Posted in News by Generator on Wednesday 8th of July 2009
Conor McNicholas has resigned as Editor of NME Magazine following a seven-year tenure at the publication. Announcing the news via his Twitter account McNicholas wrote: “I have resigned. Seven years as NME Editor coming to an end.”
He later added: “I'm leaving to go and edit Top Gear magazine at the BBC. Amazing job for a petrolhead like me.”
Although the weekly music title, which is published by IPC Media has seen a sharp year on year decline in circulation over the last couple of years, McNicholas’s focus has seemingly being to build the NME brand across different platforms, increasing their presence via live events and tours, a radio station and an expanding web presence.
Figures released in February 2009 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations gave NME an average weekly circulation of 48,459 in the last six months of 2008, down 24.3 per cent on the same period in 2007, when it sold 64,033. The same figures reveal that the entire music magazine market shrunk by 12.2 per cent in the second half of 2008.
As reported by trade paper Music Week, NME publishing director Paul Cheal said in a statement: “Conor has made a great contribution to the ongoing development of the NME. Over the last seven years he and his talented team have garnered plaudits and awards in equal measure, consistently creating the most innovative and compelling new music magazine on the newsstand today”.
There has been no announcement as of yet regarding McNicholas’ successor at the title.
Website design and development by
[...] Last month, it was announced that Krissi Murison, the former Deputy Editor of NME is to succeed Conor McNicholas, who recently announced his departure from the title to become the Editor of BBC Worldwide’s Top Gear Magazine. [...]