By Canadian Press

Bell abandoning all-sports format at radio stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Hamilton

Feb 9, 2021 | 12:31 PM

Bell is dumping an all-sports format at three of its radio stations in Canada.

The company said on Tuesday that TSN 1040 AM in Vancouver, TSN 1290 AM in Winnipeg and TSN 1150 AM in Hamilton will no longer be all-sports stations.

Marc Choma, Bell’s director of communications, said in an email that the company is changing formats at the three stations “based on our successful approach in other markets.”

“It was a difficult decision, but the realities of the quickly evolving broadcast media landscape in Canada have made this change unavoidable,” read a statement posted on the Vancouver and Winnipeg stations’ websites. 

The Hamilton station has been rebranded as BNN Bloomberg Radio 1150 and will cover business, innovation, technology and sports.

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New formats for the Vancouver and Winnipeg stations have not been announced.

In Vancouver, the morning show cut away during a commercial break Tuesday before it was announced that the station would be “reprogrammed” as of Friday. The news was followed by Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” before the airwaves turned to music.

Bell still has TSN radio stations in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton.

A Corus radio station got the rights to Winnipeg Jets games last year, while a Rogers station has Vancouver Canucks rights.

The format changes come in the aftermath of layoffs by Bell across multiple platforms last week. TSN television reporters/anchors Dan O’Toole, Natasha Staniszewski and Brent Wallace wrote on social media they were among those to lose their jobs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press