October 16, 2007 News

NEW LA TIMES “GUIDE” STAFF MEMO

Media Bistro has it – get out your databases….


LA CONFIDENTIAL EVENTS COLUMNIST

Ben Bloch writes, “I'm responsible for a column for LA Confidential Magazine that summarizes all of the events and best things to do in Southern California (and short weekend trips/travel/locations elsewhere - Vegas, NY, Northern Cal, tropical locations, etc.). I also do some day of/post coverage of events.”

Contact info:
Ben Bloch
LA Confidential Magazine
Phone 323-251-4333
Fax 323-443-3501
ben@madisoncapitalventures.com
1223 Wilshire Blvd, #594
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Thanks to the lovely Libby Huebner for initially bringing this to my attention.

October 15, 2007 News

THANK GOODNESS FOR SMALL FAVORS

Happily, P.J. Ochlan reports that his wonderful “Arts Reports” interviews will continue at KMZT AM 1260 (soon to be called KGIL again) despite the station’s switch to a daytime news-talk/evening adults standards format on October 29. Read all about the changes in this LA Times piece today. K-Mozart will be available only on the secondary channel at 105.1 FM to listeners with HD radio receivers.


ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Westside Chronicle, RIP. Too bad. WeHoNews.com, um, chronicles the demise.

Hadn’t previously known of WeHoNews.com, which describes itself as “a community-based, community-driven news and information source… This cyber newspaper has been a vital public forum, available for all and sundry to use to express their views.” Contact there is Editor@wehonews.com.


NEED A GREAT JOB – OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?

LA Philharmonic PR Director Adam Crane, one of the nicest guys in the world, is looking for a top-flight replacement for the un-replaceable Rachelle Roe, who is (sob) departing LA to grace the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as its director of public affairs. Anyway, if you know someone really terrific, check out the opportunity to be the Phil’s new associate director of public relations here.


AS IF THIS MIGHT HELP?

The LA Times has re-christened its Sunday magazine eponymously, discarding the “West” title of the last two years. I'd be happy to have them call it "Green Eggs and Spam" if only the content would improve. Pardon my crankiness -- it's just that when I'm in New York and I'm reading the NYT daily, I spend a lot more time wondering why the LAT can't run the kind of interesting features I'm seeing here.

Curiously, according to a memo seen by LA Observed, the newly renamed Los Angeles Times Magazine is looking to replace (?) or in any case hire a bunch of new folks to write it, including an editor, features editor, style editor and more. Know anyone who’s interested? Get in touch with Consulting Editor Lennie LaGuire.

October 11, 2007 News

Yikes, I try to take a vacation and look what goes down…

IT’S COME TO THIS…
From LA Observed, an LA Times job posting seeking just about anyone to put together listings for their new Guide section. Better hurry, folks, it’s supposed to debut on October 18!

NEWS FROM THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Check out this info, courtesy of LA Observed again, bless them (him).

Also, I’m told Gretta Parkinson has replaced the departed Selena Templeton as the contact for the Reporter’s calendar.

Thanks for all the nice emails and new mailing list sign-ups recently! Still on semi-vacation, but more soon if I hear about something.

September 28, 2007 News

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND WITH TV REPORTERS

I had an annoying experience with a KABC TV News reporter recently when she came to interview a celeb for Eyewitness News at one of my client's events. Among her, uh, questionable and certainly unprofessional actions were bringing her mother along ("she's my producer"), asking for tickets to the performance on the spot for both of them, demanding to be allowed into the venue because they were both hungry and needed to eat, behaving inappropriately aggressively toward another artist's representative to try to get him to grant a filming request, and on and on. (The cameraman, on the other hand, was highly professionally).

Anyway, I thought that was bad, but here's another story from photographer Daniel Evans' blog about a clueless KCBS/KCAL reporter that pretty much tops mine in terms of things that count in the long run.

Thanks to LA Observed for pointing out this story.

__________________________

Ginny Chien departed Angeleno earlier this month, and an auto-reply email says to contact Editor Degen Pener for celeb pitches (dpener@modernluxury.com) and Gary Baum ("he'll point you in the right direction" for everything else) (gbaum@modernluxury.com)

__________________________

PR Media Moves is going on semi-vacation for a few weeks, although I'll post if there's urgent news. Remember to send any tips my way: laura.stegman@hotmail.com

Variety.com's Laura Repstad moves to Premiere.com on Monday, continuing "to cover film and celebrity," she says, "so let me know what you and your clients are up to." Reach her at 5670 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90036. lrepstad@premiere.com

Her email directs Variety pitches for the following to the following:

Stylephile: Mia McNiece: mia.mcniece@variety.com

Calendar: Elsa Bertet: elsa.bertet@variety.com

Pushy Questions: Erin Maxwell: erin.maxwell@variety.com or Byron Perry: Byron.Perry@variety.com

__________________________

HOW TO PITCH CIUDAD MAGAZINE

Editor-in-Chief Oscar Garza (ogarza@ciudadmag.com) oversees magazine development and handles cultural arts, entertainment, politics and current affairs, with about three months lead time.

Deputy Editor/Style Editor is Anna Lisa Raya (araya@ciudadmag.com) gets anything fashion related. She also manages the dining upfront sections (the later titled El Centro, which covers local tidbits, personalities and new products).

Music is handled by Staff Writer Dennis Romero (dromero@ciudadmag.com) and Garza.

Calendar listings and online features should be submitted to edit@ciudadmag.com. Submit 12 weeks out for the magazine and 3 weeks ahead for the online calendar.

Thanks to Director of Marketing and Promotions Michael Montanez for the info, which also included this from him: "Our publication is the second largest magazine in town with a readership of 345,000, and THE largest Latino consumer lifestyle glossy in L.A. The publication is written completely in English, but features personalities and stories that remain relevant to the Latino community. I share this because not too many publicists will understand the magnitude of the magazine and will often start cold calling without researching the publication. I hope this helps."

Indeed!

__________________________

DailyCandy introduces DailyCandyKids in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

__________________________

Next September, the Wall Street Journal debuts "Pursuits," a monthly lifestyle magazine. Read all about it here.

__________________________

The fabled New York Times web site opens to all readers, not just subscribers, and its archives from 1987 to the present are now available without charge, as are those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. According to this story, there will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, but some will be free. No explanation as to why THAT period of time remains cone-of-silenced.

__________________________

KBIG FM becomes "104.3 MY fm," and according to this story is playing a mix of contemporary adult hits by artists such as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, John Mayer, Shakira, Bon Jovi and Christina Aguilera. Charlie Tuna is no longer hosting the morning show.

September 13, 2007 News

LA Observed gets it… more plain vanilla from the LA Newspaper Group as the Daily News, Daily Breeze and Long Beach Press Telegram are planning to share NEWS content pages now (not just in their features sections). Read between the lines in this announcement naming Judi Erickson as city editor. The memo reads, "She succeeds Barbara Jones who is coordinating content with our sister MediaNews papers and will play a key content role in the efforts to develop and put together the common pages we'll soon be producing with the Breeze and Long Beach."

__________________________

As I speculated a few weeks ago, Enid Portuquez has left LA.com, but instead of joining Image, as I'd heard, she's an online producer for the calendarlive site focusing on shopping and possibly contributing to the newpaper as well.

__________________________

Am I the only one who's wondering why the LA Times gave Sandy Banks another opportunity to be a columnist? She's in the California section this time, rather than in what was called View where she was the last time around. Check this out – in the newspaper edition and on the website "Discussion" section for her Tuesday column about life span, it says, "Sandy wants readers to share their stories about what you are doing to buck the law of average and extend your life. Power walking? Praying? Eating broccoli? Share your thoughts."

Are they kidding??? Why is this in the California section, among other problems? Hope no one can hear me rolling my eyes.

Maybe David Lauter will have an answer in October when he becomes California editor, responsible for news coverage of the state, according to LA Observed.

__________________________

Carly Mayberry is now the Hollywood Reporter's film reporter covering Paramount and DreamWorks. (See my earlier report below about Leslie Simmons, who's covering Fox and Sony.)

September 7, 2007 News

In the "every publicist's nightmare" department, I thought this blog piece titled "Eight Warning Signs That a Reporter Plans to Flip the Script" was interesting, so I'm passing the link along.

__________________________

Lea Lion, who recently left the Los Angeles Downtown News, is now covering performing arts for what she says is "the Los Angeles Times' forthcoming arts website, The Guide." She adds, "Please add my name to your press list and keep me updated on upcoming concerts/shows/events/etc." lea.lion@latimes.com. (Thanks to the ever-prolific Libby Huebner for this info, and the THR and yourLA stuff below.)

No replacement for Lea yet at the Downtown News, so pitch editor Jon Regardie, who I'm told passes along calendar and entertainment stuff to freelancers for that kind of coverage.

__________________________

Media Bistro has this story (with LA Times memo) about writers/reporters filling the LA Times' new "web deputy" positions. The memo describes "key people [who] will serve as the glue between the [newspaper and the web site], helping reporters and editors at the paper develop more and better content for latimes.com." Names are named, so click on the link to read all about it.

Janet Clayton, veteran LA Times staffer most recently Asst. ME for local and state news, turned in her resignation yesterday.

I can't even think of a comment about this that would be any more [fill in your own word here] than the actual story, so I'll just pass along LA Biz Observed's story headlined "The LA Times Smells."

__________________________

The ever-delightful Kenny Werther alerted us to The Advocate's new-ish address: 6380 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90048; phone is (323) 852-7200, fax is (323) 852-7264.

__________________________

THR ESQ writer Leslie Simmons thought she was out of a job when the online legal arm of The Hollywood Reporter folded recently, but she has now announced that she's staying on at the Reporter as a film/legal reporter. According to an email, "My duties as a legal reporter will remain somewhat the same, but scaled back I believe. As a film reporter, I am covering Sony Pictures and Fox Studios. It’s a new beat for me so I’m looking for sources from EVERYWHERE. So, if you have any connections or advice with either studio, producers, agents, then 'Let’s do lunch,' as they say!" You can reach her at 323 525-2278.

__________________________

Patt Morrison's KPCC 89.3 FM show expands to two hours starting Monday.

__________________________

New contact KNBC TV's yourLA is:
Ruthie Wyatt
Ruthie.Wyatt@nbcuni.com
818-840-6620
818-840-2608 - fax
3000 West Alameda Avenue
Suite 2351
Burbank, CA 91523

An email with this update says, "PLEASE SEND HER ALL PITCHES...SEGMENT IDEAS...HOSTS...EVERYTHING!!" and notes that the show is going on hiatus until October 1.