The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, which includes the Marketwatch Radio Network, will close at the end of the year.
The word comes from Dow Jones CEO William Lewis. In a memo distributed to employees today, and reported by Romenesko, Lewis wrote about owner Dow Jones’ plans. “It will come as no surprise that in order to do even more, we must do fewer things that are not core to our business so that we can move faster in pursuit of our goals.” The company is shuttering both the Sunday Journal and the Wall Street Journal Radio network.
The WSJ Radio network will close at year-end. “As we move away from the terrestrial radio business, we will continue to build out our digital audio capabilities and offerings,” Lewis states.
WSJ Editor-In-Chief Gerard Baker writes in a separate memo the decisions are being made as the company decides where to focus limited dollars. The closure decisions were difficult. “The work of our highly skilled teams of journalists in these fields has been consistently impressive and is deeply appreciated. But we believe the primary opportunity for rapid growth of the Journal in the U.S. is the expansion of our core circulation — digital and in print — and continued increases in Marketwatch’s audience.”
The WSJ Radio network is carried on more than 470 radio stations, according to its website.
