Who is Andrew Mager?
My friend and schoolmate Jen Gage wrote this piece about me in the Fall of 2006 when we were at Virginia Tech. Thought I’d post it to the internet so it lives on forever.
I’m sitting with Andrew Mager in Shanks 160, a small computer lab found in Virginia Tech’s upper quad. One of the bi-weekly meetings for Planet Blacksburg is starting to wind down and I’m chatting with him about his interest in web technology. He’s quite conversational and it is exceptionally entertaining for me to both watch and listen as he jumps from website to website, showing me what he has created both recently and over the years. His expansive knowledge of all things related to creating, developing and maintaining websites is incredible.
During our discussion about current and future web technology, I decide that his mind must move at a furiously quick pace as he darts in and out of websites, reinforcing his points with examples from numerous cutting edge websites as well as wikipedia, a website he uses frequently for definitions of terms so that everyone can understand what he’s trying to explain.
Andrew Mager is not your typical college graduate. Fresh out of Virginia Tech, Andrew’s resume would make most college seniors want to give up on the job search. A quick scan through the impressive internships and experience he’s had over the past few years is intimidating, but you would never hear him brag about it, making him all the more remarkable.
Most notably, Andrew is the man behind PlanetBlacksburg.com, a student run media website. He started the site in the fall of 2005 as a spoof on the assignments given in Roland Lazenby’s reporting class. On starting Planet Blacksburg, Andrew comments, “My main goal when I started it was simple, get students published, and give them an opportunity to have a professional looking piece of journalism online.”
By his own estimates, Andrew gathers he’s put in over 4,000 hours into maintaining and developing the site, “it’s my baby, and I just spent about 3 to 4 hours on it today. You can now syndicate our articles and share them on facebook. Every article has a little link at the top, which allows you to share or syndicate the article on other websites, I [am] proud of that.”
According to Andrew, Planet Blacksburg really began to flourish when they added video. In the fall the site hosts a weekly Hokie football preview show and a basketball preview show is hopefully in the works. The site has grown considerably since its establishment in the fall of 2005, bringing in around 4,000 hits a day, a considerable increase from the 100 hits a day it was receiving at this time last year. Professor Lazenby’s media writing class still supplies most of the authors, which makes sense as he is personally invested in the site, serving as the faculty advisor.
Lazenby has plenty to say when it comes to Andrew, “First and foremost, Andy has a great heart, when you consider all of his technical skills, it is really an amazing combination…he’s created Planet Blacksburg which has opened up so many opportunities for the students of Virginia Tech.”
The two have collaborated on more than just Planet Blacksburg; Andrew also works with Lazenby on Lazenby’s radio show Blue Ridge Live, where Andrew helps produce and provide commentary to the show about two to three times a week. The show’s website, www.blueridgelive.com, was created by Andrew and he describes it as a radio blog, letting listeners and visitors to the site know who and what they have been talking about. Andrew describes the show as, “southern commentary.”
He said, “Monday and Friday are sports, especially Hokie sports, Tuesday is random banter and technology, Wednesday is politics, where we usually have Steve Jarding speak. Steve is a presidential specialist and he teaches at Harvard. Thursday is music. Its basically an interview show, where we have a lot of fun.”
It is easy to see Andrew’s passion for radio when he explains why he enjoys participating in the show, “I love radio because regardless of your audience, you still feel like you are sending an important message out there. Some days we get a lot of calls from listeners and some days we get none but everyday is fun.”
He has an irresistible manner that draws people to him. Andrew’s zest for life is essentially tangible if you are anywhere near his presence. It is not surprising that he served as social chair of his fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, a fraternity formed through the Marching Virginians, the marching band at Virginia Tech. If you look at Andrew’s profile on facebook.com, Andrew is considerably popular, especially among beautiful young women.
He has a penchant for pretty girls, particularly of the sorority variety. He has just finished revamping the Virginia Tech Delta Delta Delta chapter’s website and on his facebook profile wall where friends can post comments, you can see that he’s been invited to the sorority’s crush party.
His laid back demeanor makes it wonderfully easy to get sidetracked, and our conversation runs the gamut from websites to chicken wings. Amidst the band, the fraternity, classes, and assorted internships, Andrew worked for a bit at Buffalo Wild Wings. “I was born in Buffalo, NY so I can eat a wing real quick. I leave no meat on the bone, like none,” he says, proud of his abilities.
“I worked on super bowl Sunday last year and I didn’t see a blink of the game, but I ate a lot of wings. They have something called the blazin’ challenge, every new employee has to eat a wicked spicy wing its drenched in blazin’ oil, and injected with other spices, it is so awful and your mouth is hot for a day or two.”
The conversation steers its way back to the Internet. It seems that Andrew is used to attention from his websites. In 1997 at the age of 13, Andrew developed his first website. Andrew explains, “Les Paul was a famous jazz guitarist from the 1950s, and one of the most popular guitar companies even decided to name their best quality guitar after him. The Gibson Les Paul still exists today, and at one time, I had a fascination with them, so I made a website with pictures, and information about them all.”
LesPaul.com created a stir with Gibson guitars. Gibson happens to have the rights to the Les Paul name. Gibson was upset over Andrew’s use of the Les Paul name and served him with a cease and desist letter for copyright infringement. His dad’s lawyer wrote the company a letter explaining that Andrew was just a kid and the website was not for profit so he sold the domain name to Gibson and Gibson gave him a guitar in exchange.
In 1999, after selling Lespaul.com, Andrew bought guitarinfo.com.
An excerpt from the website explains: “Guitarinfo.com is designed to give you all of the info you need to find a new guitar. We do not sell guitars, we only have info. The product pages contain pictures, specifications, and an MSRP price. If you see a guitar somewhere and you would like info on it or if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me at andy@guitarinfo.com, (same goes for amps and basses)”.
Guitarinfo.com proved to be a popular website and received around 300,000 hits, which is quite considerable considering that the Internet was still in its earlier years of establishment.
When he’s not working to improve Planet Blacksburg or contributing to radio shows, Andrew also works as a free lance web designer, among other projects, he just finished up a website for Big Lick U, a company that is hoping to become the next social outlet similar to facebook.com.
He’s exceptionally patient when it comes to teaching others about a subject he clearly has mastered. Whereas most people get frustrated when others do not comprehend the fundamentals, Andrew is quick to volunteer to teach and share his passion for the Internet and web technologies. He tells me, “the Internet is changing everyday, it’s not about browsing and surfing anymore its about participation. User-generated content rules the web and rules our generation of college students; we almost take it for granted.”
In the end, Andrew is someone who you’d want to be your friend. “I just feel like I am really open person, I like to have a good time. I always want to learn new things whether they are nerdy, or socially important, I want to know about them. College is about experience and memories; it’s about learning, but it’s also about failing.”
If you are lucky enough to meet him or cross his path, I can bet he’ll leave you with a smile on your face and a little more knowledgeable about the world around you.