Wooden Horse Wednesday Wrap-up

Here’s a brief summary of news for those of you heading out of town early, ahead of the 4th of July holiday weekend:

MARTHA STEWART WEDDINGS will publish six times a year in 2012, up from the five issues per year it now produces.  The theme for the additional issue will be ‘The Best of Real Weddings.’  It’s unclear at this time if the issue will become a regular feature each year, or just a one-off edition.

MAXIMUM TECH publisher Future US is reorganizing and consolidating its operations and laying off five staffers.  The company is merging Maximum Tech and three other tech magazines, MAXIMUM PC, MAC|LIFE and WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE into its gaming group.  Future US president John Marcom says the move is an effort to leverage common platforms and resources.

THEATLANTICCITIES.COM, a website about global cities and neighborhoods produced by Atlantic Media Group, publishers of THE ATLANTIC magazine, is set to launch in September.  The website features the tagline ‘Place Matters,’ and will cover a broad range of topics including jobs, the economy, sustainability, architecture and design, innovative ideas, arts and culture.  This marks the latest expansion of Atlantic Digital.  Richard Florida, rflorida@theatlantic.com, senior editor for The Atlantic is overseeing the new project.

THE WASHINGTONIAN lost online editorial director Sommer Mathis.  She will be joining THEATLANTICCITIES.COM as editor.

HGTV MAGAZINE, scheduled to launch this fall, continued to round out its staff by welcoming Rachel Jacoby, rjacoby@hearst.com, as an associate editor.  Jacoby recently left her post as website managing editor for BRIDAL GUIDE.

THE AMERICAN PROSPECT brought on board Bob Moser as executive editor.  Moser comes to the magazine from THE TEXAS OBSERVER, where he was editor.

BUDGET TRAVEL hired Whitney Tressel, whitney.tressel@budgettravel.com, as associate photo editor for the magazine.  Previously she was a photo coordinator for ESQUIRE.

FOODNETWORK.COM picked up online editor Cameron Curtis, ccurtis@hearst.com.  Curtis had been associate online editor for EVERY DAY WITH RACHAEL RAY.

QUALITY magazine, part of a stable of b2b publications produced by BNP Media, named Darryl Seland, selandd@bnpmedia.com, as editor-in-chief and publisher.  Most recently he was EIC for CIRCUITREE, another BNP title.

DOWNTOWN MAGAZINE NYC promoted Matt Scotto, matts@downtownmagazinenyc.com, to associate editor.  Scotto had been a fashion assistant with the publication.

THE WALRUS, a Canadian general interest magazine covering topical issues, named Kyle Wyatt, kyle.wyatt@walrusmagazine.com, as the new managing editor.  He replaces Jared Bland, who recently left his position with The Walrus after three years.

SMART MEETINGS magazine will lose managing editor Talia Salem, talia@smartmeetings.com, when she departs on July 15.  No replacement has been named.

Time Out Chicago gets meatier with a magazine redesign

TIME OUT CHICAGO is unveiling a new redesign, the first in three years.  The changes are aimed at positioning the weekly as a more substantive publication with greater depth.

Design changes include the more superficial ones, like adding editors’ photos to their sections, as well as more fundamental changes, such as bigger features on a broad range of local topics.  “Having more room for extra features will help us create a good mix of stories,” says Editor-in-Chief Frank Sennett.  Look for more detailed interviews and profiles, unique subjects and meatier stories.  On the lighter side, a new travel section will cover the most memorable part of a trip, like driving a Ferarri at the Las Vegas speedway.  As always, there still will be plenty of features covering food, events and entertainment.

Over the past year, the magazine has made a point of increasing its coverage of local city and political issues, a fact the editorial staff is now emphasizing. Sennett points to Time Out’s role in covering the recent mayoral race, successfully getting every candidate to respond to the magazine’s questionnaire about cultural issues.

Sennett hopes the relaunch provides an excuse for Chicagoans to give Time Out another look.  Check out the website at www.timeoutchicago.com. The managing editor is Liz Plosser, lplosser@timeoutchicago.com.

Back to the future: Film Threat magazine relaunches in print after 14 years

FILM THREAT will begin publishing a glossy print edition once again in September, 14 years after abandoning print to become an online-only ezine.  The magazine has been a voice for the independent film industry and a popular source of underground, independent film reviews.

Plans for the new quarterly include exclusive, more in-depth articles, information on films and filmmakers, interviews and other content not offered online.

Mark Bell, Film Threat’s owner, publisher and editor-in-chief since 2010, believes the timing is right for a print relaunch.  “Now with technology like Print-on-Demand, print is there waiting to be used,” Bell says.  “Unlike web, the market for print is not saturated.”  He wants to leave readers with a concrete image, something more tangible than the quick nature of online-only content.  Nostalgia also figured into his decision, with Bell viewing the move as a return to a golden age of indie-film print journalism.

Founded in 1985 in Detroit, Film Threat was one of the first publications to move to a strictly-digital format.  The online site currently gets upwards of 250,000 weekly page views.  Visit www.filmthreat.com to find out more.