Before it was taken offline, the Radio & Records Web site posted a note explaining the decision to close the 36-year-old trade publication, which was acquired in 2006 by VNU Media, which was subsequently re-branded as 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."

The decision to close Radio & Records was described as "unsurprising" by one radio insider. In recent months, rumors have also circulated that Nielsen was planning to close or consolidate some of its trade publications covering the media business. In March, a spokesman confirmed that it was considering closing Brandweek or merging it with Mediaweek or Adweek. So far, however, no such actions have been taken.

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%.

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