July 1995 - 25 YEARS OF SERVICING THE MILITARY
Reviewing Off Duty's history for this anniversary edition, the worn that comes to mind - "partnership" - is overworked, but it applies here nonetheless.
The partnerships that built Off Duty are international in scope: U.S. and West Germany, U.S. and Japan, U.S. and Hong Kong. In all three cases, relationships dating back to the magazine's beginnings in 1970-71 are still going strong.
However, on a sad note, our original partner in Japan, advertising representative Kanji Suzuki, who succumbed to a heart attack in January of this year, is not here to share the joy of our 25th birthday celebration.
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- (From left) Midori Suzuki, Mrs. Suzuki, Dagmar & Walter Rios, and Kanji Suzuki.
But his daughter Midori, who literally grew up with Off Duty, continues to preserve the Suzuki family's proud record of service.
It was with Suzuki-san's guidance that Off Duty built and nurtured its unique partnership with industry, in the U.S. and Europe, as well as Asia, that has insured the magazine's survival in a turbulent business climate. This helped build a strong bond between Off Duty and the military resale system, allowing us the privilege of being a voice that speaks directly to its customers in the armed forces community. With our readers, too, there is partnership, for without your loyalty our foundations would crumble.
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Partnerships are built on mutual trust and caring. And perhaps the key to building relationships that endure even across oceans is to nurture them also at home. Ours, too, is a partnership in both the personal and business sense that has proven to be a lasting one. Looking back 25 years, through thick and thin, we're proud and extremely thankful.
Dagmar und Walter Rios
Herausgeber
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THEN & NOW
Off Duty Looks Back
The military world in 1970, the year of Off Duty's birth, revolved around the war in Vietnam, regardless of where a servicemember was stationed. In Germany, every military unit had empty slots, their occupants siphoned off for tours in Southeast Asia.
Those who remained either already had service in Vietnam behind them, planned to "put in" for 'Nam to impress the promotion board, or were glad not to be there.
During a typical Vietnam tour, getting away from the war was a way of life. From the troops' hooches near the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) to the comforts of Saigon's Rex Hotel, the work week was seven days, and your stereo provided an escape.
Europe provided more distractions. There was the thrill of cruising the Autobahn, it was easy to get to Paris, London or Copenhagen, and bargain military charter flights back to "The World" were plentiful.
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The military world in 1970, the year of Off Duty's birth, revolved around the war in Vietnam, regardless of where a servicemember was stationed. In Germany, every military unit had empty slots, their occupants siphoned off for tours in Southeast Asia.
Those who remained either already had service in Vietnam behind them, planned to "put in" for 'Nam to impress the promotion board, or were glad not to be there.
During a typical Vietnam tour, getting away from the war was a way of life. From the troops' hooches near the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) to the comforts of Saigon's Rex Hotel, the work week was seven days, and your stereo provided an escape.
Europe provided more distractions. There was the thrill of cruising the Autobahn, it was easy to get to Paris, London or Copenhagen, and bargain military charter flights back to "The World" were plentiful.
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Die DM war schwach und der "greenback" war stark
The greenback bought a lot of D-marks in those days, and the shopping was great, ranging from Hummel figurines to Mercedes-Benz cars at bargain prices. Many American items could be bought overseas at prices well below their Stateside prices.
These unique circumstances in Europe made the time ripe for a quality magazine, just for service personnel and their family members, devoted to having fun during off-duty time. But the question remained, who would pay for it?
Wer soll das Magazin bezahlen ?
In publishing, it's almost impossible to survive just on newsstand and subscription sales. Advertising is what makes or breaks a magazine.
Attracting readers isn't enough; you have to attract advertisers who want to reach those readers. While service people were ready to buy foreign cars, luxury travel and top-of-the-line stereo components, most vendors supplying the armed forces still considered the military market a "cheap" market.
Except, that is, for electronics. Hi-fi sales to military people were booming. Throughout the 1960s, military exchanges continued to sell mostly "low-end" popular grade stereo. So, servicemembers in Europe who'd caught the audiophile bug banded together and formed on-base "audio clubs" to buy components directly from manufacturers or export agents. As orders poured in, vendors of quality audio found they needed a way to reach these customers.
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Wir fanden da eine Lücke, die wir genutzt haben
It's that specialized niche that Off Duty stepped into, with our first issue in Europe dated September, 1970. Along with articles on travel and entertainment, readers found lots of useful information on hi-fi components available through military outlets. Ads from consumer electronics suppliers paid for the magazine.
Within a year, Off Duty appeared in Vietnam. Except for Okinawa, audio clubs were not a factor in the Pacific, and military people spent a lot of off-duty hours perusing the Pacex or NEX Mail Order catalogs, planning the next shopping binge. Off Duty's Pacific edition, started in June 1971, nearly didn't survive the Oil Crisis and the big drop in the dollar/yen exchange rate that followed not long after. But we made it.
Expansion to the States began in 1974 with the introduction of a new edition for Hawaii and Alaska. Conus distribution started in 1976 with first the western states and then coast-to-coast in 1980.
As the military marketplace has changed, so has Off Duty. It's a far different magazine today from that original European edition. Open-reel tape decks have given way to digital sound, home video theater and cyberspace. But the basic rules of publishing a magazine haven't changed. What has kept Off Duty alive for 25 years is producing a magazine that members of the armed forces want to read - and convincing advertisers that military readers are an audience they need to reach.
Walter B. Rios im Sommer 1995
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