It’s another dark day for the Canadian media industry and particularly the radio landscape in British Columbia.
Rogers Sports & Media has confirmed to NowMedia that six radio stations have been shut down today, a move that came without any prior warning.
That includes Vancouver’s Sportsnet 650 and News 1130, marking an end for BC’s only remaining sports radio station and an all-news station that has been on the air in the Lower Mainland for 30 years.
The other Canadian radio stations shut down today are 660 NewsRadio and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, NewsRadio 95.7 in Halifax and 570 NewsRadio in Kitchener.
A Rogers spokesperson told NowMedia that it was a “difficult but necessary decision” that was made due to “declining audience and revenue trends.”
The spokesperson boasted that Rogers still owns and operates 44 radio stations in “nearly 30 communities” and will continue to invest in local news in the impacted markets.
Of course, these six radio stations being taken off the air came with plenty of job cuts, although Rogers declined to comment on those.
Broadcast Dialogue, however, is reporting that 230 positions have been cut across the Rogers Sports & Media division, with 80 of those connected to radio station closures.
Many of the rest are corporate and support roles across sales, marketing and programming, while some in TV newsrooms have received the axe as well.
“The media business continues to face headwinds driven by declining advertising revenue and changing audience habits,” the Rogers spokesperson added.
“These changes are part of our plan to focus our investment in areas that will drive growth long-term.”
The demise of Sportsnet 650 and Sportsnet 960 also leaves plenty of questions for sports fans about where they’ll be listening to their favourite teams’ games.
They were the flagship stations for Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames broadcasts, as well other local teams like the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and Calgary Flames.
According to Broadcast Dialogue, Canucks games will move to another Rogers Sports & Media-owned station, while Sportsnet will step away from producing Flames radio broadcasts.
