Welcome Randy Tiedeman, Subscriber 44,000

Dec 8, 2011

By Bernie Hunhoff

We started South Dakota Magazine 27 years ago. I can still remember the first person who subscribed. Bob Abbott (now of Sioux Falls) stopped at my house to tell me about a travel bus business he was developing. "What are you doing these days?" he asked.

"I think I'll start a magazine about life in South Dakota," I answered.

"Sign me up," said Bob, who eventually founded Abbott Travel in Sioux Falls. So I took his address and said I'd bill him when we had some stationery (remember stationery?).

I also remember the first check we received from a subscriber. I'd sent a mailing to bankers and other professionals around the state, pitching my magazine idea and asking for subscriptions. Ron Williamson was then running Citi-Bank in Sioux Falls, and he responded almost immediately with a $9 check.

A big Republican contest for governor was developing as I was planning the first issue. George Mickelson of Brookings and LeRoy Hoffman of Eureka (both candidates, of course) soon sent checks and kind notes. Sadly, South Dakota lost both George and LeRoy too soon — but the Mickelsons and Hoffmans are still supporters and readers.

Why the trip down memory lane? We reached 44,000 subscriptions this month — a very gradual 27-year climb that has defied gravity, the internet and all other hoops and hurdles that every business must manuever.

That 44,000 translates into about 150,000 readers around the USA.

One interesting revelation about reaching a new milestone is the fact that we still get as excited about a new reader as I did when Bob and Ron and George and LeRoy subscribed 27 years ago.

So who's the newest subscriber? He is Randy Tiedeman of Flandreau. Like Ron, he responded to a mailing we did — and here's the kicker. Instead of playing the regular $19, Randy rounded it up to $20.

Readers and supporters like Randy — and 43,999 others — make us feel like the luckiest editors on Earth. Our thanks go out to all of you.

My staff and I hear and enjoy a lot of kind words on what the magazine does to explore and interpret life in South Dakota. But we never forget that the real leaders of this magazine are the readers.