Maer Roshan

"I basically started Radar because I didn't want to work at any other magazine," said Maer Roshan, the editor of the recently folded magazine. "And after six years, all of it came down to this."

Mr. Roshan was surveying his party, the night before Halloween, which had become a kind of Night of the Living Dead for journalism. "PRINT IS DEAD! LONG LIVE RADAR!" read the invitation, which was retooled after a recent development at the magazine.

Six days before his staff had been given a couple of hours to pack everything at their desks into collapsible white boxes and shove out, after the sudden declaration from his sponsors that the magazine was officially kaput, his staffers, many of whom have been fixtures in the young journalism scene in New York for years now, mingled with their media friends at the bar, Citrine, in Chelsea; not yet officially opened, the walk-up spot, which looks a bit like a Hell's Kitchen gay bar, has already held parties for Edgar Bronfman Jr.  read more »

Felix Gillette talks to MSNBC president Phil Griffin, who says, "A lot of people like to make fun of cable... They think it’s something for people who don’t get news. No. It’s for people who really understand news, want depth and want it from people they connect to."

John Koblin gets the details of Bill Keller's budget talks with New York Times staffers, including news about a special "investment fund" to help pay for Web site growth. Mr. Keller tells The Observer, "The money has gone to hire a small number of editors, reporters and producers. Most of the vertical expansions are already launched, and some of their work has appeared in the printed page as well.  read more »

Headlines at radaronline.com on Tuesday, Oct. 28, included: “Jessica Simpson: Major Movie Star, Comrade”; “Vanessa & Zac Back in the U.S”; “Sean Penn’s Gay History Closeted.”

Yowza!

Radar has ever been sold as an heir to Spy: poppy and irreverent and, most of all, smart, as though OK! had gone to college and majored in semiotics. But in the days since the Web site has been acquired by AMI, the proprietors of The National Enquirer, it seems to have dropped a few grades behind.

Maer Roshan, the editor and founder of Radar, who has now watched his magazine fold for a third time, said he would not be involved in the Web site.  read more »

As of 3 P.M. all Radar staffers were expected to leave from their East 45th Street office.

According to a source, editorial staffers have spent the last 90 minutes or so boxing up their belongings, laughing and drinking from bottles of Stella Artois. While they pack, there are apparently some careful eyes watching what they decide to take from the office.

When some staffers have gone up to pick up their severance checks, HR people are making them check off a box that says they are leaving "voluntarily." Maer Roshan said he was informed of the decision this morning.

At 4 P.M., staffers are heading over to Croxley Ales on Avenue B.

Meanwhile, Mr. Roshan is spending his final hours still negotiating with investors to make sure the 16th issue of the third incarnation of Radar is printed.

"I never worked with a better or more dedicated staff in my life. I'm sorry that we couldn’t achieve the potential that I know this magazine has—had."

Media Mob just spoke with Maer Roshan, the editor of Radar, which is folding.

"What is so frustrating is that we seemed to have reached a turning point," he said. "You're dealing with independent investors and they saw the market and they were fearful about the future."

He said it seemed like a "strange time to pull the cord" since he felt Radar was finally hitting its stride. "They gave us 15 issues," he said. "Sixteen issues if they let the last issue, which is a week from being printed.  read more »

Radar editor Maer Roshan convened his staff late this morning and announced that the magazine would be shutting down immediately. Staffers are expected to clear out their desks by the end of the day.

"The magazine is gone and the Web site is being reincarnated," said a Radar staffer who attended the meeting.

The web site has been sold to AMI and will be redesigned and rebuilt to "become a competitor to TMZ," our source said. David Pecker, C.E.O. of AMI will be installing David Perel, the editor-in-chief of The National Enquirer,  as the managing editor of the new Web site.   read more »

That news about Moe Tkacik joining Radar? Never mind.

Apparently, Ms. Tkacik has changed her mind and rejected the offer from Radar. She'll leave Jezebel and begin writing for her company's flagship site, Gawker.com.

Reached by Media Mob, Radar editor Maer Roshan, who is currently not in the office, told us that the memo he sent out to the Radar staff announcing she was hired—writing that she will "bring her unique style and voice to a wide variety of topics from entertainment to politics, business and economy to world affairs. I'm confident that her strong reporting experience and her uncanny ability to analyze trends and events will allow the site to offer a broader perspective on pop, politics, scandal, and style"—was "probably" premature and claimed that it was not actually written by him, but his assistant.  read more »

“Three or four people leaving is not a big deal,” insisted Maer Roshan, founder and editor in chief of Radar.

Actually, it’s five: Senior editor Tyler Gray, en route to Blender, just had his last day at the magazine, as did managing editor Leigh Ann Boutwell, who is joining her boyfriend on the West Coast. On the business side, the magazine’s president, Fred Poust, fled Radar’s East 45th Street offices on May 30, along with finance director Dwight Holovach and Web site general manager Michael Small, who came in with great fanfare from Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone.  read more »

Late this afternoon, Radar editor Maer Roshan announced that the magazine's deputy editor Chris Tennant is out. He'll stay "onboard" as a contributing editor. Here's the memo:  read more »

Around 9pm at the New Museum on Bowery, Radar editor Maer Roshan, dressed in an extremely well-fitting John Varvatos suit, was standing next to the bar. The suit was dark, but it wasn't entirely clear what color it was in a dimly lit room on the ground floor.

Mr. Roshan's magazine was throwing a party intended to honor "the most exciting rogues, renegades, and rule-breakers of the year." Film-maker Craig Brewer, writer Shalom Auslander, and Squid and the Whale star Jesse Eisenberg, among other rogues, renegades, and rule-breakers, were in attendance.

As Mr. Roshan surveyed the room, he considered the best time of year to host a party. "Summer, I think."  read more »

Before getting into what’s wrong with Malcolm Gladwell, it helps to talk about what’s been right  read more »

Radar editor Maer Roshan said that he is standing by his magazine's story that former CBS producer Mary Mapes is going to work with Dan Rather at HDNet.

Both Ms. Mapes and HDNet's owner, Mark Cuban, denied the arrangement today "The reporter, who's a trusted one here, did speak to her," Mr. Roshan said this afternoon. "We first got that information about a month ago. It could conceivably be that [Ms. Mapes] doesn't remember. It could also be that maybe that this was going to be official and.... You know? Things happen in a month. I know that this information when we got it was true. It was confirmed by Ms. Mapes." Mr. Roshan further claimed that his reporter—identified only as "FI Staff"—had exchanged e-mails with Ms. Mapes. In them, he said, she suggested people that Radar might hire.

"The idea of making up out of whole cloth a story like that," he said. "Of all the stories to make up that doesn't seem like one that naturally leaps to mind." Reached again at her Dallas home, Ms. Mapes again denied ever having had plans to work for HDNet. "I'm not sure what he's talking about," she said.

She also reiterated that she had never spoken to a Radar reporter. "I've not talked to anyone who called as a reporter from Radar to discuss anything like that."

Ms. Mapes did, however, clarify her position on her familiarity with Radar, the magazine. She knew of its existence. She just had trouble finding the Web site, she said. —Rebecca Dana

Radar's back, baby. And it's bountiful, with a crew of pasty young men laboring night and day. Local well-known job-jumping ne'er-do-wells Jeff Bercovici and Matt Haber and Marcus Baram are all stuffed belowdecks on the Viking slave galleon that is the good ship Maer Roshan. Homeless no more!

In fact, that galley is packed; the two main blogs alone list eleven staffers, giving it, no doubt, the highest staff costs of any weblog site in existence. (It could have been more expensive! Apparently former Radar employee Remy Stern didn't make it to sea, having been chucked overboard at some point pre-launch. (Or perhaps he threw himself over?)) And the "Reviews" section lists a staff of eight.

So clearly she's a seaworthy vessel, yah—if a bit battered about the poop deck.

Reportedly, these new-fangled things called "RSS feeds" will be available later today.

On the afternoon of Dec.  read more »

Thanks to a world-class team of talent, in just a few short months, Radar Magazine and Radar Online made a significant impact on the cultural landscape, breaking news and publishing groundbreaking stories that struck a chord with our unique, much-coveted audience. The magazine built up brand recognition and credibility that many magazines spend years and millions of dollars trying to attain. I sincerely thank Mort Zuckerman and Jeffrey Epstein for their support thus far. And I would like to extend my deepest thanks to my staff for their hard work and extraordinary dedication over the past fourteen months. We are currently engaged in productive discussions with a number of new investors and I look forward to continuing operations in the near future. Maer Roshan Editor In Chief, Radar Magazine  read more »

From Boldface Names, The New York Times, March 28, 2003:

How Do I Get a Cute Actress To Add Sizzle to My Steak?

Next to MAER ROSHAN, who has gotten endless attention for a magazine he has not published (Radar), we are shocked and awed by the Men's Health editor, DAVID ZINCZENKO, who had gotten endless attention for a job he said he would not take (editor of GQ).

Mr. Zinczenko, for the last six months, has been dating the red-headed actress ROSE McGOWAN. When we saw them at the Oscar party at Elaine's, she seemed a little annoyed when we had to ask her to familiarize us with her work. (Replaced SHANNEN DOHERTY on the TV show "Charmed"; appeared in "Monkeybone" and "Scream"; believe us, we are sick that we did not know.) Mr. Zinczenko, however, was as giddy as a debutante.

How did they meet?

"At a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN concert in Las Vegas," Mr. Zinczenko said. "There was a line at the concession stand and she turned around and said, 'Oh, my God, I don't have any money.' I said, 'O.K., get whatever you want.' She got water and peanuts."

Mr. Zinczenko is but a lad of 33. He had been courted by a rich magazine and he's dating an actress, whom everybody knows but us.

What could be missing?

"I want to beat LANCE BASS to space," Mr. Zinczenko said. "Come on, that's funny. Write it down."  read more »

How Do I Get My New Magazine, Radar, Published? Oops, sorry. We're out of space.

Left, RADAR (via Gawker); Right, Esquire, April 1968. Update: It turns out that the art director with the balls to rip off George Lois' legendary Esquire cover was none other than... George Lois. (Very sneaky, RADAR!) From a press release just received at Mob HQ:

Radar magazine's Maer Roshan has brought legendary adman and cover designer genius George Lois out of retirement to design the issue's September/October issue, on sale August 16th. [...] "Magazines don't even try to do covers with actual ideas any more," Lois says in the forthcoming issue of Radar. "I get calls from these big magazine conferences -- always some big goddamn deal -- and they're always the same thing: 'Could you come down, George, and make a speech about why all magazine covers suck?' Screw that! Everybody knows that already! You can't just slap a picture of Nicole Kidman on your cover and expect people to say, 'Wow! What a cover!' It's just another picture of Nicole. Who gives a shit?"

 read more »

--Matt Haber

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