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ST. LOUIS (AFX) - Ed Baker, the chief marketing officer for American City Business Journals Inc., was named publisher of Sporting News on Monday.
American City purchased the 120-year-old Sporting News, once known as the "Baseball Bible," last month from Vulcan Sports Media Inc., owned by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen. The deal also included Sporting News' online book and publishing units as well as Sporting News Radio Network.
American City produces 41 weekly metropolitan business newspapers. In addition to his role at Sporting News, Baker will remain publisher of one of those business newspapers, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a position he has held since joining the company 20 years ago.
American City spokesman A.J. Goodman said Baker is expected to remain in Atlanta.
At Sporting News, Baker replaces Pete Spina, who left around the time of the sale to become senior vice president of sales for another publishing company, Active International.
"Ed understands the unique appeal of our brand to real sports fans," said Rick Allen, chief executive officer of Sporting News and no relation to Paul Allen. "He is the perfect publisher of Sporting News as we enter a new era of growth."
Sporting News, based in St. Louis, has nearly 700,000 subscribers.
American City, based in Charlotte, N.C., is a unit of Advance Publications Inc., the privately-held parent company of magazine publisher Conde Nast, Golf Digest, Parade publications and numerous newspapers.
American City also produces other sports-related publications through its Street & Smith's Sports division. Those publications include sports annuals and yearbooks, SportsBusiness Journal, Sports Business Daily and two publications devoted to NASCAR -- the weekly NASCAR Scene and the monthly NASCAR Illustrated. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
