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Rogers shutters Vancouver’s Sportsnet 650 in mass radio station closures
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Jul 7, 2026, 15:37 EDT
It’s a sad day for Vancouver Canucks fans and radio listeners all around Canada.
On Tuesday morning, Rogers Sports and Media shut down Vancouver’s Sportsnet 650, effective immediately. Along with Sportsnet 650, 1130 NewsRadio will also be coming off the airwaves in Vancouver.
Vancouver was not the only market affected by the mass closures. 660 News Radio and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary were both shut down, along with NewsRadio 95.7 in Halifax and 570 NewsRadio in Kitchener. As a result, Rogers has cut 230 jobs across all affected networks.
Rogers Sports and Media released this official statement regarding Vancouver’s disclosures, which also described the decision as based on “declining audience and revenue trends”:
“After a thorough review of our radio stations across the country, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close Sportsnet 650 and News 1130 in Vancouver. We are grateful to our listeners and to our team for their contributions to the local community.”
Throughout the network, Canucks fans could start their morning or commute to work by listening to Halford & Brough with Mike Halford and Jason Brough, who were on the air from 6 AM PT to 9 AM PT. Then at noon, Jamie Dodd and The Athletic’s Thomas Drance hosted CanucksTalk for two hours. An hour of The People’s Show with Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Lina Setaghian at 3 PM PT would lead into Canucks Central with Satiar Shah and Bik Nizzar, rounding out the day. And on game days, radio play-by-play broadcaster Brendan Batchelor and colour commentator Randip Janda would call the game, followed by the postgame show with Shah and Nizzar.
According to the company, radio production of Canucks games will move to another Rogers Sports & Media-owned station in the market, while Sportsnet will step away from producing Calgary Flames radio broadcasts entirely.
The news comes one day after Rogers Communications became the sole owner of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment after purchasing the final 25% of the company for $4.35 billion.