Go Blog scooped me on this one, so I figured I’d drill a bit deeper into this deal. The coolest part is that the mag is being acquired by Active Interest Media, headed by former Times Mirror executive Efrem “Skip” Zimbalist III. Yes, it’s that Zimbalist family — his dad, Efrem, is the guy who starred in the “FBI” series in the ’70s. From a Mediavillage.com profile:

The name “Efrem Zimbalist” is one of those rare legendary names that has been passed-on through generations. The original Efrem, Skip’s grandfather, was one of the top three violinists in the world throughout most of the 20th Century along with Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler. Skip’s grandmother was Alma Gluck, the operatic virtuoso who was the first performer to sell one million records. Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who still breaks 90 at the Santa Ynez golf course, was one of network television’s first primetime stars on “77 Sunset Strip” and “F.B.I.”

There is, by the way, an Efrem Zimbalist IV, the oldest of Skip’s four children. Skip, who got his nickname when his maternal grandfather, a Navy man, referred to him as “the little skipper,” had originally refused to add another generation to the line of Efrems, but was talked into it by his mother and the “weight of generations coming down on him.”

AIM publishes Vegetarian Times, Southwest Art, Black Belt, Log Home Living, Log Home Design Ideas, Better Nutrition, Garlinghouse Home Plans, books, videos, events and websites, with a goal of acquiring or launching at least 30 publications in the next few years. AIM’s focus is on niche markets “where people are committed to hobbies or avocations they really love and where they need information and value advertising. The opportunity in publishing,” Skip believes, “is when the advertising gets a reaction immediately and the cash register rings.”

Some day these Efrem’s are gonna be like French monarchs with XIV behind their names or something. More celeb trivia: the TV actress Stephanie Zimabalist is his half-sister.

In any case this deal looks like it could be a good fit for Backpacker; I’d be reading my latest issue right now if I weren’t blogging. Here’s the new company’s Web site; more coolness: the magazine currently showing on the home page is American Cowboy.