Sportsnet 960, 660 News fall in Rogers Sports and Media radio station closures

Downtown Calgary is pictured on Dec. 9, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

There was only dead air on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 and 660 News on Tuesday.

The Rogers Sports and Media radio products were caught up in a number of station closures, resulting in job cuts.

Rogers said in a statement there are “six radio stations in four markets closing due to declining audience and revenue trends.”

“Others are news and sports stations in Vancouver and news stations in Halifax and Kitchener.”

Altogether, 230 jobs “are impacted.”

In Tuesday’s statement, Rogers called the decision “difficult but necessary.”

The media giant said the decision was made “after a thorough review of our radio stations across the country.”

“We are grateful to our listeners and to our team for their contributions to the local community,” it said.

Rogers noted Sportsnet “will no longer produce Calgary Flames, Hitmen or Wranglers radio broadcasts.”

Peter Maher, the radio voice of the Flames for decades, called Tuesday “a sad, sad day.”

“I really feel for all of the guys and women that work at that radio station that now are no longer in work,” Maher told CTV.

“They certainly did contribute a whole lot to the Calgary sports scene and it’s certainly a huge, huge loss.”

Maher said Tuesday was “not a very good day at all for radio.”

Sean Kelso, the Flames’ vice-president of communications, told CTV the shutdown caught his organization by surprise.

He said the club was “blindsided” by the news from Rogers.

He said since the announcement is so fresh, the organization has no current plan for radio broadcasts for the Flames, Hitmen and Wranglers.

Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro, in another statement on Tuesday, noted “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,” Carreiro said.

From October to May of this past year, Rogers said its Calgary sports radio station had an average of just 1,200 listeners.

Rogers also said there will be “no changes to Rogers TV properties in Calgary.”

With files from CTV’s Shaun Frenette and The Canadian Press