Rogers Sports & Media is set to close down six radio stations across four Canadian cities, resulting in the loss of 230 jobs due to company cutbacks. The affected stations are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax, and Kitchener.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, the closures will directly impact 80 employees at the shuttered stations. The remaining 150 job cuts include corporate positions such as sales and marketing roles, as well as a small number of positions in TV and radio, and a few unspecified roles outside the media division.
The decision to close the stations was described as a “difficult but necessary” one following a comprehensive evaluation of the company’s radio stations nationwide. The company expressed gratitude to both its listeners and employees for their contributions to the local community.
In Vancouver, the closure will affect Sportsnet 650 and News 1130, while in Alberta, 660 NewsRadio Calgary and Sportsnet 960 will be impacted. NewsRadio Halifax and NewsRadio Kitchener will also cease operations.
Listeners in Vancouver were greeted with a pre-recorded message on News 1130 and re-runs on Sportsnet 650 on Tuesday morning. News 1130 traffic reporter Alexander Carrigan shared that he learned of the closure while driving to work, hearing the announcement broadcast on air.
Responding to the closures, B.C. Premier David Eby expressed that the province will miss the two stations and emphasized the importance of local news outlets.
Jeffrey Dvorkin, former director of the journalism program at the University of Toronto, noted that the media industry is adapting to satisfy shareholder expectations, possibly through merging media platforms. Rogers attributed the decision to declining audience and revenue trends, with low recent audience numbers for over-the-air sports radio in Vancouver and Calgary.
April Lindgren, co-director of the Local News Research Project at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism, highlighted the ongoing issue of “news poverty” in Canada due to successive rounds of cuts affecting local news outlets.
Rogers announced the transfer of radio production for Canucks games to another owned station but confirmed no future production for Calgary Flames games on the radio. Toronto’s Sportsnet 590 remains operational, with Rogers maintaining 44 radio stations in nearly 30 Canadian communities.
These closures follow Rogers Communications’ recent acquisition of full ownership of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, in a $4.35 billion deal.