www.OnCars.com launched May 19 appears to have the right elements in place to achieve its goals of moving cars, moving stories and moving audiences with broadcast quality content on the Internet: a veteran, talented content team, an Emmy-winning production house and a portal already drawing an average 6 million visitors a month.
Paul Pfanner, erstwhile publisher of Sports Car and Race Car magazines and now head of Pfanner Communications is CEO of ONCARS.com. His long-time associates from those ventures, all steeped in the automotive world, include executive producer and creative director Rick Graves, publishing partner Bill Sparks, who came up with the OnCars concept and editors Emile Bouret and Jeremy Shaw. All of the footage is shot on location in Orange County, Calif. or in Pfanner Communications studios there. The final production is done by Terry Lingner’s Lingner Production Group in Indianapolis which has been producing top-rated automotive /motorsports television shows for two decades. The third partner is Jay Penske (yes, Roger’s son), CEO of Mail.com Media Corp. whose Mail.com offers free email service and a growing content network of 253 channels – OnCars being named provider for the portal’s new Automotive Channel.
Wooden Horse (May 25) describes Japanese Nostalgic Car as a publication for collectors, enthusiasts, and drivers of vintage Japanese automobiles. In addition to articles about Japanese car shows and the history behind various Japanese vehicles, the magazine includes a buyer’s guide, product guide, readers’ rides, a calendar of events, and editorials. Benjamin Hsu is the editor of this quarterly that is currently available by subscription only. ben@japanesenostalgiccar.com
Joylon Law advises of his blog, www.Todaysautonews.com. He describes it as, “a daily listing of articles from newspapers, magazines and other blogs on the topic auto product news.” . . . Sean Kane writes that The Safety Record is “the inside baseball” of motor vehicle safety. Contact him for more info at Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. 340 Anawan St., Suite 200 Rehoboth, MA 02769 Email sean@safetyresearch.net . . . www.TrueDelta.com uses owner surveys to provide “apples-to-apples” reliability and pricing comparisons says the website’s developer, Michael Karesh.
Car Pub Insider blogs about automotive magazines with a concentration on publishers’ online activities. Subtitled The Future of Automobile
Magazines, over 30 posts describe challenges at the leading pubs, how the online tsunami is threatening print, and the effect of shifting consumer patterns on the publishing industry. CPI includes a unique index to 240 publications with circ numbers, for selected titles. Publisher Eric Killorin advises that reader contributions are valued . . . . . YouTube has launched a “Citizens News” channel, joining CNN’s Ireport initiative to utilize the phenomenal growth of citizen journalism but without CNN’s background in filtering and verifying what is reported.
Stewart Berg and Tony Kuhn’s Ultimate Garages www.Garages.Net, begun about a year ago, already has competition, Garage Style Magazine, launched by publisher-editor Don Weberg. His is the first print magazine on the subject and, like Berg and Kuhn, is designed to be the resource for amazing garages with technical how-to articles, product reviews and buyer’s guide, says Weberg. He also plans to include airplane hangers and boat houses in future issues of the quarterly. In case you were wondering how much information on garages the market can bear, Weberg reports, “In 2006 homeowners spent roughly $2.5 billion on remodeling garages. Also that 15 percent of new homes built in the U.S. have room for 3 or more cars.”