Bernie Mann - Our State Magazine
By: Bob Barber
    
                          
President-Elect Nominee Ron Kimble, standing in for President John Snyder, who is attending the Rotary Large Club conference in Birmingham, opened the meeting of the Rotary Club of Charlotte. After the invocation and introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians, David Zimmerman reviewed a list of community festivals that will be beginning soon. There seems to be a community festival celebrating every food product, every adult beverage, and every type of dancing, singing, music, and entertainment that is popular in North or South Carolina. Celebrating those festivals and in honor of our speaker, Paul Wyche led the club in a creditable rendition of "The Old North State."
 
Tim Newman notified the club that our 2010 Rotary Habitat for Humanity project house will kick off in a few weeks and that this year the Rotary Club of Charlotte is assigned the day of Friday, April 16, to be responsible for drywall installation.
 
John Galles introduced Bernie Mann, Publisher and owner of Our State magazine. After a career in the radio business, Bernie purchased the magazine, then known as The State, in 1996. Founded in 1933, it had grown to only 23,000 paid subscribers. The magazine now has 150,000 paid subscribers, which is larger than any daily newspaper in NC except the Charlotte Observer and is larger than all other state magazines except Texas Monthly.
 
Bernie started by saying that he had spent a lifetime buying businesses that nobody else wanted and trying to make them better. When he bought The State magazine, it had the same 23,000 subscription base that it had had for many years, it was 48 pages and was still printed in black and white. When he bought the magazine, it had four employees, who all quit at the prospect of moving to Greensboro, where Bernie lived. That gave Bernie the opportunity to hire an all new staff of people who had the vision to see what the magazine could be. He hired people who could make a difference and who had a passion for North Carolina. One of their first acts was to change the name to Our State to make a better connection with the potential subscribers.
 
In 1996, the magazine had a photography budget of $100 per month-all black and white. They decided that a magazine that was going to showcase the beauty of the state had to be in color and should have 20 to 22 pages of pictures. Those pictures were to be and are still today submitted by people who have a passion for and knowledge of the areas in which they live in NC.
 
Since he has no shareholders, Bernie said he was free to make some editorial decisions about the content of the magazine. First, it would be totally positive-no negative stories or information about anything. They do not do book reviews or restaurant reviews so that there will not be a chance of a negative review. They do not accept advertising for political candidates or issues, hard liquor, the lottery, or anything offensive or distasteful. Editorially, only well-written, positive articles are accepted.
 
Every year in the first week of January, the magazine hosts a Best of Our State weekend at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. The weekend is filled with NC food, NC crafts, and NC entertainment. It has sold out all 510 rooms for the last 12 years.
 
A couple years ago NC Public TV approached Bernie about putting on a show called "Our State" and featuring the magazine. It is very well done and shows on Thursday nights at 8:00 pm.
 
In wrapping up his presentation, Bernie said "We are not in the ink on paper business. We are in the beauty business. We have tried to create a mirror in which you can see reflected the beauty of our state."
   
 
Head Table: John Shell, Rick Handford, Ron Kimble, John Galles, Kevin Pitts, Roger Sarow;
Invocation: Phil Van Hoy;
Visitors & Guests: John Greer; Health & Happiness: David Zimmerman: Song: Paul Wyche; Piano: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

• Donations to support Haitian relief efforts must be in the Rotary office by February 28th. Checks are payable to The Rotary Foundation DAF and mailed to the Rotary office.
    
• Welcome to Charlotte Rotary! Elsie Garner introduced John Weber, President and Managing Principal of Findley Davies Inc. John can be contacted at jweber@findleydavies.com. Mike Hawley introduced Dusty Holcomb, Vice President at AAA Carolinas. Dusty was a prior member of Roanoke Rapids Rotary and can be reached at jdholcomb@mail.aaa.com.
   
• Tyson Bennett as joined Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute; contact Bob Elliott for tickets if you are interested in attending the Charlotte Dilworth South End Rotary Club's Beach Party in February that will be held at Byron's South End on February 26th.
  
• The next Flight of Honor is scheduled for April 10th. For those not familiar, FOH is a District-wide project to fly WW II Veterans to Washington on a day-trip to visit their memorial. Charlotte Rotary was a generous supporter of two previous flights. Anyone wishing to make a personal donation to this project can make their check payable to Rotary Flight of Honor and send to the Rotary office.
       
• ROTARY DISTRICT CONFERENCE 2010 will be held in Wilmington April 23-25. All Rotarians and their families are invited to attend. Reservations can be booked at the Hilton Riverside, 910-763-5900. Prior to March 22, the rate will be $169 per night. Conference registration rates for Rotarians: $175 (by 2/23), $195 (by 3/22) or $225 (by 4/16). Guest registration: $155 (by 2/23), $175 (by 3/22), $195 (by 4/16). The registration covers 4 meals: Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast & dinner, and Sunday breakfast. Registration can be handled on the District database (www.dacdb.com) 

Quick rundown: 150 representatives from the 66 largest Rotary clubs in the world met in Birmingham, Alabama for the four day Large Club Conference. John Snyder, Pender McElroy and Sandy Osborne represented Charlotte Rotary and actively participated in the exchange of ideas and best practices that have served Rotary for 100 years. Several interesting facts for the year 2008-2009: Average membership was 351. Seattle remains at the top with 690 members and New York at the bottom with 131. Indianapolis brought in 101 new members and the Rotary Club of Buffalo brought in only two, for an average of 28.85 new members last year. The Rotary Club of Houston lost 99 members, bringing the average members lost at 37.39. Average membership net is -8! Interestingly, the Madison club lost 35 members and the Rotary Club of Houston ended the year with a loss of 67 members.
 
Where does Charlotte Rotary rank on the above statistics for 2008-2009: membership 323; new members 39; members lost 33, for a net growth of 6. Only 16 other clubs ended the year with a net gain. There was a lot of discussion on membership and retention. Charlotte Rotary is currently -8 and there are 4 ½ months remaining in this Rotary year. Be thinking of friends and associates you think would bring value to this club and be good Rotarians. Invite them to a meeting and call the Rotary office for a membership application.