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TSN Radio demolished in new round of Bell Media cuts, employees found out on Twitter.

Feb 10, 2021

These cuts have ALL been huge, but today’s programming changes and subsequent job losses at TSN properties across Canada are historic.


Bell Media basically turned off its flagship TSN sports radio brand across Canada, opting to play a bunch of comedy records instead of doing sports radio.

Everyone was fired without notice today.  Everyone.


Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver (TSN 1040), a 20-year heritage sports institution in Vancouver, are no longer thanks to restructuring at Bell, which rocked Toronto last week, culminating in Dan O’Toole’s exit from Jay and Dan.

Source: Tuesday started off like any other day at TSN 1040, with morning hosts Mike Halford and Jason Brough signing on at 6 a.m. However, listeners knew something major was about to happen after TSN 1040’s Twitter account was deactivated and the third hour of the Halford & Brough morning show was yanked and replaced with U.S. radio programming from ESPN. Listeners were then told an announcement on the future of TSN 1040 would made at 9:30 a.m. That announcement said CKST would re-launch Friday with a new format.
The announcement came so suddenly, some staff members only learned of the news via social media. Next week’s shift schedule was only sent out this morning. The station’s management only learned of the closure minutes before the mics were turned off remotely.

 

This is almost a fucking crime. You can’t apply the ‘it’s just business’ tag to this story either.  Bell fired TSN employees while they were on the radio across the country at the exact same time.  They simulcast a prerecorded message (above)  in every time zone on those TSN stations.  30 minutes prior to simulcasting the message, the staff were told to clean up and get the fuck out before corporate security implemented a ‘shut down’.
That’s new.  
1. Radio is dead, in Canada.  Especially AM radio.  Bell is basically risking what little reputational capital they still have.  They just shoved all their sports radio chips into the middle of the table because it’s time to go home.  FM radio is next and other big media corps will follow.
2. Bell’s ‘Let’s Talk’ initiative feels like nothing more than a PSYOP campaign.  For a company whose major, corporate focus is the promotion of life-saving mental health resources, firing human beings with a pre-recorded message from 2000 miles away isn’t cool.  It’s the opposite.  It says no one was concerned with doing the right thing for human beings responsible for their success. Did they fire everyone, managers included, from Toronto, turning everything off from Toronto and the majority of employees finding out at home through texts and social media from friends and colleagues?   
Yes, and it’s just business. But it’s bad business to contradict your corporate mission while taking government handouts to pay shareholder dividends.  It’s bad business to fire people in a 30-second promo on a radio station.
I’m sorry to everyone who was marginalized by Bell’s process today. You are worth more and deserve better.
Keep an eye out because this is just the beginning, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean Blundell

Dean Blundell is a Canadian radio personality. Best known as a longtime morning host on CFNY-FM (The Edge) in Toronto, Ontario. In 2015 he was named the new morning host on sports radio station CJCL (Sportsnet 590 The Fan). Dean started his career in radio in 2001 and for nearly 20 years been entertaining the radio audience. Dean’s newest venture is the launch of his site and podcast which is gaining tremendous momentum across North America.

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