Six AM radio stations getting axed, three being sold
By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Bell CEO Mirko Bibic announced in an open letter Wednesday that the company is embarking on “organizational changes” that will impact 1,300 positions, the result of consistent revenue losses in several sectors.
The cuts are “largely” in management, which will see a reduction of six per cent and executive roles reduced by 20 per cent compared to 2020, Bibic said in the letter.
“The job reductions are consistent with but smaller than similar reductions announced by other leading technology and media companies across North America in recent months,” Bibic said.
Bibic noted that the company suffers over $250 million in landline phone losses every year, annual losses of $40 million in news, and profitability in the radio business that has been halved since the pandemic began.
“These are three examples, but they show that to succeed in today’s challenging economic, regulatory and competitive environment and be ready for what comes next, we need to accelerate our shift away from how telecom and media companies have operated in the past,” he said.
Bibic noted that existing vacant positions will be targeted to reduce the impact on active workers.
Bell Media president Wade Oosterman said in a team update letter Wednesday that six AM radio stations are closing as a result of the changes: Funny 1040, Vancouver; Funny 1290, Winnipeg; Funny 1060 Calgary; TSN 1260 Radio, Edmonton; BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410, Vancouver; and NewsTalk 1290 London.
In addition, Bell will sell AM Radio 1150, Hamilton; AM 820, Hamilton; and AM 580 Windsor.
The media division had recently signed an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery to boost its Crave portfolio of content. The company also launched last week a new advertising product, called Addressable TV, which it said will allow advertising clients to micro-tailor their ads to subscribers.
Bell’s vice president of news, Richard Gray, said in a note that CTV is closing its foreign bureaus in London and Los Angeles, eliminating all positions, and is reducing its Washington bureau to focus on news from the U.S. and the impacts on Canada.
It is also letting go of Rosa Hwang, CTV executive producer, but is adding Joanne Woo as news director of CTV News Channel and Manger of Ottawa news operations. Corey Bellamy will take over as director of digital growth.
Gray added that CTV is expanding its coverage of news. Effective immediately, it is adding journalists in four new provinces and videographers in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and Regina, Saskatchewan, with more coming later this year to Fredericton, New Brunswick and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
“These additions will put CTV National News journalists in every province for the first time ever, better positioning us to provide more comprehensive, cross-country news coverage while at the same time allowing our Local News teams to focus more on their respective communities,” Gray said.
Bell said the larger media industry is currently fighting inflation, a weak advertising market, and a lagging regulatory update to force online streamers to pay into the system. The consultations to implement the Online Streaming Act are still in their infancy, having just launched last month, though the CRTC has asked for comments much sooner than some wanted.
Corus and Quebecor have already asked the CRTC for relief on their Canadian content spending and local spending obligations, similarly citing the harsh financial climate. Quebecor said it may need to make “difficult choices” related to local programming.
Creative unions, in part, reliant on CanCon funding have asked the CRTC to reject Corus’s application.
