Calgary woke up on July 7 with two fewer radio stations. By the time most people finished their morning commute, Sportsnet 960 The Fan and 660 NewsRadio were gone.
Six stations closed across four markets in total: Sportsnet 960 and 660 NewsRadio in Calgary, Sportsnet 650 and News 1130 in Vancouver, 95.7 NewsRadio in Halifax, and 570 NewsRadio in Kitchener.
"After a thorough review of our radio stations, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close six radio stations in four markets due to declining audience and revenue trends," Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro said in a statement. "The media business continues to face headwinds driven by declining advertising revenue and changing audience habits. These changes are part of our plan to focus our investment in areas that will drive growth long-term."
The jobs
The cuts affect 230 positions across the company, 80 of them in radio, a Rogers spokesperson confirmed. Hosts, producers, reporters, technical staff, and sales teams across six stations lost their jobs on a single morning. The company said it is grateful to its listeners and its team for their contributions to the local community.
Rogers continues to operate 44 radio stations in close to 30 communities across Canada.
What this means for Flames fans
There will be no more Flames radio broadcasts from Rogers. That is a different outcome than Vancouver, where Canucks radio production is moving to another Rogers-owned station in that market. Calgary has no other Rogers station to move to.
No broadcaster has announced plans to pick up Flames radio for next season. Fans can still watch every game on television and streaming. But fans who listen while driving or working will have no radio option unless another station picks up the broadcasts.
A century of history ended in one morning
These were not new stations. The frequency that became Sportsnet 960 traces back to 1922, when it launched as the Calgary Herald's radio affiliate. It spent decades as a music station before switching to an all-sports format in 2001, when Flames broadcasts migrated over from sister station 660.
660 itself was the radio home of the Flames through the 1980s and 1990s, the era of Peter Maher's iconic game calls, before becoming Calgary's all-news station. Between the two frequencies, more than a hundred years of Calgary broadcasting history went silent on the same day.
The 660 closure may matter more
The Sportsnet 960 closure is drawing the sports headlines, but losing 660 NewsRadio may hit the city harder day to day. 660 was Calgary's only all-news radio station: breaking news, traffic, weather, and civic affairs around the clock. Its closure leaves a city of 1.7 million people without a dedicated news radio station, during a summer that has already included tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm alerts, and flood advisories across southern Alberta. Radio remains the medium that works when the power is out and cell networks are congested.
Where listeners go now
For Flames coverage, the team's own digital channels and television broadcasts continue unchanged, and independent outlets covering the team remain active. For breaking news and traffic, Calgary is now down to television, digital outlets, and whatever local stations remain under other ownership. For emergency information specifically, the Alberta Emergency Alert system pushes warnings directly to phones, and weather.gc.ca carries live watches and warnings.
None of that fully replaces an all-news station with reporters in the city. It is a patchwork, and Calgarians will be assembling it themselves.
The timing
The closures came one day after Rogers Communications announced it had become the sole owner of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, parent company of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, paying $4.35 billion to buy out Kilmer Sports Inc.
The two announcements are separate business decisions. The contrast still landed hard with listeners: a $4.35 billion sports acquisition Monday, six local station closures and 230 job cuts Tuesday.
Sources:
Rogers Sports and Media, statement from spokesperson Zac Carreiro, July 7, 2026
Rogers Communications, MLSE sole ownership announcement, July 6, 2026
