Barry:
It’s important to talk a moment about why TrainMasters
doesn’t use the same free business model as MRH.
If we had advertisers totally underwriting TrainMasters TV,
we’d have to have commercials, and lots of them. Someone
would have to make all those commercials. It can take several
days to make just one video commercial, so the TMTV crew
would literally be spending all our time each month just mak-
ing commercials.
And all the sponsor money would be going in to pay for this
commercial-heavy video channel. It’s different in print, because
a lot of advertisers can make their own ads if they have
Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator. But making a good video
commercial takes a lot of specialized skill and knowledge.
To make just one commercial that’s on a level of production to
match the rest of the show, there’s no way that’s going to hap-
pen with the model train manufacturer market, given its size.
So really the only way we can operate TMTV is for everyone to
chip in a little bit, and help us fund this great programming by
subscribing.
Joe:
That makes sense. We also face that with
Model Railroad
Hobbyist.
We try to include video content in the magazine. But
to make a decent video, or even half-decent video, for the maga-
zine is not something you can do in a couple of hours!
Barry:
As I look at all the different ways it could be done, this
turned out to be the best way to make it happen.
Joe:
So what other segments are in the monthly TrainMasters
program?
Barry:
There’s
Ken’s Roundhouse.
Ken Goslett hosts that seg-
ment. He climbs all over a diesel locomotive, opens the doors,
