Bill Jensen (pictured) will take the reins at the Boston Phoenix as part of its parent company's effort to assemble a staff with the right "mix of experience and youth," the Boston Globe reports this morning. Jensen was hired as the Phoenix's associate editor last year. His predecessor, Peter Kadzis, says "Bill is the hip, happening guy" who will focus in part on pop culture. Kadzis had been editor for 16 years; he now will become executive editor for Phoenix Media, which owns a radio station and a mobile marketing firm in addition to the Phoenix weeklies in Boston, Portland (Maine) and Providence (R.I.). The company's multiple operations and ability to strategize marketing across platforms may be the key to its survival in the future, Vice President Brad Mindich tells the Globe.
Morris' upcoming retirement was announced Thursday morning via an e-mail from Brad Mindich (pictured) to employees of the Phoenix Media/Communications Group that was subsequently posted on senior writer Mark Jurkowitz's blog. Morris has worked for the company for 36 of its 40 years. "I find it a bit strange for me to be the one making this announcement," writes Mindich. "Barry has known me since I was a baby, known me well enough to have watched me taking baths in the sink of my family’s small West Roxbury apartment." Mindich is the son of Phoenix publisher and founder Stephen Mindich and has served as executive vice president for three years. Morris tells Jurkowitz that he's looking forward to new challenges, but adds, "It's very possible I can still play a role in the company."
The owner of alt-weeklies in Boston, Providence and Portland, Maine, will launch new sites for each paper on Jan. 1, according to the Boston Business Journal. Phoenix Media executive vice president Bradley Mindich says the $200,000 upgrade is a smart investment in light of the growth of Internet advertising. "In five years, it is highly probable that, as a converged media company, the Web could be the largest ad revenue generator for us," says Mindich. The Business Journal also reports that Phoenix competitor The Weekly Dig will launch a new site in March modeled after Boston.com but targeting the 18- to 34-year-old demographic.
After a decade at The Boston Globe, the media critic left New England's largest daily to take back his old job at The Boston Phoenix. In this piece, Jurkowitz explains why a "middle-aged journalist with mortgages" left the influence and economic benefits of a large paper for an alt-weekly "with fewer resources, less clout, and a smaller audience."
