Maer Roshan
Encyclopedia
Maer Roshan is an American writer and editor who founded Radar
Magazine and the website Radaronline.com. He has also served as Features Editor of Interview
, Editor in Chief of QW, Deputy Editor of New York
, and Editorial Director of Talk
. He recently founded TheFix.com, a high-profile daily website that reports on addiction, recovery and the drug war.
, the Miami Herald, New York
, The New Republic
, The Advocate
, Details
and Harper’s Bazaar.
and later, The Miami Herald
. He launched his first magazine, the gay weekly QW, in 1991. Soon after, Time Inc. hired him to create a national gay glossy, Tribe
,.
In 1994, Roshan became Deputy Editor of New York
, where he produced some of the magazine's most high-profile stories, including exclusive interviews with Monica Lewinsky, Howard Stern and Louis Farrakhan Maer Roshan Archive New York Mag. He was the first reporter to interview Donatella Versace after the murder of her brother. Gianni Versace, in 2000, together with the designer's best friend, Elton John. He e
Hired by Tina Brown in 2001 as Editorial Director of Talk
, Roshan was credited by Adweek
with "quickly turning around the struggling publication, raising circulation by 18% in six months." Brown called him "the only real natural male magazine editor of his generation."
Then-Miramax Chairman Harvey Weinstein
closed the magazine after the advertising market collapse following 9/11.
Radar, Radaronline, TheFix.com
Founded in Roshan’s living room and produced by a tiny staff, Radar attracted outsized buzz long before it published its first issue. Weinstein was among its initial investors.
When the magazine debuted in June 2003, The New York Times
hailed it as "the launch of the year." After raising enough funds to publish two sold-out "test issues" Radar disappeared from the newsstands while Roshan went looking for long-term funding.
A year later he raised an estimated $10 million from billionaires Mort Zuckerman and Jeffrey Epstein, who had been part of a high-powered consortium to buy New York
in 2003. Roshan was designated to be editor of New York if the deal went through. When they lost their bid to buy New York
Roshan convinced the billionaires to invest in his fledgling magazine. Zuckerman told the New York Times that he was ready to wait seven years until the magazine became a financial success. But less than a year later, Zuckerman and Epstein abruptly pulled out of the project, though the magazine had collected over $2 million in advertising for the next quarter. A month after the moguls shuttered the magazine, Epstein was jailed for a string of sex abuse violations on minors in South Florida.
A few weeks later, the franchise won new backing from Integrity Multimedia, a company funded by billionaire Ron Burkle and Yusef Jackson, the son of Jesse Jackson
. The magazine's investigative features on the Church of Scientology, backstage high-jinks at Disneyland, and military gangs in Iraq generated international attention. After attracting 1.5 million unique visitors in the month of its debut, Radaronline.com, was cited byThe Wall Street Journal
and The New York Times
as a new model for print magazines struggling to adapt to a new media environment,.
In May 2008, Radar was nominated for a General Excellence award by the American Society of Magazine Editors, a rare achievement for a fledgling publication. But as the publishing recession deepened in the Fall of 2008, Radaronline was purchased by American Media, the owner of the National Enquirer and The Star
for an undisclosed sum. The site currently generates an estimated four million unique visitors a month.
Since then, Roshan has served as West Coast correspondent for The Daily Beast
and as an online consultant toThe Week
. He has served as a consultant to several television networks. His book, Indochine: Shaken and Stirred, a memoir of New York nightlife, was published in December 2010 by Rizzoli Press. In April 2011 he launched TheFix.com, a daily website about the drug war, addiction and recovery that has become the leading news source in the recovery community. According to The New York Observer, he recently teamed up with Dany Levy (founder of Dailycandy.com) and David Bennahum (founder of AmericanIndependent.com) to launch Punch a new I-Pad magazine that is reported to debut in 2012.
External links
Radar (magazine)
RadarOnline is an American online publication. It started as a magazine first printed in 2003 as a test issue, relaunched twice in 2005 and 2006, and ceased publication in 2008. The magazine published articles on entertainment, fashion, politics, and human interest...
Magazine and the website Radaronline.com. He has also served as Features Editor of Interview
Interview (magazine)
Interview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
, Editor in Chief of QW, Deputy Editor of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
, and Editorial Director of Talk
Talk (magazine)
Talk was an American magazine published from 1999 to 2001.When it was launched as a joint venture between Miramax and Hearst Publishing, under the editorship of Tina Brown , it generated notoriety for its celebrity profiles and interviews...
. He recently founded TheFix.com, a high-profile daily website that reports on addiction, recovery and the drug war.
Early life
Born in Teheran, Iran, Roshan moved to New York with his family in 1979, following the Islamic Revolution. He has written for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, the Miami Herald, New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, Details
Details (magazine)
Details is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
and Harper’s Bazaar.
QW, Interview, New York, Talk
Roshan began his journalism career in 1989 as a police and military reporter at the Key West CitizenKey West Citizen
The Key West Citizen is a daily newspaper published in Key West, Florida, USA. The newspaper is the result of the amalgamations of several related publications in the early years of the 20th century, becoming the Key West Citizen on April 29, 1905, when the first weekly edition rolled off the...
and later, The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
. He launched his first magazine, the gay weekly QW, in 1991. Soon after, Time Inc. hired him to create a national gay glossy, Tribe
Tribe magazine
Tribe Magazine was a free print magazine originally distributed in Toronto, Ontario as well as across Canada from 1993 through to 2005. The magazine featured photography, music, CD reviews, dance and club listings...
,.
In 1994, Roshan became Deputy Editor of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
, where he produced some of the magazine's most high-profile stories, including exclusive interviews with Monica Lewinsky, Howard Stern and Louis Farrakhan Maer Roshan Archive New York Mag. He was the first reporter to interview Donatella Versace after the murder of her brother. Gianni Versace, in 2000, together with the designer's best friend, Elton John. He e
Hired by Tina Brown in 2001 as Editorial Director of Talk
Talk (magazine)
Talk was an American magazine published from 1999 to 2001.When it was launched as a joint venture between Miramax and Hearst Publishing, under the editorship of Tina Brown , it generated notoriety for its celebrity profiles and interviews...
, Roshan was credited by Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
with "quickly turning around the struggling publication, raising circulation by 18% in six months." Brown called him "the only real natural male magazine editor of his generation."
Then-Miramax Chairman Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
closed the magazine after the advertising market collapse following 9/11.
Radar, Radaronline, TheFix.com
Founded in Roshan’s living room and produced by a tiny staff, Radar attracted outsized buzz long before it published its first issue. Weinstein was among its initial investors.
When the magazine debuted in June 2003, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
hailed it as "the launch of the year." After raising enough funds to publish two sold-out "test issues" Radar disappeared from the newsstands while Roshan went looking for long-term funding.
A year later he raised an estimated $10 million from billionaires Mort Zuckerman and Jeffrey Epstein, who had been part of a high-powered consortium to buy New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
in 2003. Roshan was designated to be editor of New York if the deal went through. When they lost their bid to buy New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
Roshan convinced the billionaires to invest in his fledgling magazine. Zuckerman told the New York Times that he was ready to wait seven years until the magazine became a financial success. But less than a year later, Zuckerman and Epstein abruptly pulled out of the project, though the magazine had collected over $2 million in advertising for the next quarter. A month after the moguls shuttered the magazine, Epstein was jailed for a string of sex abuse violations on minors in South Florida.
A few weeks later, the franchise won new backing from Integrity Multimedia, a company funded by billionaire Ron Burkle and Yusef Jackson, the son of Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
. The magazine's investigative features on the Church of Scientology, backstage high-jinks at Disneyland, and military gangs in Iraq generated international attention. After attracting 1.5 million unique visitors in the month of its debut, Radaronline.com, was cited byThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as a new model for print magazines struggling to adapt to a new media environment,.
In May 2008, Radar was nominated for a General Excellence award by the American Society of Magazine Editors, a rare achievement for a fledgling publication. But as the publishing recession deepened in the Fall of 2008, Radaronline was purchased by American Media, the owner of the National Enquirer and The Star
The Star
The Star may refer to:* The Star , a 2002 Russian film* The Star , a 1952 Bette Davis film* The Star , a casino in Sydney, Australia* The Star , a Thai singing competition reality television show....
for an undisclosed sum. The site currently generates an estimated four million unique visitors a month.
Since then, Roshan has served as West Coast correspondent for The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
and as an online consultant toThe Week
The Week
The Week, styled as THE WEEK, is a weekly news magazine.-History:It was founded in the United Kingdom by Jolyon Connell in 1995. In April 2001, the magazine began publishing an American edition; an Australian edition followed in October 2008. Dennis Publishing publishes the U.K. and Australian...
. He has served as a consultant to several television networks. His book, Indochine: Shaken and Stirred, a memoir of New York nightlife, was published in December 2010 by Rizzoli Press. In April 2011 he launched TheFix.com, a daily website about the drug war, addiction and recovery that has become the leading news source in the recovery community. According to The New York Observer, he recently teamed up with Dany Levy (founder of Dailycandy.com) and David Bennahum (founder of AmericanIndependent.com) to launch Punch a new I-Pad magazine that is reported to debut in 2012.
External links