Rogers Sports and Media is shutting down its Sportsnet 650 radio station in Vancouver and Sportsnet 960 station in Calgary, as well as four other stations across four cities.
Calgary's 660 NewsRadio is also being closed, along with Vancouver's 1130 AM, Halifax's 95.7 NewsRadio, and Kitchener's 570 NewsRadio.
The company said 80 total employees are affected by the closures.
It cited declining audience numbers and lower advertisement revenue for the decision.
“The media business continues to face headwinds driven by declining advertising revenue and changing audience habits. These changes are part of our plan to focus our investment in areas that will drive growth long-term," said Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro in an emailed statement.
"After a thorough review of our radio stations, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close six radio stations in four markets due to declining audience and revenue trends."
Carreiro said Rogers will continue to own and operate 44 radio stations in nearly 30 communities and would "invest in local news in the impacted markets.”
Rogers will continue broadcasting Vancouver Canucks games on one of its radio properties in that city but will no longer produce Calgary Flames broadcasts for radio.
It added that from October to May of this past year, its Calgary sports radio station had an average of just 1,200 listeners. The Vancouver sports station had an average audience of 2,100 listeners during that same period.
Rogers said its Sportsnet 590 station in Toronto will continue to operate.
There are 230 jobs across Rogers Sports and Media, about half of which are corporate and support roles such as sales, marketing and programming.
Rogers said cuts would affect a "small number of other on-air jobs across TV and radio" due to programming changes. That includes some unionized TV newsroom positions in Toronto and Vancouver.
The TV newsroom changes will begin with a voluntary departure program, with departures taking place in August.
In 2024, Rogers cut what it said was "a few dozen" jobs in its audio business, citing an unpredictable advertising market that had led to declining revenue.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
