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Video Killed The Magazine Star
by Tom Tommison
411 Video Magazine is kind of like the McDonald's of skate videos: It isn't gourmet but it's consistently pretty good. Also, like McDonald's, kids love 411. They consume it and study it more than any other media source in skateboarding, helping it become the sport's most influential commodity. On the other side of the fence, pro skaters have realized 411's significance in the sport and built careers out of utilizing the video's predominance among consumers. We caught up with editor and co-founder, Josh Friedberg, and asked him what it's like being responsible for the most loved (and sometimes hated) videos in the business.
When did you realize that 411 had become the juggernaut that it is today?
We always knew it had the potential. But there wasn't any one thing that happened where it was like suddenly 411 was great. Its influence just increased over time and eventually skaters started coming up to us saying, "Hey, can I get in the video? What do I have to do?"
When did you think that the industry started to take it seriously? They seemed to be a little reluctant at first.
We always had a few people who were into it at the beginning, which was nice. It validated what we were doing. One of the big turning points was when Deluxe started advertising with us. They don't advertise outside of their "family." So that was a personal victory for us. We created something that other people, who don't want to be involved in other stuff, feel they need to be involved in.
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