Pollstar Relocates to Los Angeles as Trade Mag Co-Founder Retires
By Variety Staff
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Pollstar, the 37-year-old live music trade magazine, will move its headquarters from Fresno, Calif. to Los Angeles, parent company Oak View Group (OVG) has announced. The publication, which includes a conference arm in addition to a weekly print magazine and web properties, will be based out of OVG’s main offices in Westwood, Calif. Additional office locations include London and, coming soon, New York City.
co-founder and editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovani will retire as expected come June. Co-founder Gary Smith will stay on as an executive adviser.
In addition, OVG welcomes two new hires to its Media & Conferences division: media executive Jon Guynn (formerly of Southland Publishing) joins as VP of Operations for the division and Bob Allen (formerly of Billboard) comes aboard as Box Office Liaison to OVG properties Pollstar and VenuesNow.
OVG’s Erin Grady and Taylor Johnson have been promoted to Senior Director positions for Media & Conferences, based in L.A. and New York, respectively. With direction from OVG Media & Conferences president Ray Waddell and his team, the Pollstar Live! Conference & Awards saw record-setting attendance numbers in February.
Said OVG CEO Tim Leiweke: “Live is leading the way in the music business in terms of popularity, revenue, and career development, and the majority of the most influential agencies, promoters and managers are based in Southern California. We are reacting to this robust market by investing significant resources in growing Pollstar across all metrics—editorial influence, superior data, and global reach. Relocating Pollstar’s HQ to the epicenter of the live music business is the right move at the right time.”
“When Gary and I founded this publication, we set out to revolutionize the quality of data available to those who make their living in the live entertainment industry, and we accomplished that goal,” added Smith. “I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the next era in the history of Pollstar, building on that legacy with the team at OVG.”
Waddell shared the sentiment, noting, “I couldn’t be more excited about the team we have in place as we remain focused on becoming an even more powerful tool for those in the business of live entertainment and facilities.”
