Sound Publishing is pleased to announce that Mark Baumgarten will be joining Seattle Weekly as Editor in Chief on March 18, 2013.
Mark is an editorial leader who believes that every community needs a publication that is thoughtful, fearless, full of heart and—above all else—beholden to its readers. As the editor in chief at Seattle Weekly, he will be working diligently to provide that reading experience to Seattle and its surrounding communities.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Mark started his journalism career by editing, marketing, designing, selling advertising for and hand-delivering Lost Cause, a 10,000-circulation monthly local music magazine that provided the Twin Cities with a much-needed source of music features, reviews and news.
The magazine saddled Mark with debt, but it also left him with a passion for local journalism. Mark brought that passion to the Pacific Northwest 10 years ago as the music editor at Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon. There, he revived the paper’s music coverage while learning the finer points of weekly news journalism from some of the industry’s best editors and reporters.
In 2007, he moved to Seattle, where he has since served as executive editor for Sound and City Arts magazines and, most recently, as editor-at-large at City Arts. Last year, Sasquatch Books published his first book, Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music. Mark is also an instructor at the Vera Project, where he teaches a course called Writing About Music, and for the last two years, he has helped organize a weekly pick-up sports league for a collection of questionably athletic artists and writers.
We are confident in the leadership Mark will bring to our talented editorial team and are looking forward to seeing his influence in the Seattle Weekly pages to come.
Please join us in welcoming Mark to Seattle Weekly and to the Sound Publishing family.