Klein’s Korner: 2020 Winter National, why not? – What does Memorial Day weekend mean to you? Well, in normal years this weekend means various things including the beginning of Summer, a chance to barbecue and celebrate with friends and family or even take a few days to re-charge ones batteries. Well to me, Memorial Day weekend has for about the past 10 years meant a chance to revisit my youth and listen to 2020 Winter National, why not?“WABC Rewound Weekend” courtesy of Rewound Radio. For those of you who may not understand there was a time where what was called clear-channel radio stations could cover a great deal of the country and have huge reach and influence.

The owner and curator of Rewound Radio is Allen Sniffen. For the past quarter-century or so, he has moderated and posted on what is known as the New York Radio Message Board. Among the aspects which makes the board so successful is the simple concept if you make a comment, then put your name next to said comment.

Seems simple enough and yet has not hurt the popularity one bit. That is one reason the Net 54 Message Board in our hobby has had such an influence in that if you have an opinion more than “Great Card” or “Nice Pick-Up” you have to put your name next to the message. But one important aspect of how Mr. Sniffen posts does not go unnoticed if you really pay attention. The concept is real simple and always look for the business reason for why a decision was made.

2020 Winter National, why not?

One of the classic debates during the early years of the board was “Why is CBS-FM cutting back on 50’s music.” Well sadly it is a matter of demographics and if you stayed with a preponderance of doo-wop and very early rock and roll your audience will age out and eventually all pass. Yes that was true then and is true now. When we see information on the passing of legendary Little Richard we realize we hardly hear him on the radio anymore but the business logic of moving the music to the 1980’s makes demographic sense. Although frankly it was jarring for me to hear songs as Funky Cold Medina and Wild Thing by Tone Loc on KLUV here in DFW.

Klein’s Korner: 2020 Winter National, why not?

And of course, you may wonder what in the heck a brief discourse about radio programming has to do with sports cards. Well the recent announcement by the NSCC about the December dates for the 2020 National reminded me of many of Mr. Sniffen’s posts. And I will also state I have no idea and it’s none of my business what the contract is between the NSCC and the Atlantic City Convention Center. But if you believe the contract says the NSCC must make every possible effort to host the show in the calendar year and they would lose a considerable amount of money then the new dates make perfect sense. In addition, I believe they were also trying to be careful not to compete with shows already booked as a matter of respect for those other promoters who had already locked in their 2020 date.

So, on a personal level I’m very disappointed the NSCC had to move because my original plan was to spend a few days either before or after the NSCC visiting friends and relatives. It’s been nearly 15 years since I was up in New Jersey and I would truly prefer not traveling in New Jersey in December. And frankly it’s easier to travel in the summer to Atlantic City even with some of the extra time involved in getting there. But as long as one respects the NSCC and all parties involved understand this is a business decision and nothing more than we can accept the logic and make our decisions for this year and 2021 in Chicago. Here’s hoping for a great holiday season show in Atlantic City.

For more from Rich Klein, follow him on Twitter @sabrgeek.


Rich’s vast experience and knowledge of the hobby has been well documented through the years. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Klein’s Korner. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.

 

Klein’s Korner: 2020 Winter National, why not?
Rich Klein

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