By Connie Thiessen
Rogers Sports and Media is cutting 230 positions across the division as it announces it’s shuttering six radio stations.
The stations, set to go off the air today, include 1130 NewsRadio (CKWX-AM) Vancouver; Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM), Vancouver’s last remaining sports radio station; 660 NewsRadio (CFFR-AM) Calgary; 960 AM (CFAC-AM) Calgary; NewsRadio 95.7 (CJNI-FM) Halifax; and 570 NewsRadio (CKGL-AM) Kitchener.
A Rogers Sports and Media spokesperson said those licenses will be returned to the CRTC.
Employees across the country were notified this morning, with 80 connected to the radio station closures. Overall, about half of the positions impacted are corporate and support roles across sales, marketing, and programming, in addition to primarily production and some on-air roles on the television side. Some unionized TV newsroom positions in Toronto and Vancouver are also affected and will begin with a voluntary departure program, set to take effect in August.
“The media business continues to face headwinds driven by declining advertising revenue and changing audience habits,” a Rogers Sports and Media spokesperson shared in a statement provided to Cartt’s sister publication Broadcast Dialogue. “These changes are part of our plan to focus our investment in areas that will drive growth long-term.”
“After a thorough review of our radio stations, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close six radio stations in four markets due to declining audience and revenue trends — we continue to own and operate 44 radio stations in nearly 30 communities across the country and to invest in local news in the impacted markets,” the statement continued.
Radio production of Vancouver Canucks games will move to another Rogers Sports and Media-owned station in the market, while Sportsnet will step away from producing Calgary Flames radio broadcasts, the company said.
It added that the impacted markets will continue to be served by local news content through CityNews on web and social, in addition to television newscasts in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, and the CityNews 24/7 news channels in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Local news, traffic and weather will also continue across Rogers’ music radio stations.
A spokesperson told Broadcast Dialogue that some adjustments are additionally being made on the non-media side of company “to reflect current market realities as part of our multi-year plan to drive growth long-term – changes reflect a small percentage of workforce, including corporate and frontline roles.”
