Dialed Magazine Interview

 Creating a magazine has been a dream of Steven Tongson, co-owner here at Inside Scooters for years now.  Meeting with a few different potential business partners, he eventually realized that this was something he wanted to do without the help of financial backing.  After many months of work, the very first issue of Dialed Scooter Mag was released, available for free at Scooterzone.  In order to find out more about the mag, I hit up Steven as well as Tyler Wheeland, who also plays a big role on Dialed.


Jordan Jasa:  So, you finally got the first issue out...How are you feeling?  Stoked or what?

Steven: I don’t even know if I can really put into words how it feels dude, but I’ll give it a shot. It’s honestly a lot of relief, and I have to admit, I am proud of myself, and definitely proud of the Staff behind me who made this happen. 

Where is it going to be available and how can people get it?

Steven: Dialed is going to be available all over the USA. It is not, and will never be exclusive to any one region of the country. Give it a little bit of time, and riders will be able to get their hands on each issue at all major online shops, walk in shops, and more.

How long ago did the idea of creating a magazine come about?  What made you want to undertake such a task?

The Big Man himself.

Steven: In reality, this has been something that was an idea for more than two years. I just kept it quiet for the most part. 

In the beginning, I was to partner with a certain company, and make a magazine together with them. After giving it some thought, I realize this wasn’t really what I was aiming to do. From there, I was approached by Andy Wegener, owner of Sunshine Distribution, ELYTS, 841, etc etc. It was a hell of a deal indeed, if I was to partner up and take that deal. But again, in the end, I realized it wasn’t what I had envisioned, or what I wanted. 

That was all last year. After talking to a few company owners, and mainly Scott Mackintosh, the owner of Scooter Hut in Australia, I was convinced that I could in fact do this on my own. It would just take an immense amount of dedication, drive, and support. With my love for this sport, the community, and writing, I made the decision to do this magazine on my own. No financial backing and no partnership with any other company. I wanted to create a magazine 100% owned and ran by actual riders.

Tyler, when did you get involved?  What are your motivations for working for Dialed?

Tyler: Steven told me about Dialed at cooter con in 2010. Along the way he would tell me progress and stuff then I became part of the staff in October I believe. I'm a huge fan of magazines and of course I love scooters so it fit perfectly. I'm siked for real interviews and for good photos to be on print.

Creating a magazine is obviously a lot of work, but I think there are probably some things most people aren’t even aware of which are necessary in production.  What’s the process of making a magazine like?  How was it done on the first issue?  What do you guys each do specifically?

Steven: I’ll go first here, before Tyler gets his answer in. Well you’re definitely right dude, it is a lot of work, and very few people in the community will know just how much work. It was one of the most daunting tasks I ever took on. We literally started with nothing at all. Just an idea.. and we had to take that idea and turn it into something real. I can’t even explain how hard that can be. I guess we just started with a content list. From there, we tracked down the riders, and attempted to make it happen haha.

 The process, well.. how we do things at Dialed. I get together with Tyler, and we spend a solid week discussing the content we want in the next issue. Once Tyler completes the content list, and it is cleared by me. We basically just get straight into it. We contact each rider, make sure they’re down to be in the magazine, and we start working with em. Photos that get sent into the magazine, go straight to Dylan Kasson for photo editing. When we have full text and photos for a piece, all of that is sent to Tom Hoying who lays that particular article or interview out to be ready for print. Once we have 100% all of the photos for an issue, we send those off to Alex Steadman who takes care of all of the photo captions in each issue. Once we got everything good to go, and I’ve looked the complete magazine over a good 1,203,847,129,083,741 times..I give the “ok” to Tom, and he sends it off to our printers. 

As for what I do for Dialed..hmm. I don’t have a definite role I guess. I pretty much do a little bit of everything. Obviously I own the magazine, so I take care of all expenses (such fun..) I make sure everyone is staying on top of things, I write for the magazine, and do interviews, and I handle all of the advertising within the magazine.

Tyler: Steven pretty much handled the process.  I am the content manager and also help Steven in any way possible.

Has the second issue been easier to work on so far, now that you know what you’re doing?

Steven: Man. The second issue is coming along so nicely. Now that we all got a handle on how this whole things works, we can really get things done. To be honest though, that’s how I wanted it. I want people to know that this is being done by riders. I didn’t have tons of money, and just have some professional layout and design dude just come in and handle my magazine. We are all scooter riders first, before anything else. 

Tyler: It's a bit easier but it's still a huge task. I wouldn't say we know what we are doing exactly yet. It's a huge learning experience. We are more prepared though.

Back to the first issue, Monky McMoran got the cover shot, with a front board down Hollywood 12.  Why did you guys decide on giving Monky the cover, and how did you pick who else to feature in the issue?

Dialed Issue #1.

Steven: Well, I guess there’s no denying it, since most people already know. But Monky has been one of my favorite riders for such a long time now, and it just so happened that in the past couple of years he has really taken his riding to another level, mainly with his street riding. That being said it was a no brainer for me. I remember giving Monky the phone call, and telling him I wanted him on the front cover of the first issue.. haha good times. As for the other riders, it is never really easy to pick out who to feature in Dialed. Tyler and I basically think of riders who honestly deserve to be in there. It can be a rider whos killing it, doesn’t get enough recognition, an up and comer, contest killer, and obviously with the “Injury Incident” article in each issue, we always look for someone who got absolutely wrecked.

Tyler: Kind of whoever deserves it and whoever is killing it at the time.  Monky has been on his game since he won that epic comp like a year and a half ago it just seemed right.

There is a small handful of other magazines in our sport now...What do you think of them?  Also, can you tell us what the deal is with Dialled of Australia?

Steven: Haha. Well, I will say that one of the reasons I really wanted to do this, is because I feel like the riders need it. For the record, I don’t “hate” on any of the other magazines on there. But that doesn’t mean I like them, and think they’re “good”. We’re not a magazine from another country, trying to be a magazine in the USA. We’re riders that live in the USA, and we’re making a magazine for the USA. Some of the other magazines out right now, really just don’t do the sport justice. We looked at them before starting Dialed, and instantly knew we can do better, so we went for it. I mean come on.. if you’re going to have the audacity to stick, “America’s First Freestyle Scooter Magazine” on your front cover, and release nothing more than a bad looking picture book? Do you REALLY think you’re helping the sport when a BMX rider or skater picks that magazine up and looks through it? 

As for Dialled Australia, you’ll notice the 2 L’s. That’s how they spell it in Aus. Dialled Aus is our sister magazine for Australia. It is not the same magazine that you will get here in the USA. They are two completely different magazines designated to their locations. Dialled Aus is doing great in Australia, and we will be sure to match her here in the USA. As for Dialed US being available in AUS, and Dialled AUS being available here, that is something still to be decided.

Sweet banner they had made.

Can you tell us anything about the next upcoming issues?  Or any goals/future plans for Dialed?

Steven: I don’t want to say too much regarding riders featured in the issues or other exclusive articles, but I will say this. We are never going to find a comfortable point with Dialed. That’s just not how my Staff is. We’re thinking beyond that. We know that we have a lot to learn, and we’re willing to do so. We have no plans of stopping or slowing down either. 

Future plans and goals? Hmm.. Eventually, I want to be dropping a new issue every two months, not every three. But I don’t feel it’s 100% mandatory to do so. I want to find more ways to give back to the community through Dialed as well. Sponsoring competitions and events is one way I plan on doing that. From there, it’s really to just make sure Dialed is known to all riders as the best magazine out in the USA. 

Any last thoughts/comments/thanks?

Steven: I feel like a real magazine in our sport is something that can only be produced by people that actually ride scooters. To some people the idea of making a magazine is simply to make money off of it. At Dialed that couldn’t be further than the truth, shit my empty wallet proves that. Making money is needed to continue what we do, but it isn’t why we do this. We’re not from another industry trying to cash in on scooters. Scootering is something we all actually do. We’ve been in this sport since we were kids. Dialed is my way to give back to the community, the industry, and to the sport that has kept me out of a 9 -5 job for the past three years. It’s about the passion, not the paycheck. 

"Its about the passion, not the paycheck." 

I definitely want to give thanks to some of the people that made this possible. I want to thank Scott Mackintosh over at Scooter Hut for making me realize that I can in fact do this, and succeed. I gotta thank John Radtke and Chris Gascoigne as well. While they don’t work for Dialed anymore, it was those two riders who turned the dream into a reality. It would have never made it past an idea if not for them. Scooter Zone James for being a Homie from the get go, and supporting me nonstop along the way. My Mom and my Dad who believed in me when I didn’t even believe I could do this, and for their endless amounts of support. My entire staff working alongside me at Dialed Scooter Mag, who impress me time and time again with their talents in their fields. I assure you, without the current staff working with Dialed, we wouldn’t have a magazine at all. To Tyler Wheeland for honestly keeping my head on straight, and being one of my close friends for so long. Last, but certainly not least to a very special person in my life named Alice. She was my strength when I had none and my only source of happiness when I was stressed out of my mind. She stood by me through everything, and me thanking her at the end of this interview equals less than half of what she truly deserves. 

Tyler: This project only has room for improvements and hopefully you guys dig. Thanks to Steven for giving me this opportunity and my parents for not making me get a real job.

For anyone who wants to get their hands on the first issue check with your favorite scooter webshops/shops, if they don't carry Dialed, ask them to! For now you can get them for sure by clicking the link below.. Scooter Zone