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Groove Guide owner buys Rip It Up magazine—UPDATED

Music magazine Rip It Up has been sold to Groove Guide publisher Grant Hislop.

Hislop has managed several local musical acts, including Pluto and Opshop, and founded The Rock radio station. He bought Groove Guide in 2011. 

Rip It Up was founded in 1977 by Murray Cammick. When it launched it was free, and in newsprint.

Since 2001 Rip It Up has been owned by Satellite Media, which has now decided to focus on its digital and TV projects.

Satellite Media creates websites and mobile apps for clients, and has produced several shows including Rocked the Nation and Neighbourhood. Neighbourhood is a 35-part series that celebrates New Zealand’s cultural diversity, and airs on Sunday mornings.

“It’s been an incredible journey and … we’ve been privileged to work with a highly talented bunch of writers, contributors, editors and artists,” Satellite Media general manager Nikki Streater says in a statement released to media.

“We’re delighted to see the magazine that we love move to a great new home with Grant and his team, and look forward to seeing    it thrive for another 36 years.”

Satellite Media had planned on launching a new one-off title, Teen Rip It Up, to appeal to a younger audience. Teen Rip It Up was in the conceptual stage and will not go ahead, Streater says.

Update: New owner Grant Hislop says he first began talks with Satellite Media “about eight days ago”, and took control of Rip It Up magazine on Friday 9 August. It was an obvious fit for him, Hislop says. 

“The reason it happened so quickly is on their bi-monthly cycle if we wanted to do it we had to get in there.”

Hislop is in talks with Rip It Up’s existing editor and sales manager, but most of the magazine’s writers are freelance contributors. 

“But we’d love to keep the team together,” Hislop says.

He isn’t concerned about the fact that Groove Guide and Rip It Up have similar subject matter.

“I guess there’s some crossover, I hope there’s some crossover. We’ve always seen the two titles as completely different products,” he says.

Groove Guide is focused on being just that–a guide–while Rip It Up is more editorially-driven.

Satellite Media’s Nikki Streater says Rip It Up was becoming “isolated” in the Satellite stable.

“When we first started we made a whole lot of music television programs, so we had a good economy there,” she says.

Satellite is the digital partner for many big brands including Telecom, Fonterra and Xbox, and will continue to focus on digital, event audio-visual projects and television, Streater says.

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