Lee Feinswog and Ed Chan: 'And that's how we became publishing magnates'
SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter9 Okt 2019

Lee Feinswog and Ed Chan: 'And that's how we became publishing magnates'

It took a matter of weeks for Lee Feinswog to rebound from being laid off. Not a month had gone by from the moment he received a call from the higher-ups at Turner, for whom he freelanced to write college volleyball stories on NCAA.com, when he began scrolling through his phone, idea and contact in hand.

His passion for writing about the sport came as a surprise, even to him. Here was a guy who had covered LSU basketball in the Shaq days, who had written about the highest levels of the NBA, MLB, who ran in circles with some of the best writers in the country – and he was smitten by college volleyball. It’s possible that it was the novelty of it, at the time. He had watched his first men’s match only a year before, a semifinal of the NCAA Championship where, as fate would have it, he sat next to Hugh McCutcheon, then the head coach of the women’s national team and one of the most brilliant minds in the game.

“I learned more that day than you could possibly imagine,” Feinswog said on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. A few days later, he found himself in Anaheim, watching the women’s team practice at the invitation of McCutcheon.

But Turner, which owned NCAA.com, was bleeding money, and the first to go were the freelancers, including Feinswog. McCutcheon, though, wasn’t the only contact Feinswog had made at that semifinal. He had also exchanged contact information with the editor at Volleyball Magazine, Aubrey Everett.

“All of a sudden, I was like, ‘Wait, I sat next to the editor of Volleyball Magazine,’” Feinswog recalled. “I sent her a note and said ‘I’m a free agent, can you use me?’

“You guys have never seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but it’s kinda like where he goes, ‘Well, considering I’m desperate and you’re exactly what I need…’ so I picked up with the magazine and wrote for them for four, five six years as a freelance writer.”

Despite holding what was basically a monopoly over volleyball coverage, the magazine wasn’t immune to the downsizing of the journalism industry as a whole. The print edition was shrinking, circulation was down, the website was limited.

Simply put: It wasn’t going to last long.

Feinswog knew this, as did Ed Chan, who had subscribed to the magazine for more than 40 years and had been one of its most reliable freelance photographers. They agreed that, when the magazine hit a certain threshold of pain, it would be willing to sell.

They’d be the ones to buy it.

“It got to that point,” Chan said. “So I asked if they were interested in selling, and they said yes.”

It was the simplest of business negotiations, almost to comical levels. Feinswog was driving down I-10 in Houston. Chan called and said “We can buy volleyball magazine, you want to buy it?”

“Ok, sure.”

“That was it,” Feinswog said, laughing. “That was our business negotiation. And that’s how we became publishing magnates.”

He says this jokingly, but on a relative scale, Volleyball Magazine – since renamed VolleyballMag.com in Feinswog’s and Chan’s ownership of the publication – is without a doubt the most reliable and regular source of news coverage on all things volleyball, be it beach, indoors or otherwise.

Their goal was to become the daily digital news source of volleyball, which is exactly what has happened. They cover college women. They cover college men. They cover the pros, to the point that Feinswog watched every single match during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Not just every American match.

Every match.

“And then I was like, ‘Wait, now college is about to start?’” he said.

They have covered the AVP and the NVL and the World Series of Beach Volleyball and p1440 and CBVA and every other iteration of professional volleyball there has been on the beach. They have covered the college game.

And while competitor sites such as Volleymob and FloVolley have either shrunk or folded, VolleyballMag has grown and expanded at an impressive, if not staggering, clip. The number of stories that are read through organic Google searches has exploded by 800 percent in the four years they’ve owned it. They’ve hired freelancers to cover whatever the two of them cannot, expanding to juniors and even to Brazil. It was Feinswog who named the very podcast on which he told this story.

Yes, SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter was as much Feinswog’s creation as it was Bourne’s and Mewhirter’s.

Now a new chapter of VolleyballMag.com begins, as the magazine – “magazine” used loosely here, since there is no longer a print edition – has been acquired by p1440, equipping them with the resources they’ve long needed but haven’t possessed.

“It’s amazing really,” Chan said. “It’s kind of like making the transformation from being a garage band to getting a recording contract. We had all these ideas. We wanted to expand to juniors. We wanted to expand to Brazil. Normally we would be ‘OK, how are we going to pay for this? Who are we going to get to buy into this? How are we going to promote it?’ With p1440, if they see it as a viable idea, they greenlight it and we go with it.”

“There is a vision,” Feinswog added. “There is an expectation of greatness on a tremendous scale. All I can tell you is you’re going to see more amazing things not just on VolleyballMag.com but from p1440.”

Episoder(500)

Jake Gibb has one last tournament before becoming the full-time soccer dad

Jake Gibb has one last tournament before becoming the full-time soccer dad

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is a re-run episode that we recorded back in August of 2018 with Jake Gibb. When we initially recorded this episode, Gibb was one day removed from the Manhattan Beach Open finals, where he and Taylor Crabb lost to Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena.  We figured now would be a great time to run it back, given that Gibb is in his final tournament of his storied career, competing at the World Tour Finals.  On this episode, Gibb discusses: - How ignorance perhaps paved the way to him becoming one of the best American blockers of all-time - The growth of his partnership with Taylor Crabb. This in particular is fun to look back upon, as Crabb was just beginning to come into his own in 2018 and is now one of the best defenders in the world.  - His growth curve as a professional beach volleyball player, and the importance of a growth mindset - Two young Norwegian kids named Anders Mol and Christian Sorum And, as always, much, much more: ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

6 Okt 202144min

Rising Canadian defender Jake MacNeil‘s life on the road is only beginning

Rising Canadian defender Jake MacNeil‘s life on the road is only beginning

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Mewhirter's good friend and standout Canadian defender Jake MacNeil. The two have been on the road together for nearly two months this season, and are currently filming a movie in Bulgaria.  Our chat is a wide-ranging one, discussing: - MacNeil's experience as a training partner at the Tokyo Olympic Games - A wild season in which he and Will Hoey were on the road non-stop since May - The difference between teams a the one-star level and the five-star level - What the next few years are looking like in the Canadian federation And, as always, much more.  ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

29 Sep 202148min

Yariv Lerner is bringing beach volleyball back to the big screen

Yariv Lerner is bringing beach volleyball back to the big screen

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is AWESOME. This episode features Yariv Lerner, the CEO of Nu Boyana Film Studios, one of the largest film studios in Europe.  Why are we having a CEO of a film studio on the podcast? Because Lerner is producing a movie, Qualifying, depicting the grinding journey of the qualifier beach volleyball player, shooting it at Sofia Beach in Sofia, Bulgaria. Now, for the first time since Sideout, beach volleyball will be back on the big screen, and for the first time ever, it's going to be done right.  On this episode, we discuss: - How this movie came to be, and how a script written 20 years ago by Tom Black was revived to become a bona fide movie - How Lerner became so passionate about beach volleyball, beginning on the coasts of South Africa to Santa Monica - Lerner's legendary house in Santa Monica, which roofed players such as Billy Allen, Nick Lucena, John Mayer, Kevin Wong, and Adam Roberts, among others - The cast, plot, and projected release date of Qualifying And, as always, so much more.  ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

22 Sep 20211h 5min

April Ross and Alix Klineman, and the micro changes that led to an Olympic gold medal

April Ross and Alix Klineman, and the micro changes that led to an Olympic gold medal

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Tokyo Olympic GOLD MEDALISTS April Ross and Alix Klineman, as well as the lovable and wonderful and fantastic guest host, Chris Geeter McGee.  What an absolute treat this episode is. Over a few glasses of wine, Ross and Klineman discuss: - How they didn't consider themselves favorites heading into Tokyo  - Their experience at the Olympic Games, and how Klineman felt oddly calm during the entire experience - Ross' decision to go with Klineman, and how it was only Jen Kessy who agreed that Klineman was the best option - Whether or not they intend to play Paris together And so, so much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

15 Sep 20211h 47min

At 24 years old, TJ DeFalco might be the young guy, but he‘s no rookie

At 24 years old, TJ DeFalco might be the young guy, but he‘s no rookie

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. On this episode, we brought in yet another Olympian – and a rookie who is not a real rookie on the beach, TJ DeFalco. DeFalco competed in his first Olympics in Tokyo, making a name for himself with an absurd ability to hit the back row quick set, then got the coolest of calls: Nick Lucena wanted to play the Manhattan Beach Open with him. And so it was that DeFalco played his first AVP since 2016. On this episode we discuss: How it felt for TJ to get back on the beach after nearly five years off it His first Olympic experience in Tokyo How Reid Priddy forever altered the trajectory of his career How eight words and a phone call from Matt Fuerbringer got him to partner with Nick Lucena   And, as always, much, much more.   ENJOY!   We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/

8 Sep 202146min

Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, Manhattan Champs, going somewhere they‘ve never gone before

Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, Manhattan Champs, going somewhere they‘ve never gone before

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the most recent winners of the AVP Manhattan Beach Open: Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb.  Bourne and Crabb made a huge comeback to beat Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner in the semifinals before beating Casey Patterson and Chase Budinger in the finals. It marked Crabb's second Manhattan Beach Open win and Bourne's first.  On this episode, we discuss: - How it feels for Bourne to alas win the Manhattan Open after two losses in the finals - How the second win was just as sweet for Trevor Crabb, who won his first with Reid Priddy in 2019 - The mental focus Bourne found in the semifinals, when he and Crabb went down 16-12 to up 19-16.  - Trevor now being 2-0 when he guarantees victory And so, so much more.  ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB  Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/   SHOOTS!

1 Sep 202157min

Taryn Kloth has always taken the harder path, and she continues making it work

Taryn Kloth has always taken the harder path, and she continues making it work

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the newest elite blocker on the AVP Tour: Taryn Kloth.  Kloth pulled off the virtually unprecedented in winning the first AVP event of her career alongside wunderkind Kristen Nuss, and in Manhattan Beach, the two claimed fifth, losing only to April Ross and Alix Klineman and Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes.  On this episode, we discuss: - How Kloth was able to manage the nerves of her first AVP main draw and win the whole thing, beating three Olympians in the process - Kloth's path to beach volleyball, from frigid South Dakota to hot and humid Louisiana - How a street sign was all she needed to turn down big offers indoors to pursue beach volleyball full-time - The mindset she has, and why choosing the difficult path is always the path for her And, as always, much, much more.  ENJOY!   *** This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball   Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB    Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/   SHOOTS!

25 Aug 20211h 1min

Tri Bourne -- Olympian Tri Bourne -- is always staying ready

Tri Bourne -- Olympian Tri Bourne -- is always staying ready

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, finally brings the hosts back together, in person, for the first time in a few months. Here they discuss Tri Bourne's recent wild ride into the Olympics, and how he thrived during them, finishing with the highest hitting percentage of the entire Olympic Games.  On this episode, we discuss: - When Bourne got the call, sitting in a Dairy Queen with his daughter, from Jake Gibb, asking him to come to Tokyo - The weird vibe at the Olympics, with all the strange occurrences that had happened, from Taylor Crabb testing positive to Phil Dalhausser and Jake Gibb being forced to quarantine - Tri's energy, and how he was able to perk the team up more than a bit - What's next for Bourne, and how everything has changed, yet nothing has changed at all *** This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball SHOOTS!

18 Aug 20211h 16min

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