Recently, storied Vancouver AM radio station CKNW celebrated 80 years on the air. That’s an accomplishment in any business avenue, but in AM radio especially it may become one that’s difficult to duplicate going forward. Daytime talk show host Mike Smyth read an 80th anniversary announcement: “80 years, here’s to another 80.” I’m not sure if he was making it up, but surely he didn’t believe it.
In CKNW’s case, it may even be difficult to envisage the station still on the air eight years down the road, let alone 80, given the financial straits of owner Corus Entertainment. Someone more cynical might even shorten that to say eight months. One only has to look at the station’s weekend programming to realize something isn’t right. It is almost wall-to-wall infomercial programming.
It was rather sad to hear TV sportscaster Squire Barnes running a lengthy 80th anniversary promo touting famous CKNW sports voices from the past – sad in the sense that there is no current radio sports employee to honour all those great names.
All the legacy media face fiscal woes, be it in the newspaper space, radio, or television. Corus has seen its stock price plunge to delisting territory, in the 10 cents range, and its overall market capitalization drop to the low tens of millions of dollars. Cast that against a corporate debt in excess of a billion dollars. In essence, Corus , once a powerhouse in Canadian media circles, is bankrupt. Its debt presumably has covenants that must be met on certain dates. If not met, debt holders can take action.
In part, the likely demise of Corus was hastened when its TV operations lost the rights to several lucrative channels such as HGTV, Food Network, and Cooking Channel, snapped up by Rogers Communications. Somewhat ironically, Corus is essentially controlled by the Shaw family, which earlier sold its stake in Shaw Communications to Rogers.
Any action involving Corus is pure speculation at this point. Presumably the executive team at Corus is doing what it can to stave off precipitous action. Some of that is being seen in shuttered stations and staff layoffs. Locally we’ve seen some of that with the all-traffic station AM730 shutting down. Layoffs have mostly been behind the scenes, but that’s changing.
Staffing at both the radio and TV Corus operations here in Vancouver has been reduced. On the radio side, the once storied Warren Barker news operation has been reduced to a bare bones state. Newscasts are typically only two or three minutes long, and often share segments from the TV side. CKNW’s most recognized reporter, Janet Brown, recently left the station with very little notice. Brown was a particularly solid reporter when it came to issues in the Surrey-Langley area.
It’s no secret that legacy radio, particularly on the AM side, is in trouble in North America. Three years of the COVID pandemic reduced time spent in vehicles where much of AM radio drew its listening audience. It’s not likely this audience will rebuild despite the back-to-the-office movement taking hold. Vancouver has lost three AM stations over the past three years. Additional losses are likely.
Then there is the matter of electric vehicles, particularly Teslas, having no AM radio whatsoever. There have been some political moves in the United States to have this slide away from AM radio halted, but it may be too late. One argument for keeping AM radio is a public safety one, with a claim that a dozen or so AM stations could cover the entire United States should announcements have to reach everyone.
Meanwhile, as this column was being written, came word from Kamloops that longtime AM station Radio CHNL had more or less eliminated its newsroom. Owner Stingray Group released a statement after a tweet was posted by one of the terminated employees, Brett Mineer. “Today some changes were made at Radio NL in Kamloops to ensure the radio station’s long-term viability and commitment to the community. As a result of this difficult decision, some positions were impacted in news and programming. Our remaining news team at Radio NL will continue to provide the most local newscasts throughout the day reflecting all that is important in our community.”
BC Premier David Eby, in the midst of a provincial election campaign, felt compelled to weigh in on the layoffs, tweeting “The closure of Radio NL’s newsroom is just bad news for local journalism. @RadioNLNews has long been a trusted source of information for the community, and @MineerBrett voice has been a steady presence in their lives.”
AM radio, known in other parts of the world as MW (medium wavelength), has already vanished in some countries. The same may well happen here, possibly to be replaced by some sort of digital format. Readers of likely remember CKNW for its billing as “Top Dog Radio” and “BC’s Most Listened To Radio Station.”
Anyone under 25 today likely wouldn’t even recognize the station call letters.
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Rogers tries negative option billing again. Have you found your cable TV bill summarily increased mid-contract? The company has decided it wants payment for the second (and more if you have them) digital box and has begun adding that charge to ongoing contracts. Don’t stand for it. Point out that a contract cuts two ways. Demand that the change be reversed.
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