The man who previously served as publisher of the Syracuse New Times has sold the building where the publication operated. 

William Brod tells CNYBJ that he’s also launched a company focused on outdoor publications that’s based in Cazenovia.

Building sale

The building that housed the Syracuse New Times publication now belongs to the Syracuse Academy of Science (SAS) charter school. 

The SAS high school, located in the former Sacred Heart school at 1001 Park Ave. in Syracuse, operates near the building at 1415 W. Genesee St. where the Syracuse New Times operated. 

The building sale closed Dec. 1, Brod tells CNYBJ in a phone interview. Brod is the publisher and CEO of Outdoor Specialty Media Group.

“Well, COVID has caused us to work remotely for two years. We’ve developed most of our processes to work in a remote setting. We’ve actually become more efficient working remotely,” says Brod in answering why he decided to sell the building. 

He went on to say that it “no longer seemed reasonable” to meet in an office and his staff was dispersing geographically all over the country. 

Brod declined to disclose how much he sold the 1415 West Genesee St. building for, and Onondaga County’s online property records don’t yet list the sale price. The building was previously sold for $300,000 in April 2010.

Brod also serves as publisher and CEO of All Times Publishing, which published the Syracuse New Times and a few additional media products. 

All Times was still publishing Family Times Magazine and association journals in the Syracuse building. CNYTix.com, Data Key Communications, dba GAWDA Media and Northeast Dairy Media were also functioning in the building at the time of the sale, he added. 

Those entities are still operating at Brod’s new, smaller office in Cazenovia, and All Times currently has 17 full-time employees.

Spinnaker Custom Products, a promotional products company that Brod’s wife, Lisette, owned and operated, also operated in the same building. It is a certified woman-owned business enterprise, Bill Brod notes. Spinnaker has since been sold to Cooley Group, Inc. 

Outdoor Specialty Media Group

As for Outdoor Specialty Media Group (OSMG), it operates in that same Cazenovia office, a leased space at 9 Albany St. where the entity moved in early December of last year. Brod chose that space because he lives in Cazenovia. He’s the only person who works from the 600-square-foot office. 

OSMG is a separate entity from All Times Publishing, Brod noted. 

Brod launched OSMG in fall 2021. It handles three digital magazines, including North American Bow Hunter, North American Deer Hunter, and North American Outdoorsman.

Brod purchased the North American Deer Hunter publication from Outdoor Specialty Publications, which is located the Canadian province of British Columbia. Brod then added North American Bow Hunter and North American Outdoorsman after acquiring North American Deer Hunter in December.

Brod declined to say much he spent to acquire North American Deer Hunter and to launch to two additional digital publications. He bought the North American Deer Hunter publication from an individual who was looking to step away from the publishing business.

As someone who enjoys the outdoors, hunting, and fishing, Brod says he wanted a publishing business that focused on that activity with a customer base that was spread across North America.

“Statistics are showing that that business is growing steadily in the face of the pandemic and actually has been aided by the pandemic,” says Brod. “I wanted to get into an industry that was growing.” 

The publications are available on the OSMG website, or with an e-reader, or a smartphone application, which was scheduled to launch the week of Feb. 7, according to Brod.

North American Deer Hunter and North American Outdoorsman are both published six times per year, while North American Bow Hunter publishes four times a year, he added.

About 18 people are currently working on the OSMG publications, but none are full-time employees. Some function as independent contractors, Brod notes. 

Nine of the current workers were part of the acquisition of North American Deer Hunter. Most of those working on the publications are located outside Central New York, including five in Canada. 

They work in roles that include writing, creativity, digital marketing, and sales. Brod says he’s hoping to eventually hire two people for roles in editorial and digital marketing.