Brad Tolinski

Brad Tolinski (born 1958) was the Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World Magazine for 25 years (1989–2015). He also served as Editorial Director of NewBay Media's music division, which also includes Guitar Aficionado and Revolver magazines. He then moved to Harris Publications as the Editorial Director of Special Projects and is now Editorial Director of Special Projects for AMG Parade in New York City.

Tolinski was born in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. He studied Journalism and Philosophy at Wayne State University (1976-1981). In 1985, Tolinski moved to New York City and started working at We Buy Guitars, a guitar shop on 48th Street. He left after a few months and started working at the Digital Music Center, one of the first recording studios in New York that used Apple computers to sample, sequence and record.

While working at the studio, Tolinski started writing for an independent music magazine called Music, Computers and Software. He interviewed musicians such as Roger Waters, Stewart Copeland and Joe Jackson. In 1986, Tolinski became the Managing Editor of the magazine. In 1988, he was recruited to work on a short-lived electronic music publication called Modern Keyboard that folded after just a few issues.

In September 1989, Tolinski joined Guitar World as Associate Editor to help straighten out circulation problems. When the Editor-in-Chief Joe Bosso left in March 1991 to pursue a record industry A&R job, Tolinski was installed into his position.

“I wanted the magazine to convey to readers that we understood what it means to play guitar and be in a band,” said Tolinski in an interview with Rockcritic.com, “And that, above all, it is fun. Taking a dry, technical approach to things has its place, and we certainly are committed to teaching the guitar, but Guitar World wouldn’t be as popular as it is if that’s all there were to it. Our readers relate to us – so much so that when they complain about something in a letter or an email, it’s with the kind of vehemence you usually reserve for a relative. That’s a good sign. We work together like a band – everyone feels like they play important roles in a creative collective, not like some industrial cog. There’s lots of pressures at times, but it’s also fun – and I believe our readers are intuitively hip to that, because it shows up in our writing design, headlines and photographs.”

...
Wikipedia