Billboard magazine lays off senior editors

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Billboard executive editor Ken Schlager and bureau chiefs Melinda Newman and Phyllis Stark were among nine staffers laid off by the trade publication Monday as part of a bigger overhaul.

The restructuring was triggered last month when the magazine's VNU parent bought radio trade publication Radio & Records and closed down Billboard Radio Monitor.

"Because of overlapping duties, which is inevitable when two leading brands integrate, there was a staff reduction from both properties," VNU said in a statement.

A total of 26 employees were let go from editorial, sales and operations -- nine from Billboard Information Group and 17 from Radio & Records. Those exiting the former include veterans Schlager, who oversaw group editorial operations, West Coast bureau chief Newman, and Nashville chief Stark.

Radio & Records, under the continued leadership of publisher Erica Farber, is being relaunched this week with a redesign and airplay charts supplied by Nielsen BDS, part of VNU's information division. The move to BDS data had been expected; the 33-year-old trade had previously published charts that utilized data from Mediabase.

Billboard Information Group editorial director

Reuters/Billboard

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