The year is 2005. The place is Brick Skate Park on its opening day. The time is mid afternoon and the players are George Hoernig and Brett Middaugh. (Brett being…um…moi.) In casual conversation as I am talking to George about me being back on the scene after a hiatus of a few years, I ask him, what could be done to help the NJ scene. His answer, “there hasn’t been a hard copy zine in years around here that captured what BMX is like in NJ”. We discussed the idea and the concept of how riders and riding had become segregated over the years. Racers stuck to race tracks, flatlanders stayed away from parks, trail guys didn’t know about other trail guys, north jersey didn’t know who to see in south jersey to ride with.
In effect there was nothing that was neutral ground showcasing the NJ scene in its “entirety. We discussed names and decided to go simple, NJBMX but instead of calling it just a “zine” it would be a zine on the scene, a “szine”. So with that conversation and a deadline of two months to get issue 1 off my copier, BMXNJ Szine was born.
In the early black and white copier days of the zine I covered a LOT of racing and did my own little editorial nonsense in there, espousing my viewpoints on BMX and what could be done to help it. The racing and freestyle dudes and dudettes dug it and word got out about the little zine about BMX in New Jersey.
After a year or so of doing the b&w copier thing on the zine, I bit the bullet and invested in a full on color copier and did color covers for a few issues, even going so far as making the final “zine” size issue a full color one. As much fun as it was to 
do the zine it was also very monetarily consuming. With toner totaling over $400 dollars an issue for 100 copies, it was a strain on the finances for a local little zine that had zero advertising. (and still does) It was good times though, laying out the zine, having good guys come along to contribute stuff, like Jon Stettler and Louis Orth, NJBMX Szine was probably more fun than even the site at times as having that “physical” feeling of holding something in your hands can not be beat.
When the time came to change brokenspokes.net over to BMXNJ.com, NJBMX Szine had a little change too. Very little. I swapped the NJ and BMX so that NJBMX Szine became…yea you guessed it BMXNJ Szine. Those were the times of the color copier and big holes in my budget for toner! LOL!
After about a year and a half of color covers and issues I stumbled upon a place that would make super low print runs of full color glossy magazines. Like single copy if you so desired low print runs. I realized right off that this is where I would take this BMXNJ Szine thing for now. So with a fond farewell and a great cover by Jon Stettler and Bud Wingren, BMXNJ Szine ceased production and BMXNJ Magazine was born.
BMXNJ Szine had lasted over 4 years with its last year being 2009. 2010 brought BMXNJ Magazine to reality and New Jersey had its own full color glossy BMX Magazine devoted only to its scene. (Although I guess you could say Ride and Dig are NJ magazines since you see a LOT of NJ riding in there…strange.) BMXNJ Magazine would be a no ads, run by an OG, OS, racer, freestyler, promoter, mag that wouldn’t care what you rode, how you rode or when you rode. All that mattered was that you RODE. The other thing I didn’t care about was how big a name you were. Me…I’ve seen big name riders come and go over my 30+years in this thing and I knew, know and will ALWAYS know who matters most. The unknown local dudes just doing their thing for the love of it and that is what BMXNJ Magazine was to be about.
So with that knowledge and attitude, BMXNJ Magazine #1 premiered to absolutely no fanfare during the winter of 2010. The cover was a shot of Ed Herbison doing a tuck no hander at Perth Amboy skate park during one of CJS’s summer bashes. Since BMXNJ Mag is print on demand, it does not get the “numbers” that any other mag will ever get. Who ever has their hands on an issue wanted it. These aren’t designed to be throw away mags like some others that showcase the hot bike, rider or advertiser who pays the most. BMXNJ captures my viewpoint of the NJ scene as it goes by over the years and the local duders who inhabit it.
The mag is now entering it’s third year and 10th issue. It’s still very underground and raw but that is the way I like it. A lot of people say “print is dead”. The reality is, print is dead. Advertiser dollars have left in droves, circulations are a joke to keep a real magazine going. However, 20 years from now, I guarantee you won’t pick up you paper thin tablet and be scouring the net for what happened today, you’ll grab an old issue of a magazine and 
say, “LOL, did we really wear super tight pants and run bars sized for frankenstein back then?”
Print has a place, the place is no longer thousands of copies where most get returned and recycled, the place is issues where you give a shite about what is between the pages.
Besides…did you ever try to hang a .jpeg on a wall of your man-cave or bedroom? Ya gotta, copy it, save it, open it up in a program, print, then the printer is out of ink or clogged…you…get the idea.
BMXNJ Magazine…LOL…well…yea, locals only.
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BMXNJ Magazine Issue 9 (final BMXNJ issue, becomes Chateau Woo Woo Mag)
BMXNJ Magazine Issue 4!!BMXNJ Magazine Ish 3!!
BMXNJ Magazine Issue Deuce…um number TWO!
BMXNJ Magazine Premiere Issue Winter 2009-2010