July 05, 2023 / By mobanmarket
Today, Stereophile announces its first major Editorial changes in decades, with an expansion of the Editorial team and a change in leadership.
Since 1986, through many generations of corporate ownership, John Atkinson (right, above) has been the Editor and bedrock of the magazine. After nearly 331/3 years, JA has decided to relinquish daily responsibility for producing the magazine and as of April 1 will take on a new (and newly established) position: Technical Editor. Stepping into his shoes as Editor will be long-time Stereophile contributor Jim Austin (left, above). Deputy Editor Art Dudley will continue to do what he does best (and what he prefers to do): writing columns and reviews and editing the prose of Stereophile‘s other contributors, while managing an expanded suite of responsibilities. Richard Lehnert, who began his association with Stereophile in 1984 as our long-time Copy Editor and was the magazine’s Music Editor 1987–1996, has also chosen this time to retire from the magazine that bears the stamp of his influence; Lehnert will be replaced by a new copyeditor, Linda Felaco. These changes will be effective as of the July issue of Stereophile.
“I’m deeply honored to become only the third Editor in Stereophile‘s distinguished history,” says Austin, who has been writing for Stereophile for some 15 years. “It’s a major responsibility to follow in the footsteps of audio legends like J. Gordon Holt and John Atkinson, and to hold the reins of the world’s most important high-end audio magazine. It’s an opportunity I relish, though. It’s hard to even imagine a job I’d enjoy more.”
As a teenager, Jim spent many hours at the Sound Shack, the audio boutique in his home town of Ft. Pierce, Florida. That’s where he bought his first serious pair of loudspeakers, Polk Audio Model 7Bs, which he paired with a succession of Japanese receivers and Technics turntables. Later, he earned a PhD in physics and worked for a while as a research scientist, applying methods from nuclear physics to study of semiconductors and other materials. “It was nothing to do with music,” Austin says, “but I was an experimental physicist and I learned a lot about electronics and craft.” Still later he became an Editor at Science magazine, where he worked for 14 years, rising to the rank of Senior Editor while contributing to Stereophile on the side.
Despite the change in leadership, major editorial changes are not envisioned at the magazine. “Stereophile is a successful magazine,” Jim says, “which is remarkable when you consider all the titles that folded or today exist only online. I intend to look for opportunities to make Stereophile better: more engaging, more relevant, more entertaining, with the best, most insightful writing about music and audio.
“My main objective, though, is to steer a steady course—to keep Stereophile pointed in the direction it has been pointed in for decades. In particular, Stereophile has always been a subjectivist audio journal. Its main concern has always been with how music sounds through the equipment we review and how it affects us, the listeners. But for 30 years Stereophile has been built upon the edifice of John Atkinson’s measurements, which examine whether the components we review are thoughtfully and solidly engineered. Under my watch, we’ll continue to do both those things, with, I hope, renewed vigor.”
John Atkinson adds: At last fall’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest I asked a young Stereophile reader how he had discovered us. “I started reading my Dad’s copy,” he explained. “He used to read you in Hi-Fi News magazine in the 1980s.”
I blanched. But yes, approaching 71 years old, I am long in the tooth. The June issue of Stereophile will be my 390th and though my hearing is still good, I decided it was time to hand the reins over to a new and, more importantly, a younger man.
As Jim noted, I will still be on Stereophile‘s masthead as Technical Editor. But having worked with Jim for the past 15 years, I know as Editor he will succeed in taking J. Gordon Holt’s and my magazine to even greater heights. You have the conn, Jim.
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