print and online advertising. We are entering the Olympic year with stronger internal momentum and industry support than this franchise has had in quite some time.”
