London Inc. Winter 2023 - 14

Upfront Media
ANSWERING THE CALL
Aiming to build connections and
community, a lifestyle magazine
for firefighters finds a receptive
audience
MANY FIREFIGHTERS WILL tell you about the importance
of the kitchen table - the place within the firehouse that,
together, firefighters prepare, debrief, build relationships
and navigate through the choppy, at-times-traumatizing
waters of being a first responder. It is, for many, one of the
most sacred places in their line of work.
When career firefighter Kory Pearn set out to launch
Crackyl Magazine (www.crackylmag.com) in 2019 - a lifestyle
magazine for firefighters - he was hoping to recreate
this in magazine form: a publication that spoke about firefighting
to firefighters, not to the general public.
For Pearn, it was one of those ideas that won't go away -
the kind that sticks with you over the years.
" I'd pitched an idea about a firefighter lifestyle and health
magazine [to a publishing firm] about six years ago, and
nothing materialized; it wasn't something they wanted to
do, " Pearn recalls. " Time went on. Ten years in, I realized I
was in a cul-de-sac - I wasn't advancing. I wanted more. I
had more to give, and I decided to revisit my idea and see if
I could bring it to life. "
14 | londonincmagazine.ca | WINTER 2023
      Crackyl Magazine
Life on the outside can be hard for those in the firefighting
profession. " When firefighters fail, it's not the firefighting
job, it's the peripheral life, " Pearn notes. " We fight, we're in
the trenches, we're battling and next thing you know we're
going home and we need groceries. We don't deal with our
stuff very well - and the people we're with aren't mind
readers. "
Because it can be hard to talked to loved ones about
the things that happen at work - good and bad - Pearn's
aim for the publication was to deliver those meaningful
kitchen-table moments in magazine form. " I call it a chew
toy for firefighters, " he says.
By 2021, Crackyl Media Inc. had been formed and the first
issue of Crackyl Magazine was on the street. " I knew it was
going to be a lot of work, " laughs Pearn, who is still running
the business side of thing as a one-man operation, more or
less. " But man, was I wrong. It continues to be a lot of work. "

http://www.crackylmag.com http://www.londonincmagazine.ca

London Inc. Winter 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of London Inc. Winter 2023