The Nielsen Co. has announced that it is ending publication of Radio & Records, known in the radio business for the past 36 years as R&R. Publication of the US music industry trade paper ceases immediately. In a specially called “Town Hall Meeting” for R&R staff across the country, publisher Howard Appelbaum told employees that it was a “tough decision” but that the magazine’s “macro did not work” in this economic climate. He said that “all jobs are eliminated” and that some parts of R&R, such as airplay charts, would be included in Billboard magazine, another Nielsen publication.
Appelbaum, who took over Nielsen’s business media division in January, said the company had made several attempts to “salvage” the publication and had spoken with “some prospective buyers,” but he declined to discuss specifics with the staff, instead inviting “off-line” questions.
(Source: Reuters)
on Jun 4th, 2009 at 12:07
It’s already switched over on the website to Billboard.biz. A real shame. Radio and Records had the niche sewed up until the radio industry consolidated and the record biz couldn’t fight the digital onslaught.
Looks like the royalty bill for radio stations in the US will never get voted on.
And Citiadel which bought the ABC radio network and ABC group stations 3 years ago is either going to go bankrupt or sell off some assets.
on Jun 27th, 2009 at 20:10
Some things I never thought I’d see in this business were music stations junking talent for automation (voice-tracking) just to save a few bucks in spite of itself, and Radio & Records going by the wayside.
Too much de-reg and too many non-radio people running radio stations is causing this demise. Pretty soon, we’ll be left with downloads and news/talk.