In a way, we always knew this day could come, but it was a gut-wrenching blow to Vancouver Canucks fans nonetheless. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look around the sports media landscape to see how much the ground has shifted over the past few years. From podcasts, YouTube shows and on-demand content, it was clear as day the changing of the guard for where and how fans got their Canucks fix.
I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
On Tuesday, February 9th, the former radio home to the Vancouver Canucks and original all-sports radio station, TSN 1040, ceased operations. Starting Friday, the station will be shifting to an all-comedy format.
Seems like a bad joke to me.
Growing up as a Canucks fan in the early 2000s, sports radio was the only fix for a burgeoning hockey addict. The words of the radio host were like gospel. And the callers, at times of wavering lucidity, the pulse of Canucks fans around the province. From hare-brained trade ideas, hockey takes of varying temperatures, or just banter about everyday life, TSN 1040 was the soundtrack to a long car ride home.
Call it naivety, but I believed the loyal listener base of Vancouver could sustain two sports radio stations. However, a look inside Bell’s shareholder reports reveals how inconsequential the radio business was to them. Even when dealing with a line item that could stir as much attachment and passion as sports radio, it all came down to the numbers for a conglomerate like Bell.
The numbers no longer made sense for Bell
Fans were quick to jump on social media Tuesday to express their confusion about the abrupt move. Based on the company’s most recent financial report, the overall company seemed to be maintaining profitability. Not to mention receiving over $120 million in government funds over the past year.
from Bell’s Q4 financial report: pic.twitter.com/qjQnLJM0Ib
— thomas (@sludgewilliams) February 9, 2021
But a quick review of their 2019 Annual Report shows a clearer picture. What means a whole lot to us, is an afterthought for Bell. As a proportion of the total operating revenue generated from Bell Corporation in 2019, the radio division accounted for less than 2% of the overall gross. Throw in a 2020 pandemic and plummeting advertising dollars, the lifeblood of the radio industry, and things get even more complicated.
Corporations concerned with bottom lines making unemotional decisions based on money is nothing new. But what boggles my mind is the cruel and sudden manner in which Bell unplugged a long-standing Canucks platform.
https://twitter.com/ChrisFaber39/status/1359195321469792260
Similar to the sudden layoffs of TSN anchors barely a week after their #BellLetsTalk mental health campaign (some of whom struggled with mental health), the move Tuesday showed a lack of empathy as to what the radio station and personalities meant to the Vancouver Canucks fans around the world. The listeners and staff deserved a proper send-off, and for whatever reason, the corporate powers that be thought otherwise.
So that’s it. After two decades of building a loyal fanbase in Vancouver, the anchors have signed off, and the switchboards are unplugged. Bell delivered a clear message to sports radio fans across the country on Tuesday. Based on the angry reaction of Canucks fans, it was a message heard loud and clear.