East meets south: Brian Ruckle, a fellow member of the Rocky Top Brigade (of which I’m indeed a proud member, for the record) voluntarily lives in and blogs from China, e-mailed me to share his surprise that Vanderbilt’s mens basketball team (and now, by the way, women’s team also) has made it to the Sweet 16. (I don’t know whether to be more pleased that my rare sports item was noticed or that the rexblog is read in China.) Brian also was kind enough to send me a link to danwei.org, a weblog about media and advertising in the People’s Republic of China. Check out the site’s magazine section which is sort of like what I do on the rexblog, except that it’s about magazines in China. I must admit that I’m totally clueless about magazines in China, despite spending some time on a couple of ocassions with some delightful magazine people from that part of the world. After looking at danwei’s magazine page, I feel even more clueless. But also impressed, perplexed, stunned and amused.

Magazine fun fact: According to its publisher David Carey, more people read the New Yorker in California than in New York. (Source: Press Clips Column, Village Voice)

I think, however, that David is not totally correct. While more people in California may purchase the magazine, I believe more people in New York actually read it.

Kemp resigns Penton post: B-to-B Online (second item) is reporting that Tom Kemp is stepping down as chairman and ceo of “the struggling” Penton Media. Sorry to hear this.

What the world needs now: As a public service, I point to a story with the really important news that Glamour Magazine is getting away from that super model thing and getting more into that Hollywood celebrity thing.

The Daily Edwards — First Edition: While some folks enjoy waking up to Howard Stern and are outraged that he has been cancelled in some markets, the voice I prefer waking up to is that of Bob Edwards, host of NPR’s Morning Edition. This afternoon, it appears that some misguided executive at NPR is booting Edwards from the anchor chair as part of “a natural evolution,” according to NPR spokeswoman Laura Gross. “We just felt it was time for a change.” (With ad-libs like that, I’d say it was time for a change in a spokeswoman, also.)

As a fan and sometime corporate underwriter of the local broadcast of Morning Edition, I would like to go on record as protesting this ridiculous decision by NPR. (Joan Kroc must be spinning in her grave at the thought of Edwards getting the boot. And speaking of grave spinning, what about Red Barber?)

Developing.

Drill downed: I must eat crow about the magazine Drill, which I predicted would not last past a prototype issue. It actually survived for two more issues before folding (third item). The five regular readers of the rexblog may recall that Drill was the magazine that raised my jingoistic dander when its publisher was quoted as saying, “The UK is way ahead of the U.S. in customer publishing. The quality of the creative in the U.S. is far behind.”

As I am a proud resident of the friendliest city in America, I will not end this post in the way I am tempted. It wouldn’t be neighborly. However, this does remind me of the potential for eating (and serving) of crow a weblog provides one.

(Thanks to Eddie Lee Rider for the heads up.)

Custom Publishing Update: Fed Tech, a customer magazine for 70,000 “IT decision makers and implementers who use technology to build a more effective federal government” is being launched today by CDW Government, Inc., a subsidiary of CDW. Custom publisher for the new magazine is Ziff Davis Integrated Media.

What is the worst idea for a magazine in human history? Yesterday I pointed to a column in the Chicago Tribune in which a reviewer said the new “shopping magazine” for men Cargo “stinks” (among other things).

Perhaps there is a trend emerging as I just ran across Peter Carlson’s new review of the same magazine in the Washington Post.

Quote:

Cargo is the new magazine from Conde Nast, the New York magazine behemoth. Launched this month with enormous ballyhoo, Cargo is a shopping magazine for men. It contains no stories, just pictures of stuff you can buy — or, as one of Conde Nast’s vast army of publicists puts it, “no articles, all products.” Cargo might be the worst idea for a magazine in human history.

Ouch. Peter. “Cargo might be the worst idea for a magazine in human history.”? Okay. If you’d like to e-mail me your nominations, I’ll be happy to post of list of rexblog readers’ list of “worst ideas for a magazine in human history.”

(via Media Bistro)