Jake Howard’s path forward as SURFER’s new editor-in-chief is a complicated one. The plan is to honor and acknowledge SURFER Magazine’s nearly 65-year-old history while pushing the now-digital title to engage young surfers today and those to come in the future.
SURFER Magazine started in 1960, the creation of Orange County, California-based filmmaker John Severson, and within a handful of years became surfing’s tentpole publication, reflecting and shaping the sport’s culture and trends.
After a series of acquisitions over the past few decades, SURFER became a digital-only platform within the Adventure Sports Network division of the Arena Group. The Arena Group is a publicly traded company that also owns titles such as TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal and Athlon Sports.
Their decision to hire Howard as editor-in-chief reflects a desire to re-establish SURFER as the authority on all things surf.
Howard comes with over 25 years of experience in surf editorial. He’s served on the editorial staff of SURFER, The Surfer’s Journal, Surfline, and the World Surf League. Howard has also written about surfing for ESPN and other outlets.
“Jake’s incredible background, connections to the surf world and core industry channels, coupled with his top-class editorial sensibilities, will undoubtedly usher in a new generation of readers to SURFER,” Natasha Cholerton-Brown, General Manager, Adventure Sports Network at The Arena Group, said in a statement.
Howard’s first task is to maintain SURFER’s content creation frequency with an eye toward improving quality, while ramping up and diversifying the brand’s offerings.
“It feels a little bit like we’re running down the beach to get to the surf while trying to put our boardshorts on at the same time,” Howard told SES.
Serving a Wider Audience
The plan is to expand SURFER into a larger entity that tells stories appealing to the entirety of the surf community, newcomers and lifelong surfers alike, leveraging written pieces, but with an increased video and social media storytelling component that reflects the changing culture of surfing.
“Surfers today are seeing the sport differently,” says Howard. “They’re coming at it from different perspectives. There are more women and people of color in the water than ever before. And, for many surfers, surfing is just part of their outdoor interests.”
Howard hopes to create a positive and uplifting place to gather at SURFER, even for those who don’t consider themselves hardcore surfers. The Arena Group also mandates some form of giving back for the titles it owns, and for SURFER that means helping youth surfers with recognition and elevating core brands that have supported the title in the past.
“We want to invite them all into the big tent. We all started surfing because it’s so fun. The world is seeing challenging times and surfing can be a beacon of hope. Let’s build on that,” Howard says.
SURFER will also host the Big Wave Challenge, a year-long contest rewarding surfers who tackle the biggest, most spectacular waves of the season. The winner will be announced at an event in Nazaré, Portugal, in October.
That event is in the middle of a busy stretch for SURFER.
Two staffers will head to Teahupoo, Tahiti, later this month, the site of the surfing portion of the Summer Olympics. Then in August, SURFER will release a 100-page print magazine filled with stories and photos from surfing’s most celebrated creatives. Next comes SURFER’s coverage of the World Surf League’s finals events crowning two world champions. Finally, a newly built and designed website that will honor SURFER’s past with an extensive archive.
All part of the plan to build toward a robust future for surfing’s most cherished title. A future founded on authoritative coverage with an appeal to anyone who calls themself a surfer.
“Evergreen stories that will be meaningful and hold their value — that’s our guideline,” says Howard.
