Radio and Records publication ceases

The 36-year-old trade publication “Radio and Records” is closes after its June 5 issue. This is according to a note posted on the magazine’s Web site. The Web site has also closed.

[via] Whatever happens with its other trade pubs, the closing of Radio & Records is an embarrassing reversal for Nielsen, coming just three years after it bought the title.

However, it’s not the only media trade publication to face closure or major cutbacks recently. Also on Wednesday, Performing Songwriter was closed. In April, Haymarket Media said it would stop publishing the weekly print edition of PR Week, replacing it with a monthly magazine and shifting weekly reporting online. More modest cutbacks were also announced at Ad Age, which reduced its frequency from 50 issues per year to 43 or 44.

Most print trade publications have suffered steep declines in ad revenue, due to competition from the Internet. In March, American Business Media predicted a 19% to 22% drop in business-to-business ad revenues in 2009, following a 7.3% drop in 2008. Ad pages for 2008 were down 9.6%.