Dear Reader,
My name is Bill Bodkin. I am the editor-in-chief, co-founder, and owner of The Pop Break. Today, September 29, marks the Pop Break’s 12th Anniversary.
It’s wild to reflect on the fact that 12 years ago I sat in my apartment in Sea Girt, New Jersey (which has long been since gutted and rebuilt) and pushed publish on this site. Of course, it wasn’t actually Pop Break at the time, it was The B&B Entertainment Blog — The Bill and Brent Entertainment aka the worst name for a website of all-time. Thank the maker I love making dad jokes and renamed it after Point Break.
Yet, here we all are, 12 years later — over 13,000 articles published, tens of thousands of photos taken, hundreds of hours of podcasts recorded, and millions of views from around the world. It’s a staggering fact that I sometimes cannot even fathom.
Some would credit me for the success and longevity of this site. And those people would be absolutely incorrect. Yes, I am the maniac who runs the site but Pop Break wouldn’t be around if it were just me, my specific pop culture tastes, and my weird writing style.
It’s the staff. Yes, I know I say it every single year, but it bears repeating because it is the absolute, undeniable truth. Over the past two years especially this group of editors, writers, photographers and podcasters have worked tirelessly through an absolutely overwhelming, sorrowful and anxiety-fueled time recent history. Yet, despite all this these wonderful people have delivered thoughtful, emotional, brilliant, hilarious and insightful content for this site. A site, whose goal has always been to provide a much-needed pop culture break in their day.
It blows me away even more over this past year as I have struggled so greatly with mental health issues, overwhelming work responsibilities, and health issues impacting my family. My brain, as any of the staff can attest to, has been in a million different places and my example has not been the best when it comes to producing content (this is sadly my lowest creative output in 20+ year career as a writer), and my “leadership” has not been what I consider, my best.
Yet, every single day new stories, new photos, new interviews, and new opportunities created by this incredible staff comes across my desk. This group of supremely talented people, many of whom I’ve seen grow as content creators in the most fantastical ways over the years, makes this site run. It makes this site an important journalistic outlet that rubs elbows in the press screenings, the photo pits, the conference calls and social media world with the biggest and most prestigious media outlets. This brings me so much joy.
The heart and soul of this site has never been me, it’s been the hundreds of people who’ve been a part of the site. From prolific writers, editors and photographers to the one and done contributors — all of them have shaped Pop Break into what it’s become today.
Thank you, to my staff, from the bottom of my heart for keeping this site going for 12 years. Thank you for the inspiration to take this site from being a mere vanity project and turning it into a respected digital magazine. And thank you dear reader for being our audience for the past 12 years.
Sincerely,
Bill Bodkin
Nicely said, Bill. Your dad would be proud of you.