April 7, 2011 News

Glad to hear this news from Saul Levine's Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, quoting the press release:

Beginning Monday, April 4th, Southern California's longtime leading classical radio station, "K-MOZART," returns by popular demand. Broadcast in "Triple-Play," K-MOZART programming will be available at KMZT-AM 1260, KKGO-FM 105.1 HD2 in full digital FM stereo, and www.KMozart.com, making it the only commercial all-classical radio station in the Southland. Smartphone streaming apps will follow shortly. The new lineup will include K-MOZART veterans Gary Hollis, John Santana, Nick Tyler and P.J. Ochlan - all joined by musical celebrity David Benoit, making his radio hosting debut. A five-time Grammy nominee and world-renowned pianist and composer, Benoit also currently serves as conductor of the Asia America Symphony Orchestra. Along with free live streaming, the all-new www.KMozart.com will feature daily arts news, calendar listings and multimedia content. The site will also provide dedicated San Francisco information and content for recently disenfranchised Bay Area classical listeners.

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From Cision:

Kathryn Romeyn is now deputy editor at Los Angeles Confidential, moving from Riviera Orange County, where she had been an associate editor since 2007.

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From Media Bistro:

Time magazine's managing editor Rick Stengel announced… that Jessica Winter has been hired as Time's new arts editor, both for the pages in the magazine's Culture section as well as for arts coverage on Time.com.

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Thanks to Flo Selfman for passing along these items from the LBN Insider:

Page Six editor Emily Smith has tapped a deputy, Ian Mohr, to join the gossip desk at the New York Post as her number two. Mohr has close ties to the film world as a former box office reporter for Variety and New York bureau chief for the Hollywood Reporter.

Style editor Laurie Pike and Los Angeles magazine have parted ways. She's headed to Paris to tend to her creation, The Paris Blog, and pursue other projects.

March 16, 2011 NEWS

HUFFINGTON POST/AOL HIRES CULTURE/ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Selected paragraphs from TechCrunch story:

John Montorio has been named Culture and Entertainment Editor for Aol's Huffington Post Media Group content division.

Montorio is a 30-year veteran of two of the country's biggest newspapers - the New York Times and LA Times - but that's not why his hiring is news-worthy. It's news-worthy because it represents a dramatic shift in favour of real journalism within Aol.

Hiring someone with Montorio's skills means one of two things for the Huffington Post: either a bold step away from Bieber-filled headlines towards quality coverage of the arts, culture and entertainment - or a train-wreck waiting to happen as Armstrong and the Aol bean counters try to force their "Lady Gaga pantsless in Paris" agenda.

Full post HERE.

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LOTS ABOUT AOL (and publicists!) IN THE NEWS...

...including THIS from Fishbowl LA, also reported elsewhere, headlined "Moviefone Defends Asking TechCrunch Writer to Appease Movie Studio by Altering Story."

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Julio Martinez's "Arts in Review" program on KPFK moves this week from Wednesdays to Fridays.


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OLDER NEWS

Got this auto reply from American Theatre Magazine:

Thanks for your message. Randy Gener is no longer on staff at Theatre Communications Group. Please redirect all communications regarding American Theatre magazine to editor-in-chief Jim O'Quinn at jim@ or managing editor Nicole Estvanik Taylor at ntaylor@.

Email addresses are tcg.org.


Fishbowl LA broke the NEWS that Angeleno Magazine hires Lesley McKenzie as its new editor-in-chief. She was previously deputy editor of Los Angeles Confidential.


LA Observed has LA Times television reporter Maria Elena Fernandez's resignation email, which READS in part, "I cannot work under these hostile work conditions anymore. Calendar has become a complete nightmare to work in, and it is just time to go."


Fernandez also SAID MORE to Fishbowl LA.

February 24, 2011 NEWS

LA Observed reported this Tuesday:

[LA Weekly]'s new arts and culture editor will be Zachary Pincus-Roth. He starts March 7... The arts and culture beat… excludes film and music, which have their own editors.

Full post HERE.


More, older, from LA Observed:

LA Times metro writer Carla Hall is now an editorial writer. Memo and more HERE.

and

Anthea Raymond has been named editor of Echo Park Patch.

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Thanks to Alexia Haidos for passing along this note from Crystal Meers at Daily Candy:

... I'm very excited to introduce you to Evelyn Crowley, DailyCandy's new Los Angeles editor... Please direct all L.A. matters her way. Feel free to e-mail me with stories that you see fit for our Everywhere edition (food, fashion, beauty, travel, services, arts, entertaining, culture, entertainment) and on the web or just really fun stuff that you think I need to know about that's happening around town. You know I love to know about everything.
Yours truly,
Crystal

Contact: 12200 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90064, 310-954-0278 x 185

Email @dailycandy.com is ecrowley


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Got this auto-reply from LA Opinion's Entertainment Editor Victoria Enfante: Hi. I'm on maternity leave until the end of June. If you need assistance please contact Josep Parera.

… and this auto-reply from Phil Gallo: If you are contacting me regarding music coverage, I am now working for Billboard magazine. I can be reached at phil.gallo [billboard.com]


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Thanks to Sarah Spitz for passing this along from Jade Chang:

As of January 18, 2011, I am no longer with Modern Luxury. I will still be covering many of the same topics that I covered at Angeleno and on ModLux.com-if you have a pitch or question you can contact me.

Her @sbcglobal.net address is jade.chang


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Patt Diroll's party column and "Social Calendar" have been moved from Thursdays to Mondays in the Pasadena Star News.


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San Gabriel Valley Tribune photo editor Bernardo Alps has been laid off, according to THIS story, which also has links to another about salary cuts and furloughs at the LA Newspaper Group (which also includes Daily News, Daily Breeze, etc.)

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Media Bistro reports:

Jen Yamato has been named West Coast editor at Movieline. She had been a film critic at Movies.com

and

LA Times Pop Music critic Ann Powers is leaving the LA Times in early March to work for NPR Music. Memo HERE.


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KPCC/NPR's Steve Julian is introducing a new venture, an I Support Theatre restaurant discount card that provides theatre companies a much needed fundraising boost. According the Steve, "It gives theatregoers an opportunity to save money at a neighborhood eatery. And it rewards restaurants that offer discounts by bringing in new customers."

If any publicists out there are interested in hooking up clients with this opportunity, get in touch with Steve via the "Contact" page on this site: www.isupporttheatre.net .

January 18, 2011 NEWS

EXCLUSIVE:
Pitching Zach Behrens, editor-in-chief at KCET.org's UpDaily

The ultra-affable Zach Behrens gave me some pitching insight for UpDaily (he's editor-in-chief) on KCET.org. UpDaily is the section of the web site featuring blogs, which currently number three: SoCal Focus, The Public Kitchen and Climate Oversight.

"We're looking to BE public media, and that means not just following everyone's news story of the day," he says. "We're exploring rich stories that are not being talked about, or we're adding the public media twist to things that are hot topics. We're not going to be the crime blotter, that's not our role."

Zach tells me that SoCal Focus is the main blog, meant over time to become a daily destination for news, arts and culture, policy and the people and places of Southern California. Unlike LA Observed, LAIst and Curbed, UpDaily is not just about Los Angeles but also covers the 10 counties in KCET's broadcast reach (up to San Luis Obispo and down to Imperial counties).

For example, he points to the piece did on an annual tradition in Solvang: a fire "where residents, and even some travelers from afar, haul their Christmas trees into a large pile. Large, as in some 500 trees." The story portrays what goes on in the community, where the tradition came from and how it developed as well as the effect it had on the environment.

He's also doing a lot of history, partnering with LA as Subject, a member archive based at USC. (Examples: Rose Parade history, Jerry Brown Then and Now.)

He usually ties his posts to a topic that's being talked about, but he's also focusing on news stories that are NOT being talked about. UpDaily was among the first to report on the controversy surrounding La Plaza, where "Human remains found at a downtown L.A. museum construction site have prompted a state commission to request the project be stopped while an investigation determines if they are of American Indian origin or not."

Another signature series is one that began recently that's taking people through Compton one day at a time, "looking at why there is so much negative coverage of the city when there's so much that's positive there."

As for The Public Kitchen, it's a blog about experiencing food, and every post has a recipe and a story. Zach calls it "Your living, breathing Southern California cookbook," A recent post spotlighted farmers who sell their produce at farmers markets and what they cook for themselves and their families at home.

When asked "who is your audience?" he responded, "Definitely people who are interested Southern California as a place, a broad range of people and a diverse group. Meaning not just diversity of geography but also but diversity of culture."

Pitch him BY CATEGORY at these @kcet.org email addresses:

arts/culture:
culturedesk@

food/restaurants:
fooddesk@

everything else:
newsdesk@


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From LA Observed:

Sean Smith is leaving as Los Angeles bureau chief of Entertainment Weekly to serve overseas in the Peace Corps - for two years.

More HERE.


and

Michael Schneider, TV editor for Variety, is leaving to be Los Angeles bureau chief for TV Guide.

More HERE.


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From the Beverly Hills Courier:

The Beverly Hills Courier is pleased to announce reporter Marla Schevker has joined its staff. Schevker joins The Courier after her tenure at the Beverly Hills Weekly, where she covered issues such as the Westside Subway Extension and Measure 2P.

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Thanks to the intrepid Libby Huebner for passing this change along for email addresses at Frontiers magazine: it's now @frontiersweb.com (formerly frontierspublishing.com).

January 4, 2011 NEWS

Happy new year! A few tidbits to start off 2011...


From the December 31 Beverly Hills Courier:

Today The Courier is wishing a fond farewell to Assistant Editor Amanda Peabody who joins L.A.-based Advanced Star as a managing editor of its B2B magazine.

As of Friday, they hadn't yet hired a replacement.

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LA Observed reported on December 10 that Dana Harris left Variety to join IndieWire as editor-in-chief. On December 27, it posted that Daily News writer Troy Anderson, who covered the county Hall of Administration, has left the paper; more details HERE.

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From (former) LA Weekly Art Critic Doug Harvey's Facebook page on December 20:

It looks like I won't be writing for the LA WEEKLY anymore. After 13 years I was unceremoniously dumped - they're not even printing the last piece I completed under Tom Christie's watch. Well now at least I'll have time to finish my screenplay. I'll just open this golden parachute... what the ... Spam?!! Aieeeeeeeeeeee!

LA Observed noted yesterday that Harvey "announced that he will begin writing for The Nation." LA Times has MORE.

And, in case you hadn't heard previously, Tom Christie, who was LA Weekly features editor, has been gone for some time.

December 3, 2010 NEWS

New ME at Westways is Rachel Ng.


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Charlie Amter starts Lead Editor duties Monday (12/6) for "Play," the nightlife and events portion of NBCLA's The Feast web site. Charlie also continues to freelance for the Los Angeles Times' Calendar section on nightlife as well as blogging bi-weekly on nightlife and music for Blackbook magazine's blackbookmag.com. Pitch him via gmail.com: charlie.amter@, and check out his new web site.

December 1, 2010 NEWS

Got this auto-reply Monday from Shayna Nys Dambrot...

Hello dear friend of the Flavor and/or friend of SND.

Well, the rumors are true. Issue #404 will be my last as Managing Editor of Flavorpill LA. I'll be transitioning to the role of Editor-at-Large, and focusing my attention on my new role as Arts Editor at LA Canvas, as well as my work with Whitehot and Huffington Post -- all posts where I'll be focusing on visual art and book culture.

The lovely and talented Tanja M Laden will be assuming the Editor mantle at Flavorpill, so beginning immediately, please direct all your inquiries to her @flavorpill.com [la_events] and she'll see what she can do!

I'll be keeping my Flavorpill email address, probably forever, so feel free to hit me up on your art and book related awesomeness.

Cheers! It's been a sincere pleasure.

SND

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Some recent LA Times news...

... about Calendar columnist Patrick Goldstein's expanding beat:

Patrick Goldstein, Calendar's outspoken and contrarian columnist and blogger, is expanding his mission under The Big Picture banner. In the new year, Patrick will broaden his focus beyond movies to take on the larger popular culture, connecting the dots as only Patrick can across a landscape that includes not only film, but music, television, advertising, publishing, the Internet and their intersections with sports and politics. The column will move to Sunday Calendar, becoming a signature of the section every week with provocative, insightful commentary. Patrick also will write timely columns off the news when warranted for daily Calendar. Patrick's new mandate will not affect our critics, although it will require some additional coordination by him and his editor, Julie Makinen.

More of the memo HERE.

Note to self: "contrarian"? To what????


... and this about the Image section and magazine, including the opportunity for subscribers to opt-in for magazine delivery. According to a press release:

Beginning in January, each will unveil design upgrades and increased online features...

Image, dedicated to Southern California's distinct perspective on fashion and style, will get a bright visual boost with a more photo-intensive layout and increased reporting on trends in the making, new products and sales. In addition, beginning January 2nd , Image content will be featured in the glossy pages of LA the first Sunday of each month, while remaining a Sunday Times stand-alone section for the month's subsequent weeks.

LA...[debuts in early 2011] ...a new LA-centric e-newsletter highlighting the magazine's columns, feature stories and expanded digital content.

Full announcement HERE.