While most of us across the planet are sheltering at home due to the C-19 pandemic, we have a little extra time to catch up on reading.
I subscribe to (and write features for) a number of radio publications, but the best bargain on the planet must be The Spectrum Monitor Magazine (TSM).
Issues of TSM are a mere $2 each if you purchase an annual subscription ($24). Don’t care for an annual subscription? You can buy issues á la carte–preview an issue on the TSM website then purchase it for $3.
As a writer, I love TSM because 1.) they cover an impressive variety of radio topics and 2.) there is no real word limit on articles. I can take my readers on a truly deep-dive into a review or topic and not have to worry that portions will be cut to meet page margins for print. As long as content is relevant and informative, TSM keeps it.
In addition, TSM is published as a PDF which means it can be read with any computing device–desktops, laptops, tablets, eReaders, and smart phones. There’s no need to load a proprietary publisher app–it’s a truly portable electronic issue. PDFs are also the easiest of all formats to print at home if you want to archive a paper copy of an article or entire issue.
If you haven’t subscribed to TSM before, you may be especially interested in their annual archives. I recently discovered you can purchase an entire year of archived issues for $12…that’s only $1 per issue!
Check out the annual archives in the left sidebar of the TSM website. When you click on a year, you can browse an index of all topics and features before making your purchase. The $12 price is valid for the 2014-2017 years.
TSM Publisher and Managing Editor, Ken Reitz (KS4ZR), has done a fabulous job collecting a group of writers who are not only experts in their respective fields, but are effective writers as well. These two qualities do not always go hand-in-hand.
At $24 ($2/issue) per year, I think TSM is one of the best radio bargains out there. While you’re sheltering at home, why not explore the full spectrum of radio via TSM?
Being a long term Pop Comm , coming across this after your last mention of it was a happy discovery and I subscribed immediately.
Now I can’t recall the name of the companion magazine to Pop Comm, but it sure was great having two regular mags devoted to radio . What a great surprise that we still have one to compliment the blogs we can read too.
…Monitoring Times!
If you start a new annual subscription, do you get access to the earlier issues from this year?
Yes – if you sign up for 2020, you get all 2020 issues.
Confirmed. You get all of this year’s links sent by email.
I can’t say enough about how good the content is. Definitely worth every penny.
Really goes to show that magazines like this can survive in the age of the Internet if you get a core group of writers who know their stuff.
Lou, I would contact TSM and ask that question. I’m sur they’d work it the way you prefer it.
Thomas
I’ve been a subscriber for three years. Great publication that reminds me of Popular Communications from years ago.