With a quarter-century of experience in the tire and automotive industries and more than 30 years as a journalist, Jim's communications experience includes stints as a newspaper reporter and editor, a public relations manager and a variety of creative and management roles with an advertising agency. The Kent State University journalism major served as editor and associate editor for a number of community newspapers in Northeast Ohio before joining Modern Tire Dealer in 1984, where he served as senior editor. After four years in brand and corporate public relations roles with Bridgestone/Firestone, Jim joined Nashville's Stumpf Bartels Advertising in 1992. He became Tire Review's ninth editor in October 1999.
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Friday, March 12, 2010
Since I mentioned the serious financial problems that have beset the All-American Soap Box Derby back in December, a lot has changed. And a lot remains the same.
You’ll recall, the All-American was more than $600,000 in debt, and its bank cut off its credit and called in the loan.
In early February a new deal was struck between the All-American, the City of Akron, the Akron Chamber of Commerce and First Merit Bank whereby the city secured the debt, and the bank restructured the...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
[Disclaimer: I am not making any comment on this one. I will leave it all to you. This is from KAIT-TV’s (Jonesboro, Ark.) Web site, and concerns a Leachville, Ark., man’s recent tire balancing patent. Click on the Web link to see the actual video.]
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12119293
KAIT-TV – Leachville Man Earns Patent for No Lead Tires
Most of us have at least once in our lives thought about getting a patent on some idea.
Perry Cude of Leachville...
Friday, March 05, 2010
A service shop owner in Limerick, Ireland, (stop laughing, it’s a real place) was ordered by authorities to take down his nudie calendars or be shut down.
A letter from Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority claimed the calendars contained a “display of pornographic material at the place of work,” something that is not allowed in the Emerald Isle – or anywhere in the country – under “dignity at work” laws.
The calendars had been sent to the...
Thursday, March 04, 2010
When bad things happen, there is usually a Congressional hearing in the aftermath. And they all start with the same premise: How did this happen?
Easy. As apparent as the stupefied look on the faces of committee members is this fact: Government is never proactive.
The Zero to 60 time for a government agency is somewhere close to "forever," and technology zooms past some regulations that sit on the books – untended and unupdated – for decades.
Reporters covering the grand...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Grab some coffee, this may take a while, for it’s another round of the Great Two-Tire Debate. And it shouldn’t be happening.
Just finished the February issue of Canadian Technician magazine, and its Letters to the Editor section featured reader opinions on which axle a pair of new tires should be mounted.
Granted, only one of the letters was from a tire dealer (the others were from an independent service shop and a car dealer tech), but I was surprised that we’re still...
Friday, February 26, 2010
More than once in my career I’ve been caught in the vapor trail of a tire company CEO entourage, a pack of VP-level brown-nosers who followed their boss around wherever he went. Sometimes with embarrassing results, but that’s another story.
It’s been a good long time since that’s happened, and we are all the better for it. Today’s tire company chiefs have foregone the presumed trappings of their positions, striking a positive chord with dealers and media alike.
I...
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Everyone by now understands that getting out from under this painful recession is going to take a lot more than a few Wall Street rallies and happy talk from D.C. To put this all behind us and move forward, we need two things: confidence and jobs.
And right now we have neither, and the prospects for meaningful job growth grows dimmer and dimmer.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday that consumer confidence “fell sharply” in February thanks to concerns over job prospects. “Just...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
One of the problems with trying to cover the global tire industry is the shaky nature of news resources.
Sure, we get a tremendous amount of reliable news from our partners at Tyres & Accessories in Europe and other tire publication friends in the four corners of the world. But we also scan other media sources, a wide range, in fact, that span from the reputable to the questionable.
Matters get worse in lands that can operate a little fast-n-loose with basic North American journalistic...
Monday, February 08, 2010
You just gotta love public records. Hard for someone notorious for hiding to hide when the government says you just can’t hide.
It appears (again) that all is not as it seems with our man-with-a-plan Abraham Hengyucius and his American/Colorado/Washington Tire Corp.
You’ll recall that Hengyucius made his pitch to the citizens of the Port of Ephrata, Washington, on Jan. 13, outlining his plans for an 18-building, $500 million tire plant that would produce not only giant OTR tires...
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Before I go MIA on a lengthy business trip, I wanted to catch up on a few things that deserve mention:
• The industry is a bit poorer with the end of the Heavy Treadin’ blog from BuyBigTires.com. The “man behind the curtain,” Kurt Hartman, is leaving BBT for other things, and has run down the curtain on the popular blog. BBT may assign someone else to handle the regular writing duties, but I doubt it will be quite the same.
Kurt acquitted himself quite well as an industry...
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