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"BCE laying off 1,300 people and pulling plug on 9 radio stations across Canada" - CBC Canada

"In a separate internal memo, Bell Media president Sean Cohan said the company intends to divest 45 radio stations to seven buyers: Vista Radio, Whiteoaks, Durham Radio, My Broadcasting Corp., ZoomerMedia, Arsenal Media and Maritime Broadcasting. The sales are subject to CRTC approval and other closing conditions.

"That's a significant divestiture. It's because it's not a viable business anymore," said Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Here is a list of the sold Bell Media radio stations and their new owners:

CHOR, Summerland, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CJAT, Trail, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKKC, Nelson, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKGR, Golden, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKXR, Salmon Arm, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKCR, Revelstoke, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CJMG, Penticton, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKOR, Penticton, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CJOR, Osoyoos, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CICF, Vernon, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CHSU, Kelowna, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CILK, Kelowna, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKFR, Kelowna, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKNL, Fort St. John, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CHRX, Fort St. John, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CJDC, Dawson Creek, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKRX, Fort Nelson, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CFTK, Terrace, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CJFW, Terrace, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CHTK, Prince Rupert, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKTK, Kitimat, B.C. (Vista Radio).
CKLH, Hamilton, Ont. (Whiteoaks).
CHRE, St. Catharines, Ont. (Whiteoaks).
CHTZ, St. Catharines, Ont. (Whiteoaks).
CKTB, St. Catharines, Ont. (Whiteoaks).
CKLY, Lindsay, Ont. (Durham Radio).
CKPT, Peterborough, Ont. (Durham Radio).
CKQM, Peterborough, Ont. (Durham Radio).
CFJR, Brockville, Ont. (My Broadcasting Corporation).
CJPT, Brockville, Ont. (My Broadcasting Corporation).
CFLY, Kingston, Ont. (My Broadcasting Corporation).
CKLC, Kingston, Ont. (My Broadcasting Corporation).
CJOS, Owen Sound, Ont. (ZoomerMedia).
CHRD, Drummondville, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CJDM, Drummondville, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CFEI, St-Hyacinthe, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CFZZ, St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CIKI, Rimouski, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CJOI, Rimouski, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CFVM, Amqui, Que. (Arsenal Media).
CIKX, Grand Falls, N.B. (Maritime Broadcasting).
CJCJ, Woodstock, N.B. (Maritime Broadcasting).
CKBC, Bathurst, N.B. (Maritime Broadcasting).
CKTO, Truro, N.S. (Maritime Broadcasting).
CKTY, Truro, N.S. (Maritime Broadcasting)."
 
Interesting they kept Barrie, Sudbury, Frederecton, Windsor, Pembroke, and Brandon. BTW Corus and Rogers are rivals in Kingston while leaving Hamilton and Niagra was suprising along with Kelowna in terms of radio markets.
 
Some of those pickups are by good radio groups unlike Bell. Seems like a positive development for those stations. Hopefully they will hire and retain what little staff there probably was left at them.
 
My guess is the Bounce and/or Pure Country identities will be going away (like at CJDC or CKOR). I'm surprised that Bell isn't just turning the AMs off, but I get why Dawson Creek is still on AM. There's a lot of nothing up there, and some little towns get few or no FMs.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
But it's good for shareholders, that's all that ever matters according to the usual suspects here.
Click to expand...
It's also good for the thousands of remaining employees who can have better confidence in the future of the company.

The entire communications and telecommunications business has been and is going through huge changes. Companies that want to survive have to adapt to those changes, or they will be out of business.

By the way, the bulk of shareholders of companies like that are pension funds of both government and unions, the equivalents of 401-k's in each nation, and mutual funds of people planning for a safe retirement in the future.
 
DavidEduardo said:
It's also good for the thousands of remaining employees who can have better confidence in the future of the company.
Click to expand...
It has been my experience and personal observation that, following significant layoffs, the feeling of remaining employees is not one of ”better confidence“ but rather a realization that the company is likely in a downward spiral, and people are bracing themselves for the (perhaps inevitable) next round of cuts.

Years ago, following the latest round of layoffs where I worked, one manager suggested that the remaining staff should get together for some sort of social event to in effect celebrate our survival of the latest turmoil, as well as boost morale. Everyone dismissed the idea as insensitive and crass.

It is sort of like soldiers returning from a wartime mission after seeing many of their buddies get killed. You wonder if your time will be up during the next battle. Nobody is celebrating, but quietly thankful that “it wasn’t me this time.”
DavidEduardo said:
The entire communications and telecommunications business has been and is going through huge changes. Companies that want to survive have to adapt to those changes, or they will be out of business.
Click to expand...
On that point I completely agree with you.
 
Bell can’t cut their programming too dramatically in some markets. Ottawa is a good example, as they are the only other game in town other than CBC for local news. Corus doesn’t operate a local station for that market. Trimming probably makes sense in other markets, though.

With all of that being said, I wouldn’t feel too inspired if I were a Bell employee at this point. Every media company has to make some cuts, but there’s something particularly ruthless when it comes to Bell, which has led to average consumers taking notice. It always coincides with Bell’s “let’s talk” day for mental health, which a lot of people seem to dislike. It’s just business, but it’s not a great look. Add that to the Lisa Laflamme fiasco, and you don’t exactly have a recipe for positive reactions from the general public. Maybe it doesn’t matter (or shouldn’t matter), but you still have to convince the general public why they should listen to your radio station or consume your news.
 
Just an added note that Bell may have gotten a lucky break, selling at the right time because the CRTC is not granting any NEW broadcast licences for the next two years. This makes desire to buy all the more greater.
 
The CRTC has finally approved the sale of CKTB, CHTZ-FM, and CHRE-FM St. Catharines, and CKLH-FM Hamilton, to the company now known as Golden Horseshoe Broadcasting. That company is now owned by Michael Caine's estate through various subsidiaries after he passed away in July. Golden Horseshoe has proposed no changes to the stations' formats or branding but will increase the amount of news on CKTB per its application.

The sale price was an impressive CAD $23M ($22.5M for the assets plus roughly 0.5M for the leases), the equivalent of about USD $16M.

Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2024-336 | CRTC

crtc.gc.ca crtc.gc.ca
 


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