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Oklahoma got hit by a record-breaking 5.6-magnitude earthquake last night—its second in as many days—and while there were no injuries or major damages, it could be felt as far away as Wisconsin. And as if two earthquakes in Oklahoma wasn't end-days enough, here's a video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That big green splotch? That's all the birds and bugs in the area taking to wing in numbers so big they got picked up by the radar. [NewsOK, radar graphics via NOAA] More »
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According to SCOTUS expert David Lat at Above the Law, the John Roberts resignation "rumor" AMI's RadarOnline.com posted earlier today was part of a law professor's lecture on not trusting supposedly credible sources. It almost makes sense! More »
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RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively that Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts is considering stepping down. "RadarOnline.com has been told that Roberts, 55, could announce his decision at any time." The Pulitzer hunt heats up! Update: RadarOnline.com has retracted. More »
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RadarOnline was once an intelligent site, written by funny people. Really! Now, it seems to have degenerated into all Octomom, all the time. What's happening here? More »
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"Most Americans had likely never heard of RadarOnline before now. But the site almost instantly made a name for itself with the Octo-Mom story."—LAT, today. Come on now. I mean, really. More »
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The Media Is Dying, an IV drip of journalistic schadenfreude, reports on a new gig for former Radar executive editor Aaron Gell: editor-in-chief of Hemispheres, United's inflight magazine. We say hurrah! More »
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RadarOnline.com was bought by National Enquirer publisher AMI in October, and Enquirer editor David Perel was put in charge of it. And thanks to Jett Travolta's death, the site is now a great gossip reputation-launderer. More »
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A newsflash from the New York Post: Unemployed 26-year-old writer Paige Ferrari, once a featured editor at now-defunct magazine Radar, has found part-time work! More »
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Radar magazine died a particularly gruesome death in its third iteration: bought by AMI, its website was gutted and replaced by a terrible Zombie Radar. Now, print mag subscribers received one last insult via postcard: More »
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Usually the arrest of a corrupt Chicago politician would afford, at best, a paragraph of coverage here at Gawker. It's Dog-bites-man news. But Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a magical figure, who is connected, directly and indirectly, with so many beloved Gawker characters. Steve Dressler put together this little illustration of Blago's Web of Deceit, and all those who've been caught in it. Join us for explanations, below. More »
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Boo! You want a Halloween scare? Go over to RadarOnline.com. Our old friend has been shipped off to an institution by their new adoptive parents and lobotomized, and now spends afternoons staring out a window and mumbling about The Bachelorette and dolphins. We've heard the rumors, we just didn't have the stomach to really face it until today. On the plus side, new tag headings of "Bachelorette, PhotoOp, SeaWorld, and Trista Sutter" should make it all the easier for you to access this empty husk's growing database of stories on those topics, should you care to. [Radar Online] More »
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Radar magazine has come and gone for the third time, folding suddenly last Friday—but as Michael Musto pointed out, when a party's already been paid for, you might as well go ahead with it. And so a mockup of the magazine's last cover, featuring actress Shannen Doherty, sat on the red carpet in front of Citrine, where editor Maer Roshan was smiling for photographers. As of 11p.m., neither Shannen nor the party's promoter had been made aware that the magazine had unceremoniously folded, and that she was gracing the cover of its last issue. Directly in front of Maer, asphalt was being dumped onto the street and stamped into place by construction workers, leaving the people in line to cough on the fumes while they adjusted their Halloween masks. Was this irrational hubris or performance art? More »
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What to do if you have a magazine assignment, but the mag folds days before you're scheduled to leave for freaking Alaska? If the trip's already paid for, you go anyway and hope to shop the resulting piece to another publication. That was the case with Jessica Pilot (of the infamous "Hipster Hooker" story) and Radar. "It was purchased on [editor] Maer [Roshan's] card, so I guess I'm good to go," she told us. More »
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Never one to bow out of a party, just-folded Radar magazine simply re-tooled their planned Halloween event as a funeral-themed "Print Is Dead!" bash. Costumes are "strongly suggested," so attendees could simply wear their own clothes and go as recently laid-off writer-bloggers. Or just wear a bartender or temp worker's outfit. More »
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Everybody knows what happened to the third iteration of "pop and politics and pop culture and scandal and pop" Radar last Friday: they fired everyone, locked them out of their offices, folded the magazine, and sold off the website to AMI (home of Star and other quality publications.) The website is now a reanimated carcass of its old self, picked clean by corporate carrion. The new ed is David Perel of the National Enquirer, and he already let it be known that the website is "hiring now." So what are these anonymous blogbots churning out for Zombie Radar? More »
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Ron Burkle, supermarket magnate and friend of Bill Clinton and sleeper-with of models, used to own a magazine, with his friend Yusef Jackson. The magazine was called Radar. Last Friday, Jackson and Burkle closed the magazine and sold its carcass to AMI. It's not really clear why Jackson and Burkle invested in Radar to begin with, except that they wanted to be media moguls, maybe? Then it turned out that being a media mogul doesn't mean publishing one sarcastic niche title, really. More »
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What is the saddest thing about the death of Radar? Its current weird zombie TMZ state? The way they locked everyone out of their computers and kicked them out on the streets? Here is a sad and oh-so-poignant symbol of how basically we are all fucked, in this industry: Wonkette founding editor and terribly famous, talented, and successful blogger Ana Marie Cox, who is often on TV and who still writes for Time, has set up a personal fundraising drive whereby donors can pay for her to cover the end of the McCain campaign and receive, in exchange, AMC's AIM screen name and, for big spenders, a post-election dinner! More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5069266&view=rss&microfeed=true “The theme will still be ‘Vampires and Victims,’ but with an oh-so-appropriate ‘funeral’ spin." [WWD] More »
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The new editor of RadarOnline.com—presumably replacing Alex Balk—will be David Perel. He's the current editor of the National Enquirer! So what does he do on the same day that AMI buys the website and everyone there gets laid off? He tells CoverAwards, “I have already been contacted today by some top entertainment and news journalists who want to be part of this new venture. I am looking forward to putting together a new team that is the best of the best. We are hiring now!” Uh, is it just me or is that an enormous prick move? More »
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The death of Radar is just one more reminder of the incessant economic crisis that is destroying jobs for hardworking members of the media (and, you know, everyone else). But there may be an upside! Way back on September 16, when The Panic of '08 was just getting started, Curbed founder and real estate blog generalissimo Lockhart Steele made this prediction to Guest of a Guest: "You will know when we have hit the bottom of this financial crisis the very day when Radar Magazine goes out of business. And you can quote me on that!” So things should be looking up!: More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5068452&view=rss&microfeed=true AMI asked Radar boss Maer Roshan to stay on for their new celebtastic version of RadarOnline.com, and Maer's like, "I don't think so." Also he thinks Portfolio should have folded way before Radar. [NYO] More »
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You have to give it to Maer Roshan: he was persistent. The man was determined to will Radar magazine into existence, and he did it. Three times. And now, for the third time, the magazine is folding—and taking a pretty great website with it. (When RadarOnline.com returns under AMI next year, it will be unrecognizable). The fact is that Radar, despite having an above-average amount of good content, was just a doomed idea from the start:

• It was too late to have a new tone: Radar's tone is wry, arch, post-modern, skeptical, and, you know "snarky" (*retch*). Had the magazine launched five or ten years before it did, it would have been a lone, intelligent voice amongst the wilderness of celebrity coverage. As it was, it was just one more magazine with the same tone that hundreds and hundreds of blogs had made into the default voice of the entire young American audience. Radar was never bad—it just wasn't fresh.
• It was too late to start a standalone magazine: There are plenty of people who dream of starting their own magazines. Few make it happen. Roshan did,somehow, but he missed the era when it would have been a viable enterprise. What was the last great standalone magazine to launch, and be successful? Wired, in 1993? And Wired is still around because it now has the money of Conde Nast to back it up. The day of launching new, large-scale, general-interest print magazines (rather than super-niche ones) that turn a profit are gone. Technology will determine the future of publishing, but that's not it.
• It was too late to own its category: Celebrity coverage with a twist. Smart celebrity coverage. For people who are actually intelligent, but have a pop culture habit. This is a niche with no space left in it. It is a niche that was filled before Radar got a chance to get to it. Radar didn't lack talent—it lacked a compelling reason to exist. That Maer Roshan got three cracks at it is a testament to his otherworldly skills as a salesman.

[Pic concocted by Steven Dressler] More »
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As rumored, AMI has bought the website RadarOnline.com, just as the print version of Radar folds. That, incongruously, puts the site under the same corporate umbrella as the celebrity mags Star and the National Enquirer, which may now become off-limits for mockery. The site will be "relaunched" in 2009. Judging from the tone of the press release alone, the site may well be repositioned to be far more credulous in its celebrity coverage, and consequently less funny. The effect on the RadarOnline staff is not clear yet; we'll fill in details as they come. Full press release from AMI below: More »
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BREAKING: We hear that Radar, the smart-shallow magazine and website, is laying off "EVERYONE." Repeat: "EVERYONE." Including some beloved former Gawker editors. This will be everyone's last day at the office, apparently. The New York Observer says that "there might a business arrangement to keep the web site afloat and that it will be sold to AMI," although we've heard no confirmation of that [UPDATE: It's true]. It appears that Radar chief Maer Roshan has, indeed, killed trees until all the money is gone. More »
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Gay website The Sword slammed gay website Radar Online yesterday for running an ad for ProtectMarriage.com—a site supporting an anti-gay marriage initiative in California—right above a Radar story slamming McDonald's for caving to "radical anti-gay extremists." A third gay website (this one) checked with Radar, which said the ad was automatically placed on the page by Google, not sold directly by the gay magazine. (The ad has also reportedly popped up on gay website Towleroad). Well this is why "Adventures in Contextual Advertising" was invented—because Google is a soulless hate machine! The innocent victims here: the gays. And the straights. [via The Sword] More »
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The top story at Gawker alumni-infested Radaronline.com right now is called "Coming to America," written by regular Radar Fresh Intelligence writer Jessica Ford. It's a feature all about the new HBO show Little Britain, and, as a tagline on the story notes, is also sponsored by the new HBO show Little Britain. Meaning it's a fancy version of an ad, made more interesting with editorial content. Tacky? A sign of desperation? Or just how things work these days in the wild internet computer blogosphere?! More »
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Radar magazine has discovered hipsters in the sex trade. But make no mistake: These aren't San Francisco's Web-powered indie sex entrepreneurs. These women may wear little black leggings and sport Tina Fey glasses, but like most New Yorkers, they're employees at heart. Unlike their San Francisco counterparts, they largely rely on madams who handle both scheduling and billing. Radar assigned writer Jessica Pilot to commit an entitled act of stunt journalism: While ostensibly on the magazine's dime, she would turn a trick herself, and write it up first-person. She went it at like a novelist-wannabe temp showing up for a stint as a file clerk. More »
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Former Gawker editor twice over (twice-former??) Choire Sicha recently got canned from his job writing columns for a pittance at the New York Observer because he wrote something about how no one at that sad newspaper has any air conditioning, because of wee Jared Kushner (and now we know that we shall never work there!). But good news for him! He is joining former Gawker editor Alex Balk at Radar, where he will certainly never get in trouble for writing anything about anyone who may or may not own that fine publication. He will be called an "Editor at Large," just like Hamish Bowles! The position is sort of the one our own Moe was going to take, but then she came to Gawker instead. There are like three jobs in New York and they now they are ALL taken. [Radar] More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5040739&view=rss&microfeed=true OMG! Moe Tkacik is actually coming to Gawker! [Radar, Previously] More »
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So while we're on the subject of Radar and who owns them and what they won't cover, let's all read this fun story about the Jesse Jackson family from last February's New Republic! It's about Barack Obama the Jackson kids. First: the younger Jacksons like Barry Obama a lot more than Jesse Sr. This has been amply demonstrated recently. But the Obama family and the Jackson family are totally intertwined! Let's learn about that, shall we? More »
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"The only answer, from the company's perspective? To keep getting more traffic—but to pay the producers of that traffic less for each pageview. So for the first two quarters of 2008—and now the third, according to a new memo regarding the pay rate for the quarter that began this week—the company has reduced the rate of pay per pageview." [Radar] More »
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Former Gawker commenter Newtojezebel has been banned for nine months now, which is probably some sort of record, but apparently people continue talking about her, all the time. She was banned for seeming a little unstable, so naturally she decided to contact former Gawker editor Alex Balk, via fax for some reason, to ask him to please email all of you to explain that she is not him. Balk, of course, is too busy writing on issues of great international import at Radar to do this on his own, so we've decided to help. You follow? Just read it! More »
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Think of how easy it might have been to understand Arianna Huffington's bloggy animus toward Tim Russert if there were a book out chronicling all the sordid details of their decade-and-a-half-long secret feud. (There is.) Every gossip-mongering gadabout should know the full backstory on every spat, falling out, and long-running mutual antagonism in media. Below are the volumes no shelf should be without. More »
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The Radar magazine contributor is something of a man about town, but even we were surprised to see him show up at our office, delivering the aforementioned magic berries that Hamilton ordered, like a common coke dealer. So we asked him what was up! Does the pay at Radar suck? "Nah... beats freelancing," he says. We got the rundown on his berry-selling ring: More »
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"I’m just happy to have a place that’s as good as Radar for the kind of writing I want to do. I’ve never been good at judging a publication’s longevity." [Observer] More »
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So. Chris Tennant sorta faded away from Radar a couple months ago. Tyler Gray just left. As did Leigh Ann Boutwell. Now an anonymous source tells us Radar president Fred Poust quit this week, along with Finance Director Dwight Holovach. They're both still on the masthead, but we've heard the Poust story twice now. Can anyone confirm? Is this the summer Radar folds again? What the hell are we supposed to do when we quit here? Not all of us are pretty enough for the Times Magazine. Update: Site manager Mike Small is leaving too! More »
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Oh no, is Radar in trouble again? Maybe. Chris Tennant left back in March, and senior editor Tyler Gray left last week for Blender. Now, John Clarke Jr at Portfolio reports that managing ed Leigh Ann Boutwell is "moving to Los Angeles to freelance." Poor Radar. They are apparently relying on more of this "celebrity coverage" stuff just to pay the bills. (Maer says things are just great, though! Ad sales up 6 percent from last year! Radar will live forever! Hooray for Ron Burkle!) [Portfolio] More »
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Defamer would like to take just a moment to salute a true American hero — a local filmmaker whose vision, dedication and utter depravity have resulted in some of the bravest and most honest films of our time. His name is Ira Isaacs; you may know him as the maker of such "shock art" (i.e. fetish porn) masterworks as Laurie's Toilet Show, Gang Bang Horse (Pony Sex Game) and Hollywood Scat Amateurs No. 7, and soon you may also know him as the man sent up the river in what Radar today describes as perhaps "the most extreme obscenity trial in U.S. history." More »
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As some of you may have heard, oft-chronicled Star magazine editor-at-large Julia Allison was on CNN's Reliable Sources this morning. Host Howard Kurtz asked, "You've been called the Paris Hilton of the media world. And Radar magazine says you are the third most hated person on the Internet. I don't know how that statistic was arrived at, but doesn't that kind of criticism and mockery, doesn't it—don't you find it depressing?" Ms. Allison responded, "Actually, I found that really amusing. I actually ranked above the Marine who through the puppy off the cliff. That's quite an accomplishment. I mean, you know, I said to 'Radar'—I said, 'Thank you very much for hating me more than Rachael Ray, more than Tony Kornheiser.' I mean, how is that possible? I was impressed with that, yes. My parents were very proud.'" Then Kurtz asked if she thinks that any press is good press. More »
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