PC Magazine fires its editor
Jim Louderback is out as editor-in-chief of PC Magazine; Lance Ulanoff, the magazine's reviews editor, is now in charge. Why the change? The cause seems obvious. Louderback, who helped launch the TechTV cable channel and launched Internet TV shows for PC publisher Ziff-Davis, but his multimedia experience wasn't enough to save his job — or PC's still-lucrative print business. Louderback, installed a year ago, presided over a disastrous 34 percent drop in advertising pages, according to Publisher's Information Bureau data. As for Ulanoff's hire, perhaps the reviews czar was deemed friendlier to the magazine's advertisers — though making PC's softball tech coverage softer yet seems like a challenge. Louderback, meanwhile, whose new job has yet to be announced, may have to live off the $900 week rental income from his vacation home in Vermont for a while.