Reaction to the killing of two radio stations at once continues in Vancouver, with some now ex-employees of News 1130 and fans of Sportsnet 650 having their say online. 

One anecdote from a listener is especially telling. 

“I listened to the radio for the first time in months this morning (I saw a massive house fire as I was driving and wanted to know if there was anything about it on the news), listened to 1130 AM for 15 minutes and then it went silent,” they said. 

“Not every day that you happen to catch the sudden death of a radio station.”

'It hurts': Laid-off Vancouver reporters sound off after Rogers kills the radio star

Reactions pour in from Vancouver sports fans after Sportsnet 650 shuts down

I was thinking about this... part of what Rogers likes about radio is the ability to promote their stuff.   If that is true... why not sit down with a group like MBC and say - let's make a deal... we set you up with the smaller stations.. in return your a partner with Rogers across your entire group for product promo etc.,   MBC picks up North Bay, Timmons London, Kingston, Sudbury, Sault....  Rogers gets out of those markets by making it easy for MBC... or Vista or whomever...  in return I get tickets to the Jays and Leafs as payment for the idea.

Here's a somewhat parallel story from Erie, Pa., and those who can get their stations in London, Ont. may already know this. iHeart Radio, already in the midst of severe cutbacks down south, has effectively left most of this market without a single local radio voice at all six of its stations in the city.

As has been pointed out by many here, this is what happens when a giant corporation gobbles up too many radio stations, treating them more like an ATM than an entertainment and community commodity. 

"You ask what message does this send to listeners and I ask, what message are listeners sending to these radio stations? Is anyone up in arms?" said Chet LaPrice, operations manager of Gannon University's WERG-FM 90.5. "I can't remember the last time a local radio station did something compelling."

Another sad sign of the times on both sides of the border. 

iHeartMedia layoffs leave Erie radio stations without a local voice 

Don't know if I missed it here but Jack FM in Halifax also lost the local morning show.

With AM 1130 now off the air in Vancouver, what's next for the historic radio signal?

FM Sports Radio can work. Boston has two successful stations. One top 5, the other just outside the top 10. But the city has a record of championship NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB teams Lots to listen to and talk about. And no AM simulcast for either station.

RadioActive wrote:

With AM 1130 now off the air in Vancouver, what's next for the historic radio signal?

Article is inaccurate when saying "Long story short, CKWX and the AM 1130 signal will be available for purchase once Rogers returns the broadcasting licences to the CRTC." This of course is not true. Rogers would've had to sell it BEFORE returning the licenses. Based on Vancouver's radio revenues, it's unlikely the CRTC will find that the market can support another commercial radio station.....

torontostan wrote:

mace wrote:

FM Sports Radio can work. Boston has two successful stations. One top 5, the other just outside the top 10. But the city has a record of championship NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB teams Lots to listen to and talk about. And no AM simulcast for either station.

It's foolish to assume that just because a station ranks well in the local ratings, that surely it must be a profitable business. This is a common misconception on this board. Sports radio in particular is the most expensive format to operate

Perhaps I am missing something.
Why would a station that ranks well in the local ratings not be profitable? 
Advertisements priced too low? 
Not enough advertisers? 
Over paid talent?
Failure to control costs? 
In other words mismanagement...

 
 
 

Last edited by darcyh (July 12, 2026 4:51 pm)

darcyh wrote:

Advertisements priced too low? 
Not enough advertisers? 
Over paid talent?
Failure to control costs? 
In other words mismanagement... 
 

Just because you're #1 at something, doesn't mean you're making money doing it. Now try being #10 and see if you make money.
1) Not enough advertisers willing to buy-in to the ancient metrics that radio provides (Neilsen/Numeris), when you can spend the same dollars on digital advertising and know exactly when & how it paid off.
2) Yes, overpaid talent in some cases
3) Many sports stations are still paying over a million dollars a year to air live major league games. That math no longer works in 2026. Teams should actually be paying (or partnering with) the stations

Last edited by torontostan (July 12, 2026 6:12 pm)

torontostan wrote:

darcyh wrote:

Advertisements priced too low? 
Not enough advertisers? 
Over paid talent?
Failure to control costs? 
In other words mismanagement... 
 

Just because you're #1 at something, doesn't mean you're making money doing it. Now try being #10 and see if you make money.
1) Not enough advertisers willing to buy-in to the ancient metrics that radio provides (Neilsen/Numeris), when you can spend the same dollars on digital advertising and know exactly when & how it paid off.
2) Yes, overpaid talent in some cases
3) Many sports stations are still paying over a million dollars a year to air live major league games. That math no longer works in 2026. Teams should actually be paying (or partnering with) the stations

Above and beyond all that, how about the true cost of maintaining the towers? What if they were too old at this point to simply be repaired to a state of good repair? 
What if they needed to be replaced with fresh new towers? 

It costs a lot of money to run a radio station and nothing to turn on the radio. 
Any other possible hidden expenses that may have been creeping out Rogers??

In Detroit,   97.1 is rated as number 1 in the radio ratings.   It has been a sports station for sometime.....(Detroit's first sports station was WDFN at 1130 am, whose format is long gone.

I believe  660 WFAN in NYC  also has a simulcast

Maybe   FM sports could work in Canada

Former Toronto host Bruce Dowbiggin weighs in on the demise of sports radio in Vancouver and Calgary, recalling what he went through trying to make the format a success in Toronto. (Although why he keeps using the royal "We" is beyond me and a bit irritating.) 

"The problem was always making enough ad money to keep the station going in the NHL offseason or MLB sked. While the morning drive hosts made a decent buck the rest of the staff were paid in best wishes and proximity to pro sports. Even then it was a struggle. As the legacy media came more and more to rely on government handouts you knew it would be just a mater of time till the suits in Toronto, saddled with the massive NHL contract, sacrificed sports radio to save themselves...

Resulting in last week’s inevitable blood bath. Having seen— and been a victim of—several format changes/station closures we know how badly those involved feel. Sometime it’s just one person making too much money. More often it’s the indifference of people who are not sports fans or local. As one CBC suit told us when they cut our three award-winning sports at once (in favour of a traffic/ weather format), “You’ll be okay. No grass grows under your feet.” (Their new format lasted six months.)"

If All Sports Fans Are Local Why Is Rogers Killing Local Sports Radio?  

RadioActive wrote:

I knew I wasn't the only one who thought the feds might get involved in this. And now, it turns out, at least one of them has. Although I very much doubt it will have any real effect. 

According to Broadcast Dialogue, the MP for Kitchener Centre is accusing the government of not keeping its promise to monitor Rogers, after the deal to acquire Shaw was approved in 2023. 

She's started a petition, calling for a public inquiry into the closing of the six radio stations across the country, and demanding the feds "mandate local news and information radio services as essential public services, requiring licensed broadcasters to maintain minimum local programming and news operations in their markets, with meaningful penalties for non-compliance."

You can sign it here.

The Waterloo Record weighs in on the petition and whether you should sign it. It's argued you should.

"There was a terrible multi-vehicle collision on Saturday on Highway 401 at Townline Road in Cambridge. It killed a Kitchener man, sent 16 people to hospital and shut down the eastbound lanes of the highway for 10 hours.

Had 570 NewsRadio been operating, people could have been warned about it."

A petition in Parliament is your chance to protest against radio station shutdowns

RadioActive wrote:

The government cannot order a corporation to keep running what the company claims is a money-losing business. But it can force them to keep their word about creating thousands of new jobs - the price for the Shaw agreement - something Rogers clearly has not done. 

Doubtful anything is going to happen in that regard either, although it may affect future CRTC decisions if the company is wanting to gain new acquisitions. Not that there's that much left to scoop up anymore, mind you.


PJ
 

It's not bad enough Rogers cut as many as 230 positions in its media division in the recent purge, shuttering six radio stations in the process. Now the CBC is reporting they've also fired a fair number of their customer service agents, who take calls about poor service or billing issues with the company's cell phones.

It comes as some Rogers clients are already waiting as long as three hours to speak to a representative about their issues. But Big Red denies there will be much inconvenience.

"We're investing in digital tools and self-serve to help our customers faster as their desire to self-serve grows, (spokesman Zac) Carreiro wrote in an email at the time. Like our peers, we continue to use a mix of in-house and third-party vendors."

The company won't confirm how many people lost their jobs in these latest cutbacks. 

Poor Rogers. It's just too bad they have to shell out any money for annoyances like employee salaries or customer service. Maybe one day, they'll fix those problems, too. I guess paying all that money for MLSE cost more than we thought. 

Rogers cutting telco customer service jobs amid complaints of long wait times