Lad mad king Ed Needham ditches his managing editor post at Rolling Stone to become editor-in-chief of Maxim. Good for him — he lasted two years under (tee hee) Jann Wenner. We're sure Ed will be much happier in the land of bodacious boobies and soft-core laddery.


> KEITH BLANCHARD MOVES TO
> CHIEF CREATIVE IN TV, FILM AND RADIO;
> ED NEEDHAM BECOMES MAXIM'S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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> New York, NY (July 9, 2004) - Following the announcement of Dennis Publishing's newly-created Moving Pictures, DPI, Keith Blanchard is set to become the creative force for the company's television, film and other media projects, it was announced today by the editorial director Andy Clerkson.
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> Ed Needham will be the new editor-in-chief of Maxim magazine, the #1 men's lifestyle magazine in the country, with an unprecedented 10 million male readers.
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> In his new position of director of programming, Blanchard will play a full-time role in an area he's been involved in partially over the past two years. While maintaining his day job, Blanchard wrote an episode of ABC-TV's "The Drew Carey Show," and helped produce Maxim's specials on VH1, NBC-TV, and ESPN. Blanchard will develop programming for all Dennis brands including the forthcoming Maxim Radio channel on the Sirius Satellite Network.
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> "I'm really juiced to take on this extraordinarily complex new challenge and help guide all our brands into movies, television and beyond," says Blanchard.
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> "Keith is part of the DNA that has made Maxim one of the most successful magazine brands in publishing history," says Clerkson. "Now he'll take the tone he's been the master of and infuse it into the company's myriad media projects."
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> Maxim's new editor-in-chief will be Ed Needham. In the past two years, Needham has revitalized Rolling Stone in light of the changing landscape of music magazines, defined by the successful lunch of Dennis Publishing's Blender. Needham was formerly editor-in-chief of EMAP's UK flagship magazine FHM, which under his reign became the biggest selling monthly magazine in Europe. EMAP then chose Needham to launch FHM in America.
> "My two years at Rolling Stone have been an incomparable experience," says Needham. "I'm looking forward to shaping the next chapter in one of America's most influential and iconic magazines."
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> "Put simply, Ed Needham is one of the best magazine editors in the world," says Clerkson. "Over the last decade, he has spearheaded two hugely successful magazines that have connected with young male readers on a massive basis. It is our good fortune to have Ed's unique talent and finger-on-the pulse sensibilities leading Maxim."
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> The September 2004 issue of Maxim features Milla Jovovich on the cover and has the largest number of advertising pages since Maxim's December 2002 issue.
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