THERE is more turmoil at the magazine home of Rachael Ray.
Two more top-level execs have resigned from the Reader’s Digest Association-owned Every Day with Rachael Ray.
Executive Editor Maile Carpenter resigned last week – just in time to go on her honeymoon with Wylie Dufresne, something of a celebrity chef at his restaurant WD-50.
Also, Lifestyle Editor Tracy Saelinger turned in her resignation earlier this week. She was still at the magazine when Media Ink called, but she declined to comment.
Interestingly, one source with knowledge of their plans said they were going to work on a new magazine now being developed at Hearst.
A Hearst spokeswoman confirmed the rumor – but didn’t spell out their new gig, saying only they “will be working on some development projects at Hearst.”
That could be music to the ears of the hard-pressed magazine industry, which pretty much shunned the launch pad last year. Condé Nast’s Portfolio, which is expected to cost more than $100 million before it turns a profit, was the only major launch.
Hearst’s last launched a new title in 2005-06. It ultimately shut down Shop Etc., a shopping mag, and a Real Simple rival called Weekend. It’s only surviving title from that period is the weekly Quick & Simple.
Portfolio
Dan Colarusso, the former business editor and metropolitan editor of The Post, is joining Portfolio as the editor of Portfolio.com, the Web site for Condé Nast’s new business magazine.
The Web site, which had 2 million unique visitors in December, has been without an editor since Christopher Jones, an ex-Yahoo exec, quit in November.
In Vogue
Tom Florio seems to be taking his new role at Vogue seriously.
The senior VP just promoted Connie Anne Phillips to a new managing director job and yesterday raided in-house rival Details to plug the publisher’s job at Men’s Vogue with Marc Berger. Berger had been an associate publisher at Details.
No party
Entertainment Weekly has scrapped its traditional Oscar night party at Elaine’s, the Upper East Side watering hole where the media rich and famous rub elbows with neighborhood patrons.
The EW publicist is insisting that this was a decision made last year – rather than a reaction to the writers’ strike, which turned the Golden Globes ceremony into a televised press conference sans the red carpet.
“We made a strategic decision in 2007 to not go forward with a New York-based event again this year,” said the spokeswoman. “This was determined long before the writers’ strike and following a terrific event we held in LA during Oscar week [in 2007] that was co-hosted by Al Gore and held at the home of Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas. Gotta keep things exciting.
“We have not yet announced plans for this year,” she added.
A move would end a 15-year run at the uptown landmark.
Vanity Fair, which held the preeminent Oscar party in Hollywood, is still hoping it can pull off its soiree despite the uncertainty.
Of course – as has been widely reported – it will no longer be at the legendary Morton’s, its destination for the past 14 years. The venue was sold to SoHo House. This year’s VF event is slated to take place at Century City Craft.
Said VF spokeswoman Beth Kseniak, “We’re cautiously optimistic and going forward as planned. Since it’s impossible to know what the situation will be come Oscar time, we really can’t comment any further.”
Designing O
Hearst has hired magazine designer Luke Hayman of Pentagram to work on O, the Oprah Magazine, with – surprise! – one idea being gauging consumer reaction to an Oprah Winfrey-less cover.
“It doesn’t mean they are doing it yet,” a source told Media Ink. “It could just be something they are considering. Obviously, it is something they will test the hell out of before they do it.
“And it could free her up to appear on other magazine covers.”
Hearst officials are denying such plans are in the works.
Long before she was the cover girl of her eponymous magazine, Oprah was newsstand magic for just about every other women’s title that was lucky enough to land her.
From Good Housekeeping to Runner’s World, an Oprah cover meant strong, even record-shattering sales.
After eight years in which O has soared to become the second-most profitable magazine in the Hearst empire – behind Cosmopolitan and ahead of Good Housekeeping – there could be any number of reasons why Winfrey doesn’t want to sit for 12 cover shoots a year.
Preparing for those cover shots can be involved and long, particularly if they’re in an exotic location. Plus, Winfrey has expanded into politics, stumping for Barack Obama in recent weeks, and yesterday she broadened her media empire dramatically by forming a joint venture with Discovery Communications to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network (see Peter Lauria’s story on the next page).
Though Pentagram was not commenting, a Hearst spokeswoman shot down the speculation. “The cover of O will continue to feature Oprah – our cover girl since the magazine’s launch in 2000.”
However, the spokeswoman did concede that there were a few design changes in store, starting with the April issue, which marks the magazine’s eighth anniversary.
‘Fed’ up
Now Time Inc., the world’s largest publisher, is losing people to the civil service.
Dan Spaeth, the associate publisher of Entertainment Weekly, told staffers earlier this week that he is leaving – to take a job with the federal government. He was with the magazine for 7 ½ years.
He had lost out on the top job, which went to an outsider: Ad Age Publisher Scott Donaton.
Donaton was gracious in his staff memo – but it left unanswered a few key questions:
“Dan Spaeth will be leaving Entertainment Weekly to pursue an exciting opportunity with the federal government (yes, you read that right). It’s a complete shift for Dan to follow a personal passion.”
Nobody is saying exactly what Spaeth will be doing for the feds and he didn’t return a call, although EW insisted he will be at the magazine through Friday.