COMMENTARY: Bell Media layoffs create widespread worry

Bell Media’s recent announcement of widespread layoffs and the sale of 45 of its regional radio stations to smaller owners has the potential to seriously disrupt the country’s media landscape. 

The move, which also includes the cancellation of all weekday noon newscasts at CTV stations except in Toronto as well as its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekend newscasts at all CTV and CTV2 stations except Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, raised the ire of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was quoted in the Canadian Press as saying he was “pissed off” about the decision. 

"We need those local voices, and over the past years, corporate Canada — and there are many culprits on this — have abdicated their responsibilities toward the communities that they have always made very good profits off of," said Trudeau.

Besides fewer national newscasts to watch, Niagara residents will also be affected by the sale of Bell Media radio stations CKTB 610 AM, CHRE 105.7 FM (Move 105.7) and CHTZ 97.7 FM (HTZ-FM) based in St. Catharines to Oakville-based Whiteoaks Communications Group Ltd.

When it comes to radio, especially local radio, those in the business have become used to layoffs and ownership changes. 

Long before my days writing for PelhamToday sister website, The Local, even before the start of my career as a high school teacher in Gananoque in 1993, I worked part time in local radio. 

My first job was as an overnight operator at CHRE FM in the days when it was owned by Robert E. Redmond. From there I became the weekend evening announcer and then helmed the weekend morning shifts at CHOW 1470 AM, a country station owned at the time by Gordon and Suzanne Rochon Burnett. I also later worked for Doug Setterington in the last days of 1220 CHSC AM in the late 1990s.

When Bell Media purchased those three St. Catharines radio stations in 2013, they became the fourth owner of them since 1997. Each time a sale occurred, and often during Bell Media’s tenure, I watched as many of my friends and colleagues fell victim to the axe. That indeed might happen again with this recent sale. 

Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa reached out to The Local to talk about the importance of local media such as radio. 

“Any loss of local radio would significantly affect our residents’ ability to gain information, to learn about things,” Zalepa said. “We don’t know how this will shake down yet. When they announced that it’s an Oakville company that is buying them it gave me hope that maybe someone there will find the business plan that can make it work.”

Like Zalepa, Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates listens to CKTB regularly. In fact, on Monday afternoon, Gates was heading to the Yates Street home of the Bell Media stations for a live interview about the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on the provincial Bill 124 that day. 

“Niagara-on-the-Lake relies on local media to engage its community,” Gates says. “I don’t think there’s a community that’s more engaged than Niagara-on-the-Lake. As an MPP, when I need to get a message across, local media, including radio, is a way to communicate with my community. That’s what my job is.”

With one less voice on the airwaves, which are regulated by the federal Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Gates is more than a little worried about where his constituents may turn to for news. 

“When it’s not being governed by anybody, you may not be getting the exact true story,” says Gates. “That’s something that’s really important. People want to know the truth.”

Despite the dire news from Bell Media, despite Trudeau’s anger, there actually could be a silver lining in the sale of the three stations. 

Since the last Bell Media cuts hit the St. Catharines trio, CKTB has been running limited local programming during the weekdays. Niagara in the Morning with Tim Denis signs off at 9 a.m. each day. Until former St. Catharines mayor Walter Sendzik signs on at 2 p.m. for the afternoon drive show, all programming on the station originates from Bell Media studios in Toronto. 

One hopes that Whiteoaks sees the value in local content and fills that time slot with new hosts who will engage the Niagara community and fill in the gap that has been missing anyway from that station the past few years. 

But I’m not holding my breath waiting for that, not even while I drive through the Thorold Tunnel.