Interview With Steel Nation Magazine

Our Featured Member of the Month is John Wagner of Pittsburgh, PA.!

John is a co owner of Steel Nation Magazine (www.steelnationmagazine.com)   Steel Nation Magazine is a great online periodical that provides all of us with a plethora of information on Pittsburgh Sports.  They are great friends of ours and allow us to contribute to their website and magazine as well! Check out our work in their magazine this month!  Steel Nation Magazine is out in the community often and brings you the fans everything you want.  We HIGHLY recommend you get your subscription today!  We took a little time to sit down with John and learn a whole lot more about what they bring all of us. Check out our interview below!

SNA: When did you form Steel Nation Magazine?

JW: First off, thank you for wanting to have us as your Pittsburgh business of the month, it’s an honor

The magazine was started in the spring of 2011.  There are four of us that have an equal share in the business. Bill Laurence, Carlo Prati, Rich Cassarino and myself.  We all have our areas of strength and have a great commitment in what we do.

SNA: What made you decide to put together the magazine and what do you guys hope to achieve with the magazine?

JW: Well first off we are all born and raised in Pittsburgh and lifelong Pittsburgh Sports fans.  So it’s always been a passion of mine. I’ve watched and talked about sports for as long as I can remember. So when the idea was brought to me about doing something like this, I was very excited. I started thinking about just writing articles on a weekly basis about Pittsburgh sports but then I just got so caught up in the complete aspect of the magazine. That made me branch out into getting in contact with Pittsburgh athletes/ personalities and doing personal interviews with them.  That took me to wanting to start covering their respective sports on a consistent basis. So it’s been kind of a whirlwind ride the last few months.  The athletes and personalities that I have had a chance to talk to have been awesome. I get credentialed for sporting events all over the country now.  So I was once sitting up in the balcony enjoying a sporting event, now I’m in the press box or on media row ringside covering the event and enjoying it just as much.  I think people will appreciate my perspective on sports because I am coming at it from a fans perspective. 

We would love for our magazine to become a staple in the Pittsburgh sports market for years to come.  There isn’t any publication out there with the same format as us. We don’t have specific agenda’s like some outlets do.  We come at it from a fans point of view.    So we think we have something pretty special that the fans of Pittsburgh really like.  The reaction we have gotten back from people so far has been incredible.  So we just look at this to get bigger and better every month!

 

SNA: How would someone go about subscribing to your magazine and are subscriptions free?! 

JW: Yes! It’s absolutely free.  You can go to www.steelnationmagazine.com and all it takes is you to put in your email. We will send you a link to our magazine every month.  The website itself has a ton of information on it as well. We have weekly contributors that have their articles posted on there all the time. Along with a bunch of other cool stuff, so check it out!

SNA: Aside from owning the magazine, you do a lot of the writing for it too, is that correct?

JW: Yes, I am the lead writer and editor for the magazine. I handle the cover stories, interviews and covering events. I will add a few articles of my own to the magazine each month but we have a great stable of talented writers that help contribute to making this magazine work.

SNA: What will subscribers find in your magazine that sets you apart from the rest? 

JW:  Well first off, it’s all online. So whether you’re at work, at home or sitting in an airport and don’t want to buy a magazine.  You can read the whole magazine from your laptop, ipad or your phone totally free. That’s the convenience we give the fans, you can take us wherever you go.  Being online gives us so many more options than print publications.  We can add video interviews at any time to any article.  We do a lot of interactive things with the magazine online that you just can’t do in print. We also offer a great benefit to advertisers. Their quarter, half or full page AD isn’t just an advertisement, it’s a link to their website. So not only can you read about the advertiser you can be instantly directed to their website for detailed information.  As we continue to grow we will get even more interactive with our readers.

SNA: Aside from the obvious big Pittsburgh sports, you guys write about a lot of other sporting events going on around the area, can you tell us a little about that and what got you involved with these other sports?

JW:  Definitely! It’s not just the Big 3(Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins) that we cover.  We cover a wide variety of events.  I am credentialed for the Pittsburgh Power and cover that on a weekly basis.  The Mylan Golf Classic came to Southpointe last summer and we were there to cover all 4 days of that event.  We cover the High School scene with our “High School Athlete of the Month”.  The popularity of Mixed Martial Arts in this country has grown so much in the last decade we cover Pittsburgh events and Pennsylvania MMA fighters all over the country.  The Boxing scene in Pittsburgh is very strong now with World Champions like Monty Meza Clay, Rayco”WAR”Saunders, Brian”The Beast”Minto along with a slew of other talented local boxers.  There are boxing events in the city just about every month and Steel Nation Magazine has definitely thrown its hat in the ring! 

SNA: What’s been your favorite sport to cover since you’ve been at the magazine? 

JW: To be honest, I love the Boxing scene here in Pittsburgh.  Getting to know all the boxers personally and covering their fights have been great.  I grew up watching Mike Tyson on HBO, never missing a fight. I always loved the sport of boxing and was fascinated with it all my life. Now I am sitting ringside here in Pittsburgh and places like Caesers Palace in Atlantic City.  That’s been a lot of fun. 

 

SNA: Do you attend a lot of events around town?

JW: Yes, I try to make as many as I can.  My schedule gets pretty hectic from time to time but I make as many as I can. I love getting out and meeting Pittsburgh sports fans and hear what they are talking about and what’s going on around town.  I have attended a lot of fantastic events in the last couple months and have met some really remarkable people along the way and just can’t wait to see what else the future has in store.

SNA: Do you have Steel Nation Magazine souvenirs like T shirts etc and if so where can people find those?

JW: We sure do.  We have an online store on our website and you can find all your Steel Nation Magazine needs right on the site! www.steelnationmagazine.com

SNA: Anything else you’d like to add about the Magazine that we may have forgotten here?

JW: Yeah. This magazine is going to go as far as the Pittsburgh Fan’s take it.  This is a magazine about the Pittsburgh fans for the Pittsburgh fans.  We always spotlight local fans for a variety of reasons in our magazine. Whether you have a talent in sports, writing, painting we want to hear about it and want to let the rest of Pittsburgh hear about it also.  Two of our last cover pieces for the Issue included the world record holder in terrible towels.  His name is Emmett Newsome and lives in Lower Burrell and works for Fed Ex. We loved his achievement and put him on the cover and did a full story about him and his life in Pittsburgh.  Another one was Larry Klukaszewski. Larry is an incredibly talented sports artist who does designs on football helmets, footballs, terrible towels, even the felt on a pool table. He has designed hundreds of pieces of art for numerous sports celebrities all over the world. So it’s not just about being a sports star here in Pittsburgh.  We spotlight you the fans of our great city!

SNA:  Thanks for all of that! It sounds great and we’re glad to be associated with you guys.  Each Month we also ask our members of the month the below questions and we’d like to ask you as well!

SNA: When did you become a Steeler Fan?

JW: I’ve been a Steeler fan all my life.  I don’t remember not having a Steeler shirt. I couldn’t imagine not being a Steeler fan.  They are the best NFL franchise ever and have the most passionate fans in the world.

SNA: Who is your favorite player all time?

JW: I would have to go back to my childhood on this one. I loved Greg Llyod.  That guy was just terrifying.  His style of play was what I liked the most. 

SNA: Who is your favorite current player?

JW: Heath Miller.  The guy is just a class act and fantastic football player.  He epitomizes what a team player should be. 

 

SNA: What is your favorite all time Steeler moment?

JW:  Well all apologies to Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception, I wasn’t alive at the time to enjoy that one.  I would have to say it was Santonio Holmes catch to win the Superbowl in 2008.  I was in Vegas at the time watching it from a sportsbook and I just went crazy.

SNA: Do you have a quote from a sports personality that you’d like to leave us with? 

JW: “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”-  Jimmy Valvano