For real. Could this guy be anymore of a knucklehead? Next year, Rolling Stone will take back its website, RollingStone.com, from Real Networks, who has been operating it for the last five years or so. The site will now be run by Steve Schwartz, a previous editor at your grandparents’ favorite magazine, Reader’s Digest.
The interview with Wenner at AdAge.com is hilarious:
MediaWorks: Why not try to turn RollingStone.com into something that has a much larger reach online that reaches tons of people who don’t touch the print edition?
Jann Wenner: Why undercut the print edition? You’re just going to undercut the print edition. There’s a finite audience for reading about music. And they like the print edition. They find it valuable and on and on and on.
MediaWorks: How much of Wenner Media’s ad revenue comes from digital operations?
Jann Wenner: Honestly, I don’t know.
Wenner is comically out of touch.