A monthly magazine distributed to 7,000 people working in the media has ceased publication and gone into administration after more than a decade in print.
X-Trax was sent free of charge to print journalists, radio broadcasters and PRs, and employed five editorial staff – an editor, deputy editor, art director and two writers.
The glossy title, which ran to more than 200 pages each month, began as a magazine for the radio industry in 1997 before launching a sister title for the press in 2001.
Press Gazette understands that the radio edition had a print run of 4,000, with a further 3,000 copies distributed to print journalists.
An official legal notice placed in the London Gazette confirms that an administrator, Simon Plant, was appointed on 21 November to oversee X-Trax parent company Worldwebchannels.com Limited.
Subscribers to the magazine have told Press Gazette that the December issue has not arrived.
X-Trax provided local radio stations and newspapers with access to competition prizes from national advertisers, cinema and travel reviews, and “on this day in history” trivia.
It published photos from radio and newspaper industry events and interviews and features with journalists, presenters, producers and management.
X-Trax also provided audio features and a daily forward planning service to the majority of the UK’s commercial radio stations through the Independent Radio News network.
IRN sent a message to its member stations on 27 November, seen by Press Gazette, in which it said it was “experiencing difficulties” making contact with X-Trax.
“We have not received this service from X-Trax for the past two days and all attempts to contact the company for an explanation have been unsuccessful,” the news network told members.
“We will let you know as soon as we hear anything but until we do we have to assume the service has been discontinued.”
Press Gazette understands that a further message was sent out by IRN last Friday confirming that the company had folded.
X-Trax editor Emma Tozer and Worldwebchannels managing director Darren Adler, who is based in the Bahamas, had not responded to requests for a comment by the time of publication.
Calls to the X-Trax offices in London went unanswered.
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