Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this August 30th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here and we are being joined right now by our good friend
editor-in-chief Carol Connery, old farmer from the Old Farmers Almanac and Carol may be
one of the more important questions I ask you.
Did I get your last name right?
Uh, thanks for asking.
It's a canary, but you know, I answer a lot of different things.
I appreciate that.
My, uh, Mailoff, you can mispronounce that all you want, you can.
Uh, yeah, I was like, this spelling is tricky.
Yeah, we can both relate to that one.
Uh, thank you so much for being with us, Carol.
I, I do want to note a lot of our long-time listeners will know we haven't gotten a chance
to talk with you guys for quite some time.
So we really do appreciate the time and, uh, having an opportunity not only to get to
know, uh, the old fromers Almanac a little bit better, but to get to know you a little
bit, Carol, um, first off, how are you?
How have you been?
I've been really well.
I've had an incredible, um, I'm a, I'm a big gardener, which makes sense as the editor
of the Almanac.
And we've had a really good, a really good growing season here.
So it's been looking like a pretty nice fall as well.
How about, how about you?
Oh, thank you for asking.
Uh, it's been great here.
We've really been enjoying, especially the last week or so some really nice summer temperatures
where at night, it's gotten a little fall-like, so we've gotten a little preview of that.
It's been nice around here and, and we kind of, uh, we had a little bit of, uh, a tell
on that one because we were looking at the old Farber's Almanac and it kind of gave us
a tee up on this one.
I, I want to get into the history of the Almanac in a moment with you, Carol, but I, in doing
my homework, I came across you in, in your career and was just blown away.
If you don't mind, I, I'd like to start with you and, in your history, your origin story
if you don't mind.
Um, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure.
Um, well, I just came to, to the Almanac a year ago and, so I'm at 14th, editor,
in, uh, 233 years, so that's quite an honor and I guess you sign up for a long time as
it goes.
Um, but I'm no stranger to Yankee publishing, which is our home because I worked here 23
years ago on, um, another publication called Yankee Magazine and in between there, I spent
a couple of decades at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and that's the flagship
university for Massachusetts and they worked at the library there, working in publications,
working in archives, um, and before that, gosh, I came up through newspaper reporting
and magazine writing and had some, of course, adventures to write about.
You have had such an impressive career, Carol and, uh, I do want to send a shout out and
thank you for your work in our libraries.
My mother is a former, uh, library worker herself and, uh, always a big thank you to those
of you out there.
I, I do want to come back to you being the 14th editor in its long history.
We're talking since 1792, uh, you mentioned the, uh, that is, uh, an honor.
I imagine that's got to mean quite a bit to you.
It does.
And I'm, I'm in, I'm what's called a boomerang in the career business, you know, I came
back to, to one of my former employers and I really couldn't be happier.
It is an honor, you know, I've, I've been a lifelong lover of the Almanac and a big fan
in my predecessor, Janice, was here for a mere 23 years.
So, you know, it's, it's really an interesting, um, job because it's, it's new all the time.
Uh, but of course, our, our first, our, our founder, Robert B. Thomas, he really set the
bar.
He was editor.
It was his baby, you know, for gosh, I think 48 years.
Maybe it could have been more, but that's an incredible run.
Uh, so the first thing you do when you get this job is you find out about all the other
editors.
Right, right.
You know, mistakes they made, which is always interesting, considering yet there's what
they do.
Um, it, it's not only got to be humbling and, and quite the honor, but to take over for
somebody like her, who was the first female editor in chief for the Almanac has got to
be quite a passing of the baton.
It was, and she's a wonderful, wonderful resource for us, Dylan.
She's happily retired, I will say, but you know, it's, we stand on the legacy of all the
editors before us.
And Janice felt that same way.
And she laid, you know, all of this wonderful groundwork for me to succeed.
And, and you know, it's not about one person.
We are truly an editorial team.
I just have to take the heat, basically, if anything goes wrong, and a lot of the interviews,
but, you know, we have a vision that's shared and that's really the old farmer's Almanac.
I mean, the idea of Almanac is to be relevant and useful.
And if you can do it, entertaining.
I, I think that that's so key to not only the Almanac, but our conversation and really
going forward for, I always admire, whether it's a business, an organization, a product
that is good, you know, the, the Almanac sells well, it's doing good.
You could easily sit back and kind of like do a lot of the similar thing you've always
done, but the idea to challenge yourself, to push yourself to be, you know, modern
to reach people, to be a bridge for those things and to keep the Almanac relevant.
I admire that so much and you in particular, Carol, have worked really closely with writers
and editors to develop new and useful and entertaining material.
Absolutely.
It's been a really, it's, you know, it's, I know a lot of writers in my business and
you know, it's fun to put them on new tasks and ideas that are really, you know, belong
in the Almanac.
And, you know, it's things that other publications really won't do.
So we have a niche and, you know, it's, like I said, it's a brainstorming meeting
here is one of the most fun things you could do.
Carol, would you mind touching on some of the, the newer things or some of the things
that have been brought on since you've been in the editor position?
I'm thinking of the Garden Guide, the Old Farmers Almanac for kids, things like this.
Well, those are, those have been part of what we've done all along.
What I'd say, you know, we're freshening things and we also are really, you know, Almanac.com
is our website.
And so I think one, the perspective that I've brought is that we really need to, you know,
we have so many of the people that go to that website and we don't really duplicate the
information that's in the Almanac because it's not really duplicatable on a website.
You know, it's very complimentary.
But I think we've been really talking about having, you know, a brand so that you really
know where you are and you know where to go.
Like there's really cool tools on the website.
You know, you can put in the web, your zip code for Wisconsin Rapids and get your frost
dates, you know, when you can plant, when you got to get everything in by, or night sky
watching for your zip code, what to look for in the next, you know, month, week, whatever.
And so I think those are really fun tools that, you know, in the book, you could probably
find that information, but they're better on the web.
But what's in the book, you know, what do you want to hold in your hands?
And that's where I think we've been rethinking about like, yeah, but it's always a calendar.
It's always this wonderful time piece, but what kind of fun stories can we bring to people?
I love that.
And I think that that's something that is one of the things that's always stood out to
me about the Almanac is the stories and the people.
And it's wonderful to hear that continuing.
It's exciting to hear that continuing.
We are speaking with Editor-in-Chief of the Old Farmers Almanac.
And Carol, when it comes to the future of the Almanac, I want to get into that with you
in a moment.
But first, let's, we got to touch on the history.
The history of this is just an amazing, I'm a sucker for history.
I am a nerd about history in all forms, and I really love American history.
And the Old Farmers Almanac is a, is a intertwined with American history.
So much so the first published article, first published Farmer's Almanac was in 1792 during
George Washington's first term as president.
I know, not incredible.
That's really...
And you know, it's really, it's a time, like I said, you love history, and at that time,
if you, very few people weren't farmers, you know, and we were actually the farmers
Almanac back then.
We didn't become old until we were actually old.
So, you know, it's true, at the time, in your house might be this book and then the
Bible.
You know, not many people had a lot of, not been in the extensive libraries.
And so what an Almanac did was give you a farmer, a grower, who, you know, which is most
of us, a timetable of the year.
What are the things that need to be done outside?
What are the constellations?
What can astronomy tell me about weather and about timing my crops?
And all these ancient ways, you know, put in a digest size, and then also having something
for every day of the year to amuser and inspire you, you know, so back then it had to be
everything.
Yeah, and it's really kept that momentum.
It's really kept that energy, if you will, going forward.
Although many other Almanacs were published at the time, this Almanac became an immediate
success.
Backed by the second year, its circulation had tripled from 3,000 to 9,000.
Back then, the Almanac only caused six pence, about nine cents, which is all very fascinating
and interesting.
But the major question that popped in my head when I was reading this, Carol, is why this
Almanac was successful when others weren't?
Well, I think from there's several reasons, and it's a great question, and thanks for
asking.
Robert B. Thomas had a great recipe, you know, this idea of tons of information, but also
a bit of humor, and not taking ourselves too too seriously.
You know, he always invited other voices.
He always cited letters from readers, and their feedback, you know, and sometimes it wasn't
what he wanted, and he would engage with the public.
And we still do that, you know, online or in our book, we really hear from our readers,
and we respond.
You know, we don't take that lightly.
We want to know, you know, what is working?
What's not working?
I think the other thing is, of course, weather.
You know, what's the one thing nobody in the world can control that we know of, you know?
Whether you're a grower or a gardener, or just someone who loves the outdoors, or has
a dog to walk, you know, the weather is the biggest mystery we all still share.
So, you know, I'm boldly trying to, you know, prognosticate that weather at long range
from the beginning.
That's really been the meat and potatoes of the book too.
We have a great meteorologist that joins us every morning, and our morning show, and
Brittany and I, who talk about this, and I've talked to her on air and offer about it.
It sometimes feels like she'll give a forecast, and Mother Nature is just sitting back waiting,
like, oh, that's what you think, huh?
Well, here's this.
I can't imagine for you guys what that must be like.
You know, I've been thinking a lot about this as we've ushered this new addition, and
I think, I think sometimes maybe long range forecasting is a little bit easier than short
range forecasting these days, you know, there's so much modeling of different systems that
there's a lot of information out there.
There is, and I do want to get to modern times with the Almanac, but I, again, I'm stuck
in the history because it's so fascinating and interesting, the history of this book.
There is a parallel universe, if you will, where maybe you and I are having this conversation
that the Almanac didn't continue.
There were some stretches there, or I shouldn't say stretches, but some spots there in history
where the Almanac changed hands or ownership and some of those things.
Absolutely.
And I think that's the testament to the material we've really never wavered from Robert
Thomas's recipe, honestly, it's formula for long range forecasting.
Of course, now it's all digital, and we bring a lot more data to bear on it.
But that idea of it is for everyone, and that's something that kind of binds us together.
Yeah, it's, and of course, print, right, for many years people say, print the demise
of print.
You know, we haven't seen that.
We've seen that people actually are treasuring it even more, and they want to be
able to drift, you know, from an app on their mobile device to a book.
You know, we do really well with this series of books.
We've put out the vegetable gardener's handbook, the flower gardener's handbook.
We're just putting it together, the house plant gardener's handbook.
And you know, these are things that people very much want in print.
So it's about preference.
Yeah.
Those are great notes, really good notes there, Carol.
And one thing that I think is certainly no worthy to us here in the radio industry,
we've been hearing them.
I've been in radio for 22 years, and I've been hearing about the demise of radio since
before I got in it.
We're still here.
Same thing with print.
It's still there.
People are still buying these.
People still love having something in their hands to hold, to read.
I know I'm like that with a newspaper still, and I'm in my 40s.
I know plenty of people younger than me, or even older than me, that feel a very similar
way.
But it is on all of us in whatever industries were on both of our industries, really, to
adapt and to grow and to evolve.
And the Farmers Almanac has done that as well, as you have touched on a little bit, moving
firmly into the digital age.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Sure.
Yeah, I think Almanac.com is actually a pretty old website, but the idea from the beginning,
you know, what do readers want on the web?
And that has been changing, you know, changes all the time.
Google Analytics, you know, how will we get found?
And at the same time, let's make sure that what we're giving people is good old Almanac
tried and trusted fact-checked, you know, great resources.
So it's putting resources toward that, as well as understanding that, you know, different
things belong on different channels, and that is also changing.
So it's really about just responding, you know, and responding to those changes, which
isn't always easy.
You know, we're pretty lean in mean staff, not mean, but, you know what I mean.
And so, you know, people have to be flexible.
They have to be, you know, footlooms a little bit and say, yeah, I'm going to try that,
or this thing's not working.
And, you know, we have a staff that wants to do that, and they love the Almanac and all
its shapes and forms.
That have been some of the more difficult things to transition from print to digital.
You know, some things we just don't try.
People don't want longer form stories.
You know, they want very visual, friendly, or, you know, just give me the facts, you know.
So I'm, I've got a six-spider plant.
I want to go to that web page and just kind of get the answers, you know.
And I don't want a story, you know.
And I want a tool more than I want a narrative, say.
So I think that's, you know, we know that.
But then also, you know, so many people are using types of information in the book,
like sky-watching, like, you know, days of the calendar.
And what are those feast days?
And, you know, and people who follow astrology also, you know, we put information in there.
And so, you know, that's something that you can't just go to the web and find on a page.
You know, it's curated.
It's put together for a certain, you know, audience.
So I think those things, you know, they're just not going to find a place on the web.
So understanding, you know, where are people wanting to get this information and, and what format?
So I'd say those are some of them.
And it sounds like, through some of what you've been telling us, too,
you guys have found some new ways to reach people because of the digital format and the medium that that is.
Yes, we have many digital formats.
You know, we have, as you mentioned, the Garden Guide earlier.
That's our annual Rev Up for Gardening that comes out in the Federation.
It's packed with, you know, DIY and beautiful inspiration.
And then those are available.
They're so gorgeous, same with the all-night, they're available in Kindle.
You know, some people want to read that way.
But they also take a little different spin.
You know, we're finding maps.
Maps are really helpful for people.
We used to all have maps in our car.
You remember that, but now we use, you know, our maps on our devices,
which is a really small screen and tends to zero you in to where you are.
So when we're always like publishing maps, like we're going to publish a gardening map for next spring,
you know, what's it going to be like for gardeners and activity-based things
as well as our weather maps.
They're easy to understand, but they give you a much wider perspective.
You know, it's not just Wisconsin, but like what's happening in the Pacific Northwest?
Like I might be going there to see family, you know?
Yeah.
And the Almanac has moved very well into the digital age.
It has 84 million unique visitors reaching one in every six Americans and one in five Canadians,
which I saw that stat and first off.
I mean, congratulations on that.
Those are great numbers.
But also Canada.
I guess I hadn't really, this has been a part of my life, my whole life.
And I hadn't thought much about other people in other countries pulling from the Almanac as well.
We do a Canadian edition.
We've been doing it since 1982.
And so that has some of the same stories, but then some just Canadian specific stories.
And then all of the weather and all of the sky watching and even, you know,
a lot of some of their holidays are different is completely for the Canadian audience.
In fact, we do the weather in French for Quebec.
Oh, very cool.
We do a translation.
Oh, actually, I want to check that out, actually.
That's really cool.
Carol, before we let you go, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you what the Almanac might
be saying about winter in 2024.
Well, for your area, you're really looking at overall and in the US, a very mild winter.
And really, in terms of snow, we're not talking about a whole lot.
In fact, for your particular area, which is the western part of the lower lakes region
in our forecast, we're calling for colder than normal.
And then Arctic blasts in early and late November, early December, late January into early
February, and then late February into early March.
And those will pretty much coincide with the snowiest times, too.
Very cool.
Thank you for that.
It didn't change me.
Cool, as in the definition, I mean, it is very cool.
And I got to go get my winter jacket.
That's how I get ahead of this one.
Exactly.
Maybe it's no shovel.
You're not a bad idea.
Carol, as we're wrapping up, my final question for you today is, what's next for the Almanac?
Oh, well, of course, we're already working on the next one, and I wouldn't want to give
anything away.
Yeah, we don't want to do through months there, yeah.
It's an anniversary year for America.
So we can have a few fun things in the mix that would have to do with that.
And I thought, you know, one of the favorite things that people love in the Almanac is
the best days, which is really an astrological tool.
And so I will say that one of our editors decided to test those out, and we'll get to read
about his results next year.
And I think that another good idea to make sure that we get that information for next
year is we got to have you back, Carol.
This was fantastic.
This was awesome.
I really can't thank you enough not only for the time, but everything you and your team
put into this Almanac.
We love this book.
We love getting it, love reading it, look forward to it every year.
If people want to find out more, Carol, and read the Almanac itself and look into this
in order one or any of the above, how can they do that?
We're everywhere this time of year from supermarkets to the hardware stores and book
good old book stores and also Almanac.com.
We have a shop and you can get it there and Amazon.
Encourage you to check out Almanac.com, everybody.
It's not only a fantastic website and a good way to keep up on all this and to get your
hard copy.
But they have a great newsletter that you can sign up for.
I just did recently encourage you to do that.
It's a great way to keep up the things on the Almanac and from there.
And reach out to the Almanac and let them know the good work that they're doing over
there and give them some feedback.
They always appreciate that.
Carol, we really appreciate the time.
Thank you.
Thank you, James.
It was great to meet you.
Back at you.
Very good to meet you too.
Thank you so much for the time.
We'll talk again real soon.
That sounds good.
Thanks, James.
That website again is Almanac.com.
Be sure to bookmark that Almanac.com.
That is going to do it for us for the week.
We'll be back on Tuesday after a wonderful weekend.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend, everybody.
We say a big thank you to Pam Hilke, our scheduler, the soul of this station.
We appreciate you.
Pam, great work as always.
Have a good weekend, everybody.
Be good to each other.
We will talk to you sooner than later right here at 97-5 FM, 13-20 AM, WFHR, locally grown
radio.