Top editors let go after Los Angeles magazine is sold to Hour Media Group

Emmis Communications Corp. sold Los Angeles magazine, Orange Coast magazine and two other regional publications for $6.5 million to Hour Media Group, which then opted not to keep the top editors of Los Angeles magazine.

Emmis, an Indianapolis-based concern, said Tuesday it completed the sale that also included the magazines Atlanta and Cincinnati.

Emmis divested the glossy publications to focus on its core radio properties, which include Power106 FM in Los Angeles, although it will continue to publish its hometown Indianapolis Monthly.

With the sale, Hour Media chose not to retain several staffers, including Los Angeles magazine editor in chief Mary Melton and editor at large Amy Wallace.

“Of the 140 employees of the four Emmis titles, we did not offer employment to eight of the employees,” Hour Media Chief Executive Stefan Wanczyk said in an interview.

He declined further comment except to say Hour Media would replace the editors “in the near future.”

Both editors confirmed their departures Tuesday on Twitter. “After a 16+ year run, seven of those as editor in chief, this is my last day with @LAmag,” Melton tweeted. Wallace tweeted that “Today will be my last at @LAmag.”

The four Emmis magazines are the latest in a string of publishing acquisitions made in the last two years by Hour Media, a Troy, Mich.-based company whose other properties include the magazines Hour Detroit and Sacramento.

The firm last month acquired the Palm Beach Media Group, whose magazines include Palm Beach Illustrated and Naples Illustrated. Hour Media overall now publishes 70 magazines and custom-titled publications.

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