• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 12, 2007

A senior editor for PC World, Rex Farrance, 59, was murdered Tuesday morning by masked gunmen who broke into his house and shot him in the chest, according to police in Pittsburg, California, where Farrance lived with his wife, Lenore Vantosh-Farrance, and 19-year-old son, Sterling.

The attackers also pistol-whipped Farrance's wife in what Pittsburg police say was a drug-related attack aiming to seize illegal drugs in Farrance's possession. However, Farrance's son Sterling has vehemently denied this allegation, saying marijuana found on the property is his--and grown only for medical purposes.

Danny Arar, another senior editor at PC World, told the AP: "We're all in shock here. Rex loved his work. He really cared about covering technology in a way that was useful for readers. He cared a lot about people, period, including his co-workers."

Blender Ups Rate Base

Dennis Publishing's youthful music title Blender is increasing its rate base by 10%--from 725,000 to 800,000, the mag boasted on Monday. The change took effect with the January/February issue, on sale now. Blender positioned the rate-base jump as a simple acknowledgement of the magazine's growing popularity, underlined by 220% circulation growth since its founding in May 2001.

The rate-base increase could reap a substantial revenue increase if advertiser demand holds up. According to year-end data from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), in 2006 Blender's ad pages increased 12.4% over 2005--ending at 707, while rate-card revenue surged 38.7% to $57.8 million.

Blender executives highlighted the contrast between its recent performance with the music magazine category as a whole, which has been struggling. Rolling Stone, a mainstay of the category, saw ad pages drop 7% to 1,584, Spin ad pages fell off 10.6% to 520, and Vibe is down 3.3% to 1,201.

Prevention Looks for 40+ Picture of Health

Prevention and ABC News are sponsoring an interactive search for a 40+ woman to be its new "Picture of Health"--a spokesmodel who will get $5,000 for herself and $5,000 for her favorite charity. She will appear on "Good Morning America" and serve as a guest editor for Prevention.

In order to participate, women over 40 just need to go to the Prevention Web site, compose a brief essay of no more than 250 words describing what good health means to them, and then upload a one-minute video testimonial detailing their healthy lifestyle.

A group of finalists selected by Prevention will be profiled in the magazine, and a winner will be chosen by popular vote on abcnewsnow.com. Entrants are urged to include stories about health challenges they've overcome, or friends they've inspired to seek a healthier lifestyle.

The five finalists will appear in the June issue of Prevention; the winner will both appear in and serve as a guest editor of the October issue. In an official statement Liz Vaccariello, Prevention's editor in chief, said: "We're looking for women who are healthy inside and out: smart and informed, who eat right (most of the time), exercise with some regularity, have managed a unique health challenge, and yet still keep their lives clicking, women who inspire the people around them to live healthier lives."

ABM: Ad Pages, Revenue Flat Through October

American Business Media's latest report has both ad pages and revenue up less than 1% for January-October 2006, compared to the same period the year before. In October, ad pages were down 2.2%, compared to the same month in 2005.

The leading categories for January-October 2006 were architecture, design and lighting, which grew over 11%, and aviation, aerospace and military, which grew more than 9%. With the small rise in overall ad pages and revenue, B-to-B publications did slightly better than consumer magazines, which posted a flat year with 0% growth in overall ad pages and revenue.

Safian, Vamos Move Up at Fast Company and Mansueto

Robert Safian has been appointed editor and managing director of Fast Company, according to Mansueto Ventures, which publishes Fast Company and Inc. magazines. Safian will be responsible for editorial operations as well as advertising, marketing and circulation. Mark Vamos has been appointed to a new position, editor-at-large for Mansueto Ventures, where he will supervise a variety of projects at both magazines and their Web sites.

Joe Zee Named Creative Director at Elle

Elle magazine has named Joe Zee to a new position, creative director, for its U.S. edition. In this role, Zee will oversee the magazine's visual appearance. He assumes the new position on Jan. 29^th. Before this position, he worked for Conde Nast, producing and styling stories for House & Garden and serving as fashion director for W.