Rogers shuts down six radio stations across country, 80 jobs cut
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- Rogers Sports and Media is shutting down six radio stations in four markets — Sportsnet 650 (Vancouver), Sportsnet 960 (Calgary), 660 NewsRadio (Calgary), AM 1130 (Vancouver), 95.7 NewsRadio (Halifax), and 570 NewsRadio (Kitchener) — cutting 80 jobs at those stations.
- The closures are part of a wider 230-job reduction at the media division, with roughly half affecting corporate and support roles in sales, marketing, and programming, plus some unionized TV newsroom positions in Toronto and Vancouver to be addressed through a voluntary departure program with departures starting in August.
- Rogers blamed declining audiences — the Calgary sports station averaged just 1,200 listeners and the Vancouver station 2,100 from October to May — and falling ad revenue, while noting it will still own and operate 44 radio stations in nearly 30 communities.
- Vancouver Canucks games will continue airing on a Rogers radio property, but the company will no longer produce Calgary Flames radio broadcasts; Bell Media had already shuttered rival TSN 1040 in Vancouver in 2021.
- A day before the cuts, Rogers unveiled a $4.35 billion deal to acquire the remaining 25% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment it didn't own, even as it reported Q1 profit of $438 million on $5.48 billion in revenue.
- BC Premier David Eby called the closures "a blow for British Columbians," and Carleton University's Christopher Waddell said sports radio is being "devoured" by the podcast ecosystem and league-produced content it helped spawn.
Why it matters: Roughly 230 workers across stations, corporate roles, and TV newsrooms in Toronto and Vancouver are losing their jobs while Rogers is spending $4.35 billion to take full ownership of MLSE — a $438-million Q1 profit doesn't square with a 'declining ad revenue' justification for gutting local news in four cities. The Calgary Flames lose their radio home and Vancouver loses its second sports station in four years.
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