Rogers cuts 230 jobs, closes radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax
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Rogers Sports & Media is shuttering six radio stations in four Canadian cities, as part of cutbacks to eliminate 230 jobs.
In a statement Tuesday, the company said the closures affect stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax and Kitchener.
A Rogers spokesperson told CBC News the shuttered stations have 80 people losing their jobs directly. The other 150 jobs involve corporate roles, including in sales and marketing, along with a small number of positions in TV and radio, and an unspecified but small number from outside the media division as well.
The company said in a statement that the “difficult but necessary decision” followed a “thorough review of our radio stations across the country.”
“We are grateful to our listeners and to our team for their contributions to the local community.”
In Vancouver, the move means the end of Sportsnet 650 and News 1130, while in Alberta, 660 NewsRadio Calgary and Sportsnet 960 are affected.
Listeners in Vancouver tuned in Tuesday morning to hear a recorded message on News 1130, and re-runs on Sportsnet 650.
NewsRadio Halifax and NewsRadio Kitchener will also close.
News 1130 traffic reporter Alexander Carrigan told CBC News that he learned of his station’s closure as he was driving to work and he heard the recorded message played on air.
“I’m still not entirely sure how to process the news,” he said.
“I know through working with the traffic centre, we were getting dozens if not hundreds of calls every single day — I know that people relied on specifically the traffic service, of course, and there were a lot of very passionate news listeners as well.”
B.C. Premier David Eby responded to the closures on social media, writing that the province would miss both shuttered stations.
“We all benefit from having local news outlets and this is a blow for British Columbians,” Eby wrote.
“Journalism Profits.”
‘News poverty’
The cutbacks are not a surprise for Jeffrey Dvorkin, former director of the journalism program at the University of Toronto.
“I think that what we’re seeing now is media organizations looking for ways in which they can return to some kind of shareholder satisfaction,” he said, explaining that Rogers is likely trying to converge together media platforms.
“What Rogers is doing is recognizing that they cannot make the same amount of money doing what they did before,” said Dvorkin.
In its statement, Rogers said the decision was due to “declining audience and revenue trends.” It also told CBC News recent audiences for over-the-air sports radio in both Vancouver and Calgary were low, with neither station having an average…
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