It’s no secret that traditional media, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television have been under sustained attack for a long time. Perhaps you think “attack” is an overkill term, but all these formats have suffered as advertising dollars have followed their readers, listeners, and viewers to other platforms, all internet-based, which have successfully pulled off the equivalent of a coup.

Canada has tried fighting back to some extent with the now in abeyance digital services tax. Newspapers have a digital subscription tax credit. Radio and TV continue to hemorrhage listeners and viewers, particularly for news operations. Those that remain are increasingly resorting to streaming and packaged feeds (think podcasts).

On the TV front, the 6 p.m. news programming, long a staple in many a Canadian household, is rapidly eroding. One wonders how long local ratings powerhouse BCTV/Global News at 6 can continue in its present format. Owner Corus Entertainment has all but scrapped the 11 p.m. newscast in favour of repackaged content from the suppertime broadcast.

Speaking of Corus, the company is essentially insolvent, its share price oscillating at around a few pennies. Locally, Corus owns and operates the Global TV channel, along with AM station CKNW 730 (the former 980 frequency has been shut down), and two FM feeds, CFOX 99.3 and Rock 101. All three remain relatively successful, or at least they were when ratings were last published. Ratings agency Numeris no longer releases metrics to the public.

CKNW long billed itself as the Top Dog, and indeed it frequently was on top, occasionally swapping places with CBC (which combined both AM and FM feeds). However, it is clear the radio operation is in survival mode. While it still has excellent talk show hosts such as Mike Smyth, Jill Bennett, Jas Johal, and longtime media personality Simi Sara continues to helm the early morning programming, the news side is another story altogether.

Essentially its news operation is no more. There are a couple of anchors, but no reporters. News reports seem to be captured from the TV side, and newscasts are only a few minutes long. No longer do we have, for example, “The Major News at 5 p.m.,” and at times the station simply carries a feed from the Canadian Press.

Another indication of the tough times facing CKNW was its Christmas Day programming. For years the station has dedicated the day to Christmas stories and music from around the world. This year we had a repeat of The Mike Smyth Show in the morning and Canadian Press news feeds. Presumably the station let its music licence lapse.

Last year the station moved down the dial to its former traffic station frequency 730, shutting down the old frequency and transmitter. While that move improved signal reach into downtown Vancouver, it alienated listeners in parts of the Fraser Valley.

As someone with a lifelong love for radio in its over-the-air form, it has pained me to move some of my listening to streaming. There’s no denying the excellent audio quality although sometimes I find the streamed voice so different from the AM radio voice that I can’t identify the personality.

As CKNW and other local stations promote their streaming capabilities they are exposing their Achilles heel. Distance is no longer an obstacle, and a station in Pretoria, South Africa, is as accessible as one in Vancouver. Streaming platforms such as iHeartRadio are an equalizer. In my own case I keep shortcuts to CKNW, CTV National News, iHeart 24/7 News, CP24 from Toronto, and to KFBK Sacramento (a station I’ve listened to over traditional radio for decades but whose AM signal has increasingly been overpowered by noise).

iHeart’s platform offers links to many radio stations and thousands of podcasts. CKNW’s early streaming issues on iHeart have mostly disappeared, although why the station chose iHeart rather than remaining exclusively with the RadioPlayer Canada service is not clear.

Some readers will have noticed a fundamental change in traffic reports carried by Corus on TV and radio. Gone are the traffic helicopter reports from the syndicated Canadian Traffic Network. The traffic report during the 6 p.m. TV news broadcast now consists solely of a camera view of a bridge with only a commercial overlay.

Longtime helicopter-based traffic reporter Trish Jewison had developed a large Twitter/X following for her wonderful photos of Metro Vancouver from the air. Although still doing radio traffic segments, she indicated through a recent post that she has thousands of photos still to process and eventually post.

Expect to see more changes to Corus operations here in Metro Vancouver. The company’s staggering debt needs to be re-shaped and it may well be that the debt holders become the owners. As the news readers on CKNW like to say, keep it locked here for the very latest!

TV note: the days of linear programming with content airing on fixed schedules are essentially over. More to the point, the days of watching content primarily on a large screen are also numbered. Netflix executives recognize this as they pressure creators to rethink movie formatting so viewers on mobile and portable platforms can more easily segment their viewing across multiple sessions.

Follow me on X (@PeterVogel) or on Bluesky (petervogel.bsky.social).

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