Kinsgton ON Radio: Corus Blows Out Radio Staff

The local Kingston voices on the airwaves for Corus Entertainment went silent suddenly on Thursday, with all local radio personalities laid off and changes to Global TV Kingston forthcoming as well.

On Thursday afternoon, the regular daily radio shows featuring local jocks were notably absent from the Fresh Radio and Big FM websites. Its daily radio shows featured the likes of Sideshow, Monica and Jesse, as well as shows featuring Bill Welychka, Care and Derek Bolduc.

The Whig-Standard reports that along with cutting all of its on-air talent on both radio stations, Corus also made deep cuts to its Global TV Kingston staff, though an exact number wasn’t clear by Thursday afternoon.

In a statement released by a Corus Entertainment spokesperson late Thursday, the company confirmed it made cuts to staff, without confirming how many, but said it plans to keep the stations active in the market.

“As part of our efficiency review process across Corus, we have made some difficult but necessary changes to create a more sustainable future for the company,” the statement read. “As a result, certain roles have been impacted across our news and audio business.

“On the audio side, BIG 96.3 and Fresh 104.3 will remain in Kingston, and the stations will utilize voice tracking to continue to produce local content made for and reflecting Kingston. In the news division, we have reimagined our broadcast schedule in Kingston, Peterborough, and Kelowna with a focus on supper hour and late-night news programming. Additionally, our local online team will now operate under a new model to better support local breaking news.

All staff were informed of the cuts on Thursday morning, the Whig has learned, with many staff sent home Thursday.

The company reported a significant net loss of $769.9 million CAD, with revenue dropping to $331.8 million CAD from $397.3 million CAD in Q3 20231. Radio revenues fell by 9.9% year-over-year to $23.6 million CAD, and television revenue saw a substantial 17% decline from $371.2 million CAD to $308.2 million CAD.

The company is facing a challenging advertising environment, which has heavily impacted its financial performance. In response, Corus is implementing cost-cutting measures, including a 25% workforce reduction and cuts to radio and TV channels2. These steps are part of a broader strategy to right-size the business and improve profitability.

With 500 cuts made earlier this year across the company, it now intends to cut 300 more positions by the end of August.