American Media Inc. and Integrity Multimedia Company Form Joint Venture to Launch a New and Enhanced RadarOnline Web Site
NEW YORK, Oct 24, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- American Media Inc. (AMI) today announced they are partnering with Integrity Multimedia Company in creating a new company, Radar Online LLC. Integrity Multimedia will make a multi-million dollar investment in RadarOnline.com to launch it as the ultimate destination for breaking celebrity news and cutting edge pop culture.
RadarOnline.com will be supported by the AMI news organization and its network of hundreds of newsgatherers and thousands of sources. In addition, the Radar Online site will also have its own staff of editors, reporters, photographers and videographers.
In the first of many announcements to be forthcoming, American Media Inc. Chairman and CEO David Pecker said that David Perel, Executive Vice President of AMI News, will leave that position to become managing editor of RadarOnline. At AMI, Mr. Perel was responsible for breaking many of the biggest celebrity stories of the past two decades.
Mr. Pecker commented, "The AMI newsgathering team that David Perel has at his disposal for the new site is unmatched in the celebrity market, as is the access we have to past, present and future pop culture milestones. Our message is simple -- if it's on your radar, it's on Radar Online, and if it's not on your radar, we'll put it there."
Integrity Multimedia Company Chairman Yusef Jackson added, "By teaming with AMI, we will build on what we have already established with Radar while at the same time accelerating the potential for our return on investment. It is a win/win for both partners."
Plans call for RadarOnline.com to launch a redesigned site in the early part of 2009.
Radarmagazine shut down unceremoniously today?again?but the web site will live on, according to the New York Observer. The site has been acquired by AMI and will be redesigned and rebuilt as a competitor to TMZ.com, with theNational Enquirer's David Pecker as managing editor. The URL will change from " radaronline.com." Founder Maer Roshan says he has been asked to be involved but doesn't think he will; some of the staff may be retained to work on the site. The magazine first launched in 2003.
Roshan told the Observer: "What is so frustrating is that we seemed to have reached a turning point. You're dealing with independent investors and they saw the market and they were fearful about the future." First, he was told Radar would need more investors, then he was he'd have to find them himself. Then, as NYO reports, this morning, they told him it was over. Roshan: "Up until today I thought we could still talk about options for the magazine?in fact, there were no options." Yusef Jackson, the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, was among the backers of this incarnation, the magazine's third. In 2006, he told the NYT there was enough backing to fund the magazine for five years.
Radar magazine will shutter its print edition, while its website has been acquired by AMI and will be re-launched as a competitor to celebrity news site TMZ.com, The New York Observer reported. David Pecker, formerly editor-in-chief at The National Enquirer, will become managing editor of the new site. Radar editor Maer Roshan told the Observer that some staff may be retained to work on the new website. Radar first launched in 2003, but did stay in business long before folding; it was re-launched in 2005, but shuttered again by December of that year. The magazine was launched a third time in 2006 and won several awards before its third demise this week.
