David Boles
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
St. Albert Gazette
Mike Dahms still remembers the visceral response he had.
“I was like, ‘that’s stupid, that’s dumb to close down something that’s useful and just for the sake of progress,'” he remarked with a smile.
The Calgary-based chiropractor has lived in the city for years, and he and his wife have listened to Fan 960 for Flames hockey, Blue Jays games, and all things Calgary sports for just as long.
That is, until Rogers announced the station had gone off the air.
“(Sportsnet Radio Fan) 960 being closed is a mistake unless we can find that game, that coverage somewhere else,” said Dahms.
The popular Calgary sports station, the former longtime home of the Flames and the late great Peter Maher, wasn’t the only broadcasting property to get the axe. Rogers also pulled the plug on 660 News in the city, as well as radio stations in Vancouver, Halifax, and Kitchener, Ontario.
“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 a statement to The Canadian Press a few weeks ago.
It’s a message that rings a little hollow for Dahms, as well as veterans of the business who have been the victims of restructuring due to actions taken by those leading Canada’s broadcast media powers.
“I feel like in the last two to three years, there’s been so much intense change,” said Will Nash, a former FM radio host at stations throughout southern Ontario. “People are not getting the same information, entertainment, and resources that they had gotten before.”
“It’s a delicate balance, but you have to try;” Experts look at the way forward for broadcast media
Rogers isn’t the only company to make several changes to the landscape of Canadian media.
Corus Entertainment, the company that runs Global News, made several cuts in July and also moved production for the newscasts serving Edmonton and Calgary to Toronto.
“It’s (the Canadian media business) not in a good place,” said Edmonton-based MacEwan University assistant professor Neill Fitzpatrick, who himself had a long career in journalism.
“Corus is committed to local news and will maintain its local news delivery in Calgary and Edmonton,” Corus spokeswoman Annie Arnone said in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press.
It’s a view also shared by Ryan Jespersen, who runs his own successful independent podcast, Real Talk With Ryan Jespersen.
Prior to that, Jespersen was also starred as the host of his own program on the station formerly known as 630 CHED in Edmonton.
“We’re a small business and we operate like any small business has to operate. I think some of the mainstream outlets in a completely different reality, which is understandable. For many, many years, it was their advantage until it was their disadvantage,” said Jespersen.
Media companies making wide swathes of cuts is not a new trend. Bell Media has also repeatedly made cuts to its workforce and properties, including in 2021 when the Toronto-based company took some of its TSN Radio properties off the air in multiple communities, including Edmonton and Vancouver.
In the case of the latter station, the abrupt news about the station’s signal was announced, and was then followed by Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), the 1997 hit song by American rock band Green Day.
With stations being shuttered and news production being shifted outside of the communities doing local journalism, Fitzpatrick fears removing that deep connection will sever relationships between local outlets and the public that took years to develop and maintain.
“People are very loyal when it comes to local news. They may not trust big mainstream media as much as they used to, and we know they don’t. But when it comes to local connections, that’s so important,” said Fitzpatrick.
Despite lower share prices for corporate media conglomerates and changing ways people consume media, Fitzpatrick and Jespersen still see opportunities for local news to be delivered to the communities they serve.
For Fitzpatrick, broadcast media needs to engage with emerging technologies and popular platforms to expand their audience.
“The CBC, despite some warts, challenges and problems, has been experimenting with new methods of storytelling. There are versions of their stories on TikTok. They’ve made TikTok a priority. Not all Canadians know about it, but some do. And these stories go beyond the headline to better explain the issues. And they do it in an interesting way,” said Fitzpatrick. “It’s a delicate balance, but you have to try.”
For Jespersen, it’s a little different, as he believes the viability of independent media is great news for people who have carved out a role in Canada’s ever-changing media ecosystem.
“Independents, streamers, podcasters, YouTube hosts, have found a way to connect and grow to their audience because they have no other choice,” he said. “When they’ve given the audience something that is appealing or more appealing than the options that they’ve had in past, the audience is going to go where they’re best served.”
