On Monday, the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which owns just about every area daily except the Los Angeles Times, premieres its new features section, called LA.com, which will run in all nine papers: Daily News, Daily Breeze, Long Beach Press Telegram, Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Whittier Daily News, San Bernadino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and Redlands Daily Facts. Pitch Daily News Entertainment Editor Rob Lowman for stories that apply to all areas (if there is such a thing, other than movies, CD/DVD releases and that kind of stuff, IMHO).
How does this affect classical music and other arts coverage of groups besides the big guys (LA Phil, LA Opera, CTG, etc.), that might generate lots of interest in, say, Pasadena but yawns in Long Beach (to say nothing of San Bernadino)? Rob's not yet sure how much room there will be in each individual paper for locally oriented arts coverage. He says that remains to be seen over time.
Sounding a little weary, he adds that things will be more clearly defined after the section has been publishing for about a month. Apparently the launch date got bumped up suddenly to July, rather than its original August target.
Until further notice, then, you can still try pitching Features Editor Catherine Gaugh or Assistant Features Editor Jerry Rice regarding all entertainment/arts/features ideas for the Pasadena, San Gabriel, Whittier, San Bernadino, Inland Valley and Redlands papers (if anyone reading this blog actually has any clients in Redlands). PSN/SGVT previous Entertainment Editor Martin Gonzalez is now just writing stories, not editing entertainment coverage. Gaugh and Rice are physically located at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
Marlene Greer is gone from the Long Beach Press Telegram, so if it's local to Long Beach, pitch the Press Telegram directly.
Same for the Daily Breeze – if it's a South Bay story, pitch Leo Smith. The Daily Breeze's Friday RAVE section and its Monday-Thursday features sections are morphed into this new tabloid.
For now, listings info can still be sent to each paper individually, even if it's for general Los Angeles-area events.
But basically, Rob is the man. He's a wonderful, lovely person, but with all these pitches directed his way, you can see why he might not be quick to respond.
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LA Times/Tribune Company website Metromix, which describes itself as ”your one-stop local entertainment guide on where to go and what to do, from the hottest restaurants and bars, to the latest in events, music, movies, and more," made its debut earlier this week. Staff is listed here, and you can submit various kinds of listings here.
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Congratulations to Daily News arts writer Evan Henerson, whose wife gave birth to a son last week. Also to my dear friend and colleague Ken Werther, celebrating his 25th year in our business.
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Conde Nast's Jane magazine folds after its August issue. Just a random thought – could it have had anything to do with incredibly lame cover headlines (and stories) like "Jessica [Simpson]: On Sex After Divorce"?
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Irene Lacher and I had a few giggles over Arroyo Monthly office staffers getting her last name wrong, leading to my initially erroneous report earlier this week. If you have interesting Pasadena-area-based people for clients, pitch her. I also checked to see who's doing "The List" (monthly calendar) now that Tracy Spicer is gone, and she said it's John Sollenberger, who also does the calendar for Pasadena Weekly, owned by the same folks as Arroyo Monthly as well as City Beat and more.
In fact, another of their publications is Life After 50, which used to be called Senior Life. Editor remains Darcy Alvey (still based in San Diego), but Life After 50's calendar editor is Carl Kozlowski, who also still writes for Pasadena Weekly. No wonder they're all so confused.
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And finally, thanks very much to Los Angeles Bureau Chief Alesandra Dubin for spotlighting this blog in the news section of BizBash.
