In N Out

This is an unusual reporting day at FishbowlLA. As far as we can remember, never before have two members of the SoCal media community – each with four decades of experience at their respective same single outlets – chosen to simultaneously announce their retirements.

We told you earlier about the exit of City News Service vp Yet Lock, officially announced late Friday. Now comes word this morning that Jon Thurber (pictured), who began his career with the paper a year before Lock in 1971, will also soon be taking permanent leave:

Thurber started out as a clerk on the foreign desk; since 2010, he has been books editor. In an email to staff, Times editor Davan Maharaj and assistant managing editor for features Alice Short noted Thurber’s guidance in developing special holiday book sections and shaping Sunday books coverage. He is expected to continue in his position until early summer.

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They don’t make journalism careers like this anymore. To put it in perspective, when Yet Lock first began his long service with downtown LA’s City News Service, Samuel L. Yorty was our mayor, Wilt Chamberlain was getting ready to lead the Lakers to their first post-Minneapolis NBA championship and X-rated flick Behind the Green Door would go on to earn a domestic theatrical gross of $50 million.

Although Lock (pictured) is still tying up a few loose ends, CNS tells FishbowlLA he is essentially already retired. He joined the service as vp in January of 1972 and held that same post for 40 years, making him quite possibly the longest-service news executive in Southern California.

“Through all these years, Yet has managed to remain the ‘gentleman news executive,’” said CNS editor Lori Streifler. “He has always related to the hundreds of CNS subscribers and literally thousands of CNS staff members through the years in a cordial, collegial manner. He will be greatly missed by all of us. We wish him the greatest future in retirement in Florida.”

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A trio of female journalists have received promotions at Times Community News (TCN) South.

Kelly Parker, city editor for the Coastline Pilot, is now the web editor. As such, she will oversee the online operations and social media efforts of not just the Pilot but also those of LA Times subsidiary regional publications the The Daily Pilot, Huntington Beach Independent and OC Now.

At her side as new assistant web editor for TCN South will be Joanna Clay. The UC Irvine grad joined the Coastline Pilot in 2010 as an intern and freelancer, and was hired on full-time a year later. Clay will continue to report for the Laguna Beach-focused publication.

TCN South editor John Canalis also revealed yesterday that freelance copy editor Alisha Gomez will serve as the interim city editor at the Coastline Pilot. She was previously the managing editor of the Orange County Business Journal. Congrats to all.

A great investigative piece by Deadspin’s John Koblin published late yesterday uncovered some very disturbing things about ESPN.com columnist Sarah Phillips. If the story is true, and by all accounts it seems to be, Phillips conspired to hijack the popular Facebook page NBA Memes from its owner to drive traffic to her startup site Sports Comedy Network. Koblin also alleges she borderline extorted thousands of dollars from a gambling acquaintance.

Phillips was fired by ESPN within hours of the piece’s publication.

She also tweets that she has returned proprietorship of NBA Memes to its rightful owner.

The whole story of Phillips’ deceptions is fairly complicated. Best to read the whole thing.

People senior staff writer Alexis Chiu–the author of the mag’s recent Beyonce “Most Beautiful” cover story–has a new gig. She’s just been named the new executive editor of In Touch Weekly.

Chiu will be reporting to Dan Wakeford, the editor-in-chief of Life & Style who was also just named EIC of In Touch by parent company Bauer Publishing.

When DJ Laz bailed as the longtime morning drive radio host on Miami’s Power 96 at the beginning of April after 22 years, he suggested it was time for a change. Today, it was announced that the popular South Florida personality will be relocating to the west coast to continue entertaining morning commuters.

Starting May 14, DJ Laz – real name Lazaro Mendez - will re-up on KXOL 96.3 FM (a.k.a. Latino 96.3) for The DJ Laz Morning Show. The program will air weekdays from six to 10 a.m, bumping the current time slot tandem of Raquel Cordova and Nachin. The show will also be available over the Internet at Lamusica.com. Here’s more info about LA’s newest radio personality via Orlando Sentinel columnist Ben Crandall:

Laz has also been a force in the South Florida hip-hop scene as a performer and producer, working with such as stars Lil Jon, Flo-Rida, T-Pain and his nephew, Pitbull. “Signing DJ Laz is very much in line with our strategy of delivering the biggest stars and the best content possible,” said Jesus Salas, executive vice president of programming for [KXOL parent] Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. (SBS).

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We told you earlier this month about Dylan Howard moving from Star magazine and Radar Online to celebuzz.com as the BUZZMEDIA site’s new editor-in-chief. At the time, Howard promised he would be “hiring some of the best journalists in our beat over the coming weeks.”

The first hire is a good one. Relocating within a few weeks from LA to New York as celebuzz.com’s incoming executive editor will be Joseph Kapsch (pictured), currently the editor of THR.com. One of the reasons for the move is that it will allow Kapsch to be closer to family. Here’s what Kapsch posted on his Facebook page:

SOME EXCITING/BREAKING PERSONAL NEWS: So most of you that know me well know that I’ve always said when the right time and opportunity arrived I would eventually head back to New York. Well, that time has arrived: Today, I accepted a new opportunity with BUZZMEDIA in New York as the executive editor, Celebuzz.

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Even successful television shows aren’t immune to layoffs as The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reports that Access Hollywood laid off 14 employees Wednesday:

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, an Access Hollywood spokesperson would only say that the show had made “staffing adjustments that make sense for our business and position us well for the future.”

The Access Hollywood layoffs hit hardest in the research department, according to a source.

Breath easy, Billy Bush fans — there are no changes with the on-air talent.

Access Hollywood is averaging 2.8 million viewers per day and is tied with TMZ for second in the daily entertainment news magazines ratings with with a 2.0.

Bruce Brugmann and Jean Dibble, co-founders of the progressive alternative weekly Bay Guardian, announced Tuesday that they would be retiring from their roles as publishers. The move is in connection with the anticipated sale of the paper to the SF Newspaper Company LLC, owner of the San Francisco Examiner. The Guardian said of the sale:

There are no plans to change the editorial content or positions of the Guardian, which will remain the voice of progressive politics and alternative culture in San Francisco. Executive Editor Tim Redmond will stay on in the expanded role of executive editor and publisher.

Bruce and Jean will remain involved in the paper in a consulting role. The famous “Bruce Blog” will continue uninterrupted.

Brugmann is also selling the newspaper’s building for $6.5 million to real estate firm Union Property Capital. As the San Francisco Business Times notes, the Guardian might be selling out in more ways than one – UPC “was an active player in the dot-com-era gentrification that the progressive weekly newspaper fought so hard to thwart.”

Hat tip to LA Observed, SF Weekly.

It wasn’t too long ago that Eric Richardson, the author of community news website blogdowntown.com, was firming up a web development partnership with KPCC.org. But that collaboration has turned out to be fairly short-lived.

In an email note circulated to station staff yesterday, KPCC’s director of digital media Alex Schaffert informed that Richardson has accepted a new position in Atlanta, where he will also be closer to family. Per Schaffert:

Eric joined us as a web developer one year ago, and in that short period of time he has had a transformational effect on our digital presence and editorial technology… Many of the CMS tools we use daily bear Eric’s mark of excellence, and he deserves much of the credit for our beta website redesign… His deep technical experience and editorial vision will be greatly missed.

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