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Radio & Records Says Goodbye

Nielsen closes R&R, a radio trade industry programming icon

Long-time industry trade publication Radio & Records is closing its doors.

The end for the 36-year-old publication comes three years after VNU purchased the publication. VNU subsequently changed its name to The Nielsen Company.

“The current state of affairs has left The Nielsen Company with no other alternative but to immediately cease all services, products and events related to Radio & Records,” according to a statement on the company’s Web site. The magazine’s final edition is the June 5 issue. Electronic products end today, the Web site will be taken offline soon, the company said.

R&R reported that publisher Howard Appelbaum told employees that it was a “tough decision” but that the magazine’s “macro did not work” in this economic climate. It was Appelbaum’s third such company-wide teleconference. In the first, he introduced himself on news of the departure of longtime publisher and president Erica Farber in early January. On Feb. 25, Applebaum announced steep staff cutbacks at the magazine.

A subsequent message from Nielsen’s Gerry Byrne tells site visitors, “Given the consolidation of the radio and music industries, Nielsen Business Media has determined that the best way to leverage its assets and resources in support of these industries is to consolidate its music brands.”

He said R&R magazine and RadioandRecords.com would be merged into Billboard magazine and Billboard.biz, and that those outlets would expand their coverage of the radio industry.

“In particular, the R&R airplay charts, which are powered by Nielsen BDS and which have become a key tracker of industry performance, will now appear in the pages of Billboard magazine and on Billboard.biz.”

Nielsen Business Media owns several other B2B titles including Adweek, Billboard, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Editor & Publisher, Hispanic Marketing, the Hollywood Reporter, Progressive Grocer and others.

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