News

Thank You Jon Iverson

John Atkinson  |  Jun 1, 2024

Jon Iverson (right) shares a Big Sur sunset with John Atkinson in 2017. (Photo by Corrina Jones.)

After 27 years, yesterday was the final day AVTech's webmaster Jon Iverson was responsible for overseeing the company's websites, including this one. Now in his mid-60s, Jon felt it was time for him to retire while he still had the energy to explore his other interests.

Jon was a successful audio retailer in California's Central Coast region in the 1980s (footnote 1), though he took a year off to study gamelan music in Bali (footnote 2). After selling his business, he contacted Stereophile's then-publisher Larry Archibald and myself in the spring of 1997 with a vision for the magazine's website. Larry and I had been trying to come up with an appropriate web strategy for a long time, but without any success. But when Jon visited us in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and outlined his ideas, we were sold. Jon joined our staff as our self-styled "web monkey," and the result went live on December 1, 1997.

Stereophile's site grew rapidly both in terms of page views and reader engagement. Jon subsequently developed websites for our other magazines and ventures, as well as contributing informed and informative essays, reviews, show reports, and the occasional interview. After Stereophile and its sister publications and sites were acquired by AVTech in early 2018, Jon applied his expertise to designing and developing websites for the company's UK-based magazines.

Jon is one of the very few people I have known who think strategically. Most managers are tactical thinkers—they concentrate on how best to do something. By contrast, a strategic thinker's focus is on what will be best to do. Jon served as my consigliere from 1997 through to my retirement as Stereophile's Editor-in-Chief at the end of March 2019. For every one of those 22 years I paid careful attention to Jon's take on what the magazine was doing and how it could be done differently or better. Even when we disagreed about something, it was reassuring to know that Jon had thought about it as deeply as I had.

May 31 was also the final day for Jon's partner, Corrina Jones, who played a major role in preparing and posting our website content. Our websites will still be in good hands, however. Our new webmaster is Len Porcano, who has been working with Jon for many years.

Thank you for all those years of working together, Jon. Enjoy your retirement!—John Atkinson

Footnote 1: Although I didn't know Jon back then, he took part as a listener in the blind tests of amplifiers that I organized at Stereophile's High End Hi-Fi Show in San Mateo, California in April 1989. Jon was one of the listeners who could distinguish the two amplifiers, a solid-state Adcom and a tubed VTL, by ear. See his comments on the tests, which were published as a letter in Stereophile, here.

Footnote 2: Alternesia, an album of Jon's compositions for gamelan, was originally released by a small Japanese label but is now available as a free download under a Creative Commons license; see alternesia.com/about.html. You can read Jon's notes on composing and recording the works on Alternesia here.

COMMENTS
teched58's picture
Submitted by teched58 on June 1, 2024 - 6:44am

...that Stereophile's website has the same, time tested design it had when it was launched in 1997. Don't ever change!

rschryer's picture
Submitted by rschryer on June 1, 2024 - 8:38am

Thanks for everything.

ChrisS's picture
Submitted by ChrisS on June 1, 2024 - 8:41am

And many Thanks!

supamark's picture
Submitted by supamark on June 1, 2024 - 11:28am

1. If I had a backyard and view like Jon, I'm not sure I could get any work done. At all.

2. I can't believe you let them publish that photo of you with a multimeter on page one of the linked article, you look like you're in high school (or the British equivalent).

Bonus - MF's letter was classic MF in the linked article, and the loss of his ears (and snark) back to TAS is lamentable. Jon, in his letter, elucidated one of my main problems with typical A/B/X testing - the subject is almost never familiar with the room/components and sometimes even the music. Hearing new things the first few times through in unfamiliar circumstances is normal. I'd be really curious about the results of this test at NAMM, the big pro audio show. In theory, you'll have a convention hall full of people who listen for a living (and make the records we listen to) that *should* do better on the test.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on June 3, 2024 - 4:20am
supamark wrote:
If I had a backyard and view like Jon, I'm not sure I could get any work done. At all.

You can see 2 photos of the view from Jon's listening room in his review of the Vivid G1 Spirit loudspeaker at www.stereophile.com/content/vivid-audio-giya-g1-spirit-loudspeaker-page-2.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on June 3, 2024 - 12:56pm

Thanks for reminding me of that great pic.

If I had a backyard and view like Jon, I'm not sure I could get any work done.

Great room for drinking wine and spinning records.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on June 1, 2024 - 12:34pm

I will never forget the high-powered chats between John and Jon at CES. David and I visited Jon and Corrina, two summers ago. It's hard to imagine Stereophile without him. What a wonderful man!

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on June 1, 2024 - 3:53pm

Now you can dedicate more time to finding the the other "John Iverson."

I owe you a picture from THE, what 2000?

jimtavegia's picture
Submitted by jimtavegia on June 2, 2024 - 12:24am

Certainly, he will be missed and wish him all the best. This magazine has come a long way since Santa Fe.

DaveinSM's picture
Submitted by DaveinSM on June 3, 2024 - 8:55am

This is such a nice tribute. As we get older, one of the things we can hopefully look forward to (and look back upon) is pride in a long, successful track record in our professional life.

There is more to life than work, and life is indeed short. But the fond memories remain, and they’re what make the excitement of moving onto a new chapter in life so bittersweet.

Keep enjoying the great sound out of your system, but don’t forget to enjoy the music along the way.

Thanks for sharing.

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on June 3, 2024 - 11:00am

It's a wild and crazy world doing that there computer stuff and Jon did it with creativity and cohesive style.

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on June 3, 2024 - 9:08am

I am sure I haven't appreciated you the way I should have over time.

Thanks!

Scintilla's picture
Submitted by Scintilla on June 4, 2024 - 7:52am

Jon's contributions over the years. It has to be hard to step away even if the time is ripe for other pursuits. A wonderful legacy is in place though and we are all the better for it. Happy retirement, Jon!

hollowman's picture
Submitted by hollowman on June 4, 2024 - 3:39pm

So much content and posts and member-elucidated info lost. Not a word from any Stereophile staff or admin.

Mike Mettler's picture
Submitted by Mike Mettler on June 5, 2024 - 10:38am

All I can say is... IBID. Or rather, many endless thanks to Jon for his invaluable assistance and insight for what we do over on Analog Planet. I knew I could always count on Jon for behind-the-scenes insight and guidance for posting-related minutiae and other technical advice. To say he will be missed would be a grave understatement, but I also say -- viva life, Jon, and enjoy to the fullest!

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on June 11, 2024 - 1:57pm

...at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo... Jon Iverson, perhaps now you may have some time available for collaborating with Al on some new material. This political silly season should provide much fodder for a reunion tour.

Congrats on your retirement.

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