Reached by phone this morning, Craig Marks confirmed he is out as editor-in-chief of Blender. Marks told FishbowlNY his last day will be in late January after he finishes closing the current issue.

The decision "happened as of yesterday," Marks said, and it didn't come as "a huge surprise since [Levy] and Kent [Brownridge, CEO of Blender parent company Alpha Media Group Inc.] used to work together and Kent clearly likes working with people he's worked with before."

Marks declined to speculate about his future, but said he's "on the prowl."

According to this morning's official release, Joe Levy, Rolling Stone's executive editor, will join Blender as EIC in early February.

As of 11:30 a.m. today, an email requesting comment from Levy had not been returned.

Full release after the jump

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Photo available upon request
ALPHA MEDIA GROUP INC. NAMES JOE LEVY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF BLENDER MAGAZINE

New York, NY (January 9, 2008) — Alpha Media Group Inc. CEO Kent Brownridge today announced the appointment of Joe Levy to Editor-in-Chief of Blender, the award-winning music magazine. Levy will oversee the editorial strategy and direction of Blender. He joins Ben Madden who was named Publisher in December.

Levy joins Blender from Rolling Stone where he most recently served as
Executive Editor. For the past ten years, Levy helped define the editorial direction of Rolling Stone, steered the magazine's music coverage, edited features and cover stories, and supervised special issues such as Rolling Stone's 1000th issue and the RS 500, the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Prior to Rolling Stone, Levy was a senior editor at Details and an editor at the Village Voice and Spin. He taught at NYU's Clive Davis School of Recorded Music as an adjunct professor and is the co-editor of The Rolling Stone Interviews (Back Bay Books).

Kent Brownridge, CEO of Alpha Media Group Inc. said, "Joe is the Dean of today's music magazine editors — he is well known among his peers in the music industry, and beyond, for his passion and professionalism and I am thrilled to welcome him." Levy graduated from Yale University with distinction. He and his wife reside in New York City.

About Alpha Media Group Inc.
Alpha Media Group Inc. is a multimedia company that includes Maxim and
Blender magazines and Maxim Digital. Maxim magazine is the largest young men's lifestyle magazine in America reaching more than 12.4 million readers each month. Blender is the award-winning music magazine for the download generation and reaches nearly 2 million readers monthly. Maxim Digital encompasses Maxim.com, Blender.com and Stuffmagazine.com and reaches more than 5 million unique visitors each month. Maxim magazine is published in 43 countries; Maxim Radio is broadcast on Sirius Satellite radio on channel 108. Alpha Media Group Inc. is owned by Quadrangle Capital Partners II LP, a private equity fund focused on the media and communications industries.