In his latest move to shake things up at Newsweek, CEO Thomas Ascheim has named longtime digital sales exec Pamela Raley as chief revenue officer overseeing all sales efforts, a new position for the newsweekly.

The American Magazine Conference taking place in San Francisco started its first full day Oct. 6 on an auspicious note, as attendees arose to find the stock market—and their portfolios' value--had plummeted another several hundred points that morning, compounding last week's tumultuous losses.

Hearst Magazines today announced plans for the rollout of the recipe-themed Food Network Magazine, which it is publishing in partnership with the Food Network. Targeting food lovers and avid fans of the Food Network, the magazine will draw on the cable network's stars for accessible recipes and tips.

This is the Facts & Figures page updated for Oct. 6, 2008. It includes category charts and totals for Travel and Food categories, as well as analysis from Mediaweek senior editor Lucia Moses.

Following in the footsteps of Condé Nast and Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corp. is the latest publisher to introduce ads that let readers shop straight from the pages of a magazine, using technology from ShopText.

The landscape is littered with failed TV projects modeled on magazine brands. Yet this month, Time Inc.’s massively successful women’s title Real Simple and cable net TLC will roll out the series Real Simple Real Life, a lifestyle-makeover show that shares the magazine’s mission of helping women simplify their lives with practical advice on family, homemaking, style, health and other topics.

The editor parade at Bauer Publishing Group continues, as Life & Style prepares to get its third top editor in a scant four months.

Alpha Media Group has taken another editor from Wenner Media. This time it’s Brekke Fletcher, who was managing editor of Men’s Journal and will have the same title at Alpha’s Maxim, starting this month. She was in the Men’s Journal job a year and a half.  
 

The multi-year deal has Quattro handling external ad sales for its mobile phone sites, having switched from mobile ad company Third Screen Media

With the economy on everyone’s minds, Time Inc.’s All You, the low-cost women’s service magazine that’s sold in Wal-Mart through an exclusive arrangement, is launching a book club that it hopes will get more people to try its budget formula

At a time when most newspapers are cutting back on international news, the Washington Post Co. has snapped up Foreign Policy magazine in a bet that there’s a strong market for the subject.

Magazine Publishers of America, which recently cut seven staffers from its headcount, announced a new hire in veteran editor Sid Holt, who was named chief executive for the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). The position is a newly created post at the industry’s chief lobbying association.

Tran Ha has been named editor of RedEye, the Chicago Tribune's free tabloid.

The pains affecting consumer magazines are trickling down to its lobbying association. Magazine Publishers of America laid off seven staffers, according to sources. A spokesman said that because of declines in its members’ core print publishing operations, “it was necessary to streamline operations.”

Having snapped up Time Inc.’s parenting books last year, Bonnier Corp. is adding to its stable of women’s magazines, buying up Working Mother Media from investment bank MCG Capital and Carol Evans, its founder and CEO.
 

The Baltimore Sun is teaming up with the local CBS affiliate, which is not a Tribune-owned station, to share video and content. The two news organizations will share story leads and plan to partner on "major journalistic projects," according to the release.

Time Inc. announced on Sept. 23 that the venerable Life magazine will once again be reincarnated, this time as Life.com. Time Inc. has partnered with photo syndicator Getty images to jointly launch Life.com as a destination for thousands of new and classic photos sometime in early 2009.

The Chicago Tribune has promoted Senior Vice President of Circulation/Operations Tony Hunter to publisher. He succeeds Robert Gremillion, senior vice president of Tribune Publishing, who took the publisher position on an interim basis. Gremillion filled in for Scott Smith, who left the company.

Magazines have long embraced e-commerce with editor-curated shopping guides as well as pure merchandising sites. But now, some publishers are toying with a new model that blends the two.

Since first setting out to break the business title mold by cultivating a sizable female readership and luxury ad base, Condé Nast Portfolio has raised questions about how it would build out its audience.

This is the Facts & Figures page updated for September 22, 2008. In it are the ad-page totals for the Business/Personal Finance and Science/Technology categories, as well as Lucia Moses' analysis of the two categories.

MSN has signed on Kraft and Simply Orange as well as Unilever brands Hellman’s/Best Foods, Knorr and Bertolli Frozen to be the initial advertisers for Delish.com, the food-centric Web site the company is launching in conjunction with Hearst Magazines’ digital group on Sept. 23. 

Following other magazine-led efforts to juice up their food content, Rodale’s Prevention is stepping up its own coverage in that area. The initiative—called Cook!—will comprise a 50 percent bigger food section in the magazine, with five new columns replacing some less popular ones; and a redesigned food channel on Prevention’s Web site with a new recipe finder.

Reader’s Digest has named Tracey Altman as vp, publisher, filling a spot left vacant in May when former publisher Jeff Wellington was let go after seven months in the job.

The McClatchy Co. announced this afternoon it plans to reduce its workforce by 10 percent or approximately 1,150 full time positions. Meanwhile, the company said that advertising revenue declined 17.8 percent in August compared to the same period a year ago.

Publisher George Arwady of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., has told employees that the paper will close on Jan. 5, 2009, if 200 buyouts and several union concessions are not met, or if the paper cannot be sold.

Newsweek Inc. named magazine vet Bernadette Haley as publisher of Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel and spinoff Girlfriend Getaways, the company announced.

Forbes.com is beefing up its commentary and op-ed offerings, as the business-leader-aimed site has added 16 new columns to its newly revamped Opinions Channel.

With liaisons, secrets and squabbles aplenty, Dirty Sexy Money’s Darling family has all the ingredients celebrity magazines love. So when ABC came to OK! Weekly to promote the show’s Oct. 1 premiere, it seemed fitting to give the show the tabloid treatment.
 

This is the Facts & Figures page updated for September 15, 2008. Included in the page are the Shelter categories ad-page figures, as well as Lucia Moses' analysis.