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21 Most Intriguing: Kent Brownridge
Jeremy Greenfield & Courtney Barnes

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President, Alpha Media Group

In 2005, after spending 31 years at Wenner Media (Rolling Stone, US Weekly, Men’s Journal), 22 of which he was Jann Wenner’s right-hand-man, Kent Brownridge decided to “retire.” He moved to a Virginia farm to train horses to compete in combined driving events, a US Equestrian Team sanctioned competition in which horses pull carriages. Although Brownridge “won a few shows”, he got “bored” with farm life and missed friends. Now, he’s back in the business and back in New York, as top gun of Alpha Media Group, which is comprised of Blender and Maxim.

With the Wenner days solidly in the past, Brownridge is looking forward to dominating the “young men’s lifestyle” category, eschewing the term “lad mags.”

“I refuse to say the word,” says Brownridge, who calls them “L” mags if pressed. “I don’t recognize that there ever was an ‘L’ category. Both of our print titles are in the young men’s lifestyle category. Already, we’re connecting with the young men who are out there. We’re already attracting and capturing them much better than the other titles in this category.”

Those other titles include Men’s Health, Esquire (“although they’re not very young,” says Brownridge), GQ, ESPN, and Rolling Stone. According to Brownridge, his Maxim and Blender cover more of the core young male concerns (girls, gear, sports, fitness) and secondary young male concerns (music, money, entertainment, style) more widely than the competition. Whether that will equal greater EBITDA and a return for his investors, which is Brownridge’s stated goal, well, only time will tell.

“This is a different job. I’ll be very successful at it. But, we’ll see, won’t we,” says Brownridge.

1972: Brownridge works on George McGovern’s doomed campaign for the Presidency; rubs elbows with rock-star RS journalist Hunter Thompson.
1974: Worked with Jann Wenner on another failed political campaign (California Gubernatorial). “I specialized in candidates that didn’t win.”
1974: Joined Wenner Media and quit after six months. Rejoined after another failed political campaign.
1978: Helped move Wenner from its San Francisco home to New York.
1985/1986: RS circulation surpassed 1 million and the magazine was taken from a quarterfold newsprint to current format.
2000: Wenner and Brownridge take Us celebrity magazine weekly.
2003: Us Weekly turns around and starts to make money.
2005: “Retired” from Wenner Media.
2007: Brownridge and The Quadrangle Group buy Dennis Publishing’s Maxim, Blender and now-shuttered Stuff for circa $250 million.

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