The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Bell Cuts 1,300, Closes 6 Stns., Including CJBK, Selling CKOC & CHAM

ED1 · June 15, 2023 10:54 am

MJ Vancouver wrote:
Among the jobs cut, a number of on-air people at CTV Vancouver Island, and a morning host at CTV Edmonton.

And a morning anchor at CTV Calgary.

Ida Spencer · June 15, 2023 12:31 pm

Paul Jeffries wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the CRTC have to approve the shutdown of any radio or TV station? This seems like a case of begging forgiveness instead of asking permission. Although given the way the CRTC handled the Q107 Calgary situation, I'm guessing that's what Bell is banking on.

PJ

The CRTC ruled on this in 2012, in decision 2012-384: "10. The Commission also notes that licences, such as those held by the CBC, are authorizations to broadcast, not an obligation to do so. In other words, while the Commission has the discretion to refuse to revoke broadcasting licences, even on application from a licensee, it cannot direct the CBC or any other broadcaster to continue to operate its stations and transmitters."

Thus, Bell Media is free to shut down unprofitable/depricated stations. All appear to be in communities where they can make the money back selling off the transmission sites. I was surprised 820 CHAM wasn't on the list, being on the edge of Binbrook. I wouldn't be surprised though if CJYE/CJMR take over those sites/frequencies, as their Oakville facility is right in prime development territory.

ED1 · June 15, 2023 1:34 pm

Ida Spencer wrote:
Paul Jeffries wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the CRTC have to approve the shutdown of any radio or TV station? This seems like a case of begging forgiveness instead of asking permission. Although given the way the CRTC handled the Q107 Calgary situation, I'm guessing that's what Bell is banking on.

PJ
The CRTC ruled on this in 2012, in decision 2012-384: "10. The Commission also notes that licences, such as those held by the CBC, are authorizations to broadcast, not an obligation to do so. In other words, while the Commission has the discretion to refuse to revoke broadcasting licences, even on application from a licensee, it cannot direct the CBC or any other broadcaster to continue to operate its stations and transmitters."

Thus, Bell Media is free to shut down unprofitable/depricated stations. All appear to be in communities where they can make the money back selling off the transmission sites. I was surprised 820 CHAM wasn't on the list, being on the edge of Binbrook. I wouldn't be surprised though if CJYE/CJMR take over those sites/frequencies, as their Oakville facility is right in prime development territory.

According to that decision, the CBC still went to the CRTC to tell them that they wanted to shut down those transmitters before they actually did so. So even though all programming has stopped on these Bell AM stations, they can't actually turn off the sticks until the CRTC says OK, right?

And as of today, CKMX-AM Calgary is still on the air but running that sign off loop. Not sure about the other AM stations.

RadioActive · June 15, 2023 1:38 pm

Fellow journalists, many not from CTV or Bell, lament the chopping of so many jobs and the loss of journalists with experience.

Among those Tweeting their sadness and anger - Dawna Friesen and Sean O'Shea from Global News, Gillian Findlay from CBC and Melanie Nagy, one of those spared at CTV.

Journalists decry "dark day" at Bell Media, voice concerns on future of Canadian news

But perhaps the best "day after" reaction is one you won't hear, because I don't think they're posting it as part of their podcast. But at the tail end of Alex Pierson's show on AM 640 Thursday, the station's executive producer Jason Chapman came on with a passionate anger about the cuts at his competitor, openly blaming the CRTC for bad policy decisions and Bell itself, for taking over some of Canada's biggest stations, with absolutely no interest in doing right by them, but just to squeeze every last penny out of them like a sponge and then throw them away when the Golden Goose stopped paying off.

To paraphrase, "If you're not interested in doing good radio, then get out of the way and let those who are have that chance."

He also agreed that the end of AM is nigh, noting he's on 640, but 680, 1010 and all the others need to find a way onto the FM band if they're going to save the medium from tedium.

I wish I could find it, but if you do come across it, it's well worth a listen. He was very angry and very right.

cash · June 15, 2023 1:41 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I'm quite sure those thrown out of work through no fault of their own will.

They weren't profitable because people weren't listening to them. The AM radio business is dying. This is not just a Canadian or Bell thing. This has been going on in the USA with Cumulus.

RadioActive · June 15, 2023 1:56 pm

Well, you can certainly argue that and the ratings might show there's some sense to it. But I was thinking of all those people - at least 1,000 or more yesterday or in the coming week - who woke up in the morning with no work to go, a family, a mortgage and no sure prospects of finding other gigs as the industry dries up. Those are the ones who are on my mind.

I'm pretty sure a lot of the radio and TV veterans who gather here have been in that boat - I sometimes jokingly call it the Titanic - at one time or another. It's a horrible feeling. I hope they find another gig soon, even if it's not in broadcasting per se, because so few places are hiring anymore. And there surely aren't 1,000 openings out there.

I honestly believe there must have been another way, but Bell wasn't even remotely interested in exploring what it might be.

RadioActive · June 15, 2023 2:43 pm

An interesting possible side effect of the Bell bloodletting, from the Canadian Press:

Bell cuts put Bill C-11, C-18 back in the spotlight as Meta tests blocking news

Tomas Barlow · June 15, 2023 2:44 pm

cash wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
I'm quite sure those thrown out of work through no fault of their own will.
They weren't profitable because people weren't listening to them. The AM radio business is dying. This is not just a Canadian or Bell thing. This has been going on in the USA with Cumulus.

I'm told that CJBK was profitable but Bell can't be bothered to maintain AM sites in the future because of the negligence of those sites in recent years and the anticipated costs going forward.

paterson1 · June 15, 2023 3:04 pm

Radio whether you agree or not is foremost a business. As much as we all loved AM radio back in the day, the number of successful AM stations is shrinking every year. When a business starts to lose money it is usually closed. Doesn't matter if it is a restaurant, video store, repair shop, appliance dealer, department store, if the service is no longer popular and is losing money, it will close.

It's fine to be angry or to try and find blame. The fact is AM no longer even exists in some parts of the world and in North America with a few exceptions, AM radio has turned into a memory for most people.

Always a shame in any business when people lose their job. There are lots of opportunities in other fields and many in the broadcasting industry have skills that employers are looking for. Many of these jobs outside of broadcasting also pay better. Often much better.

ED1 · June 15, 2023 3:08 pm

Tomas Barlow wrote:
cash wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
I'm quite sure those thrown out of work through no fault of their own will.
They weren't profitable because people weren't listening to them. The AM radio business is dying. This is not just a Canadian or Bell thing. This has been going on in the USA with Cumulus.
I'm told that CJBK was profitable but Bell can't be bothered to maintain AM sites in the future because of the negligence of those sites in recent years and the anticipated costs going forward.

Something to do with “safety code 6” and how much remediation these AM transmitter sites need to have done?

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-risks-safety/radiation/occupational-exposure-regulations/safety-code-6-radiofrequency-exposure-guidelines.html

Dale Patterson · June 15, 2023 3:40 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Radio whether you agree or not is foremost a business. As much as we all loved AM radio back in the day, the number of successful AM stations is shrinking every year. When a business starts to lose money it is usually closed. Doesn't matter if it is a restaurant, video store, repair shop, appliance dealer, department store, if the service is no longer popular and is losing money, it will close.

It's fine to be angry or to try and find blame. The fact is AM no longer even exists in some parts of the world and in North America with a few exceptions, AM radio has turned into a memory for most people.

Always a shame in any business when people lose their job. There are lots of opportunities in other fields and many in the broadcasting industry have skills that employers are looking for. Many of these jobs outside of broadcasting also pay better. Often much better.

Well said.

torontostan · June 15, 2023 6:53 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I hope they find another gig soon, even if it's not in broadcasting per se, because so few places are hiring anymore. And there surely aren't 1,000 openings out there.

I honestly believe there must have been another way, but Bell wasn't even remotely interested in exploring what it might be.

While still sad..... as P1 and RadioAaron noted, there were 910 positions eliminated. The majority of those would've come from the Bell phone/internet side, which we can safely assume is a lot less niche compared to AM radio.

torontostan · June 15, 2023 7:00 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
I was thinking it would be 99.9 for Toronto (they could get some stray CBC Radio One listeners just a wee hair down the dial at 99.1); however I don't think it would be a straight transfer of 1010 to FM. Perhaps, over a period of time, some Newstalk hosts wouls simulcast on FM or even move to it, while less hours are devoted to CHR on Virgin. 640 did such a thing in the 90s, of course with the intention they were going to be an all news station. Eventually, you'd have a full-service FMer with talk and lifestyle, plus some music programming.

Just a thought though. As for 610, could soome of its stronger programming not go on to 102.9? Very little of CKTB is live any more.

You've hit the nail on the head. Every media executive is currently thinking "whatever barely worked in the 90s will certainly work in 2023"

ckg927 · June 15, 2023 7:06 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Fellow journalists, many not from CTV or Bell, lament the chopping of so many jobs and the loss of journalists with experience.

Among those Tweeting their sadness and anger - Dawna Friesen and Sean O'Shea from Global News, Gillian Findlay from CBC and Melanie Nagy, one of those spared at CTV.

Journalists decry "dark day" at Bell Media, voice concerns on future of Canadian news

But perhaps the best "day after" reaction is one you won't hear, because I don't think they're posting it as part of their podcast. But at the tail end of Alex Pierson's show on AM 640 Thursday, the station's executive producer Jason Chapman came on with a passionate anger about the cuts at his competitor, openly blaming the CRTC for bad policy decisions and Bell itself, for taking over some of Canada's biggest stations, with absolutely no interest in doing right by them, but just to squeeze every last penny out of them like a sponge and then throw them away when the Golden Goose stopped paying off.

To paraphrase, "If you're not interested in doing good radio, then get out of the way and let those who are have that chance."

He also agreed that the end of AM is nigh, noting he's on 640, but 680, 1010 and all the others need to find a way onto the FM band if they're going to save the medium from tedium.

I wish I could find it, but if you do come across it, it's well worth a listen. He was very angry and very right.

About the only person who could match Chapman's fire and passion was Dave Agar, formerly of CFRB. If memory serves, he was SO bent at being let go in the LAST purge at Bell that he specifically told them to take his name off of the CFRB newsroom. (And BTW, he's worth the follow on both Instagram and Twitter.)

RadioActive · June 15, 2023 8:06 pm

And then there's this, which I'm sure the former Bell employees will find encouraging.

Juggie1 · June 15, 2023 10:20 pm

So at 10 AM local time, the carriers of the 2 Vancouver stations as well as 1290 CFRW was shut down, ending transmission from those stations. Heard the announcement on 1290 in London before 10. Went to see this afternoon if it was still the but didn’t hear a carrier so I gather that it, too, was shut down this morning.

turkeytop · June 15, 2023 10:24 pm

Juggie1 wrote:
So at 10 AM local time, the carriers of the 2 Vancouver stations as well as 1290 CFRW was shut down, ending transmission from those stations. Heard the announcement on 1290 in London before 10. Went to see this afternoon if it was still the but didn’t hear a carrier so I gather that it, too, was shut down this morning.

It was still on today when I tuned in, but it's off tonight. Might be an opportunity for some DX on 1290 but not tonight. Just a lot of QRM.

ED1 · June 16, 2023 12:44 am

CTV Vancouver Island (CIVI) has been hit hard by the cuts. It sounds like their entire control room staff has been laid off, and News presentation for Vancouver Island will be done out of CTV Vancouver.

CTV VI will launch a new 4:30 newscast on Monday, and will be “repeated” at 6 PM. The 5 PM VI News is gone and replaced with a simulcast of the Vancouver 5 PM news.

I’m assuming the 11 PM VI News will also be done live out of Vancouver right before the CTV Vancouver 11:30 News.

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/vancouver-island/2023/6/15/1_6442394.amp.html

Last edited by ED1 (June 16, 2023 12:45 am)

MJ Vancouver · June 16, 2023 2:02 am

ED1 wrote:
CTV Vancouver Island (CIVI) has been hit hard by the cuts. It sounds like their entire control room staff has been laid off, and News presentation for Vancouver Island will be done out of CTV Vancouver.

CTV VI will launch a new 4:30 newscast on Monday, and will be “repeated” at 6 PM. The 5 PM VI News is gone and replaced with a simulcast of the Vancouver 5 PM news.

I’m assuming the 11 PM VI News will also be done live out of Vancouver right before the CTV Vancouver 11:30 News.

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/vancouver-island/2023/6/15/1_6442394.amp.html

No news tonight - they have eTalk on at 11. Of course that may change next week for all we know.

ED1 · June 16, 2023 2:15 am

MJ Vancouver wrote:
ED1 wrote:
CTV Vancouver Island (CIVI) has been hit hard by the cuts. It sounds like their entire control room staff has been laid off, and News presentation for Vancouver Island will be done out of CTV Vancouver.

CTV VI will launch a new 4:30 newscast on Monday, and will be “repeated” at 6 PM. The 5 PM VI News is gone and replaced with a simulcast of the Vancouver 5 PM news.

I’m assuming the 11 PM VI News will also be done live out of Vancouver right before the CTV Vancouver 11:30 News.

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/vancouver-island/2023/6/15/1_6442394.amp.html
No news tonight - they have eTalk on at 11. Of course that may change next week for all we know.

CTV’s schedules say the 11 PM is back next week, which I assume will be done out of Vancouver.

All of CIVI’s newscasts were cancelled for the remainder of the week.

RadioActive · June 16, 2023 8:24 am

The Edmonton Elks of the CFL are paying tribute to the late CFRN with a special $12.60 ticket price and a "1260 Section" at the next home game on June 25th - which just happens to be against the Argos.

In addition, three of the prominent hosts from the station have recorded a special goodbye to listeners, as well as talking about their careers, what happens for them next and how radio has changed.

After Bell abruptly killed TSN 1260, Edmonton Elks plan to give station a proper farewell

SubMariner · June 16, 2023 9:00 am

RadioActive wrote:
... He also agreed that the end of AM is nigh, noting he's on 640, but 680, 1010 and all the others need to find a way onto the FM band if they're going to save the medium ...

Maybe they should come up with a way to put 3 or 4 individual audio channels on one FM station's signal. Give it some kind of fancy name, like HD-Radio.
https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=9805

Last edited by SubMariner (June 16, 2023 9:01 am)

paterson1 · June 16, 2023 9:55 am

RadioActive wrote:
The Edmonton Elks of the CFL are paying tribute to the late CFRN with a special $12.60 ticket price and a "1260 Section" at the next home game on June 25th - which just happens to be against the Argos.

In addition, three of the prominent hosts from the station have recorded a special goodbye to listeners, as well as talking about their careers, what happens for them next and how radio has changed.

After Bell abruptly killed TSN 1260, Edmonton Elks plan to give station a proper farewell

That is a nice gesture by the Edmonton Elks to do this for CFRN. Edmonton had 32 radio stations and TSN 1260 was the only sports radio in town. No doubt the station gave the Eskimos and now Elks lots of coverage and promotion over the years.

In it's day CFRN was a solid top 40 station, sort of the CHUM of Edmonton. Like Calgary, Edmonton is a busy and vibrant media town with two local daily papers, and 7 local television stations. But for now at least a city with 31 radio stations.

RadioActive · June 16, 2023 9:57 am

SubMariner wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
... He also agreed that the end of AM is nigh, noting he's on 640, but 680, 1010 and all the others need to find a way onto the FM band if they're going to save the medium ...
Maybe they should come up with a way to put 3 or 4 individual audio channels on one FM station's signal. Give it some kind of fancy name, like HD-Radio.
https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=9805

I like that solution but a) not enough cars have it and b) the stations themselves seem to have completely given up on it. A lot of them, especially AM 640, used to constantly air ads touting their HD signal. Now not one of them do, not even in the top-of-the-hour station IDs (which is what the American outlets do.) Instead, they're always tubthumping their latest apps to listen online.

I'm sure a lot of people do that, but there's nothing easier than simply turning on a radio and selecting your favourite station. No app to download and call up, no web browser, no phone interface and no data usage. So why hasn't it caught on?

I like what I've heard of HD so far, and use it in the car frequently, but the signals are occasionally fragile and sometimes if you turn the corner, they disappear. That won't work, either.

So while HD would seem to be one answer, it won't work if those who can get it don't know it's there. And those who broadcast on it refuse to promote it.

MJ Vancouver · June 16, 2023 10:38 am

RadioActive wrote:
SubMariner wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
... He also agreed that the end of AM is nigh, noting he's on 640, but 680, 1010 and all the others need to find a way onto the FM band if they're going to save the medium ...
Maybe they should come up with a way to put 3 or 4 individual audio channels on one FM station's signal. Give it some kind of fancy name, like HD-Radio.
https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=9805
I like that solution but a) not enough cars have it and b) the stations themselves seem to have completely given up on it. A lot of them, especially AM 640, used to constantly air ads touting their HD signal. Now not one of them do, not even in the top-of-the-hour station IDs (which is what the American outlets do.) Instead, they're always tubthumping their latest apps to listen online.

I'm sure a lot of people do that, but there's nothing easier than simply turning on a radio and selecting your favourite station. No app to download and call up, no web browser, no phone interface and no data usage. So why hasn't it caught on?

I like what I've heard of HD so far, and use it in the car frequently, but the signals are occasionally fragile and sometimes if you turn the corner, they disappear. That won't work, either.

So while HD would seem to be one answer, it won't work if those who can get it don't know it's there. And those who broadcast on it refuse to promote it.

Global BC and BC1 still frequently advertise 980 CKNW being available on 101.1 HD2, at least on their ticker.

We do have a high number of Teslas on the road there, so that could have something to do with it.

RadioActive · June 16, 2023 10:49 am

As far as I know, at least on the stations I monitor in the GTA frequently, their HD signals are never mentioned. Not even once. It's clear they've all but given up on it.

Radiowiz · June 16, 2023 10:55 am

RadioActive wrote:
I like that solution but a) not enough cars have it and b) the stations themselves seem to have completely given up on it.

I would LOVE to be able to just walk into a Walmart and buy an HD radio.
That would be nice. Too bad nobody sells them instore.

RadioActive · June 16, 2023 11:13 am

Radio World on Steeles Ave. West, a few blocks west of Dufferin, has home HD radios for sale. There's not a lot of them, and some aren't exactly cheap or portable (one is a table top model) but this one seems to be the cheapest, made by Sangean, a manufacturer I've always had good luck with.

Sangean HDR-14

RadioActive · June 16, 2023 11:42 am

All this talk about HD Radio coincidentally coincides with a survey being taken by a broadcast engineering company in the U.S., which wants to know how people feel about the technology and whether they use it. It's completely American but you may be interested in having a look at it, anyway. It's very short and many of the questions are yes or no.

It's not in-depth, but hey, at least someone is asking.

HD Radio Survey

Radiowiz · June 16, 2023 12:16 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Radio World on Steeles Ave. West, a few blocks west of Dufferin, has home HD radios for sale. There's not a lot of them, and some aren't exactly cheap or portable (one is a table top model) but this one seems to be the cheapest, made by Sangean, a manufacturer I've always had good luck with.

Sangean HDR-14

Too far. Not worth the bother.
Make it available at Walmart stores. Problem solved.