​My first journalism job after graduating from St. Bonaventure University: cub reporter and proofreader for the Batavia (N.Y.) Daily News in western New York. I had interned at the newspaper while in college and even started a music-review column called — this will show how long ago it was! — "Vinyl Views." (Actually, that title is now very "in" again....)

 

After a six-month stint, I found a magazine job as assistant editor at Microcomputing in Peterborough, N.H. It was one of several tech magazines published by Wayne Green Inc. at a time when personal computers were on the rise....

 

Eighteen months later, in January 1984, Green hired me to launch Digital Audio magazine, which would serve an audience hungry for information about then-new compact disc players and CD music. While there, I launched several other products in the audio and music arenas, including a CD yearbook, a trade newsletter, a quarterly CD listing guide, and a book of CD reviews published by Bantam in New York. In 1989, D.A. became CD Review.  

 

In 1993, I landed a job as editor (and later editorial director) at Tuff Stuff, a Richmond-based magazine  serving sports collectors. I spent six years at Tuff Stuff Publications, launching or retooling several other publications that served collectors of entertainment cards (Collect!), NASCAR memorabilia (RPM), football collectibles (Gridiron), and even Beanie Babies (Beans!).

 

We also produced fantasy baseball and football annuals from 1995 through 1999, built a website serving sports collectors, and launched a book division that produced seven titles in our 18 months—with no additional staff!.

 

My Tuff Stuff Pubilications stint was a wonderful experience, and I was fortunate to have an extremely talented staff of editors, writers, and designers working with me. Best of all, it led to a long association and two book collaborations with the great photographer Ozzie Sweet. That's Ozzie in the photo above left at a book signing in Richmond, Va., in January 1999. He was gem of a person and a valued friend.

 

I left Tuff Stuff Pubs in 2000 to move back to New England and launch an online magazine for a website called Bidder's Edge. It was an exciting gig that got me into the nuances of Internet publishing. In supporting our website's mission (to aggregate auction listings from hundreds of online auctions sites), the online magazine I directed covered antiques and collectibles in a variety of categories.

 

In early 2001, I left Bidder's Edge to take on the launch of a new print publication licensed by Antiques Roadshow, the popular PBS series. Antiques Roadshow Insider debuted in July 2001 and published for 14 solid years. The newsletter's mission was to cover trends in the antiques and collectibles market, especially as related to our readership's favorite categories: furniture, glass, pottery, folk art, vintage toys, and collectibles in general (including sports memorabilia and pop culture artifacts).