Closing Of CHML Latest Sign Of Demise For Local Journalism
For many Canadians the past month has witnessed the demise of two venerable broadcasting brands in the nation. First, they saw what could be the final CBC Sports-led production of a Summer Olympics. The drama and surprises of the recent Paris Games for Canada were a reminder of the many seminal moments in CBC’s history with the Olympics.
Donovan Bailey’s double golds in 1996. Ben Johnson’s DEI disqualification after winning the 1988 100 metres. Nancy Green’s gold in slalom in 1968. Caetrina LeMay Doan’s back-to-back golds in speed skating (1998 and 2002 Games). Greg Joy’s silver medal in high jump on the final day of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Gaetan Boucher’s double golds/ one bronze in speed skating medals in 1984. Clara Hughes’ bronze in both the road race and time trial at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta plus winning speed-skating medals in three straight Winter Olympics. We could go on.
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the retirement of anchor Scott Russell is one small precursor of what might come if Pierre Poilievre becomes prime minister in 2025. He has promised to take a scythe to the CBC budget, reportedly eliminating its preferred status as a broadcaster in Canada. (The Corp’s former dominance as a far-flung national signal transmitter disappeared with digital.)
Unless the government makes a special dispensation for Olympics, the Corp’s ability to broadcast a full Olympics in the future could be severely impacted if that happens (CBC has rights to 2026/ 2030 Winter Games & 2028/ 2032 Summer Olympics). The best CBC might do is a sharing agreement with private networks and, possibly, digital outlets like Amazon or Apple. Someone else will have to talk about statue gender equality and trans athlete rights in Milano/ Cortina (2026) and L.A. (2028). A bracing possibility for CBC lovers.
The other broadcast shocker was the sudden demise of Hamilton Ontario’s iconic CHML 900 radio station on August 14. Its owners at Corus shuttered the station with no fanfare or warning to its devoted listeners. For decades CHML (and CHCH TV) was the plucky electronic voice for the western end of the Golden Triangle, the buffer against the massive media voice coming out of Toronto.
Along with the CFL Tiger Cats, CHML personified the blue-collar sensibilities of Steel Town. The Cats were a touchstone of their identity with Perc Allen, Vince Mazza and Bob Bratina (later Hamilton mayor) on their crew. CHML was where local advertisers could pitch their products to the city and down the Niagara Peninsula. It was where local news had a voice. You got your local traffic and sports news first, not as a tag-end of a Toronto newscast.
Now, only the Hamilton Spectator stands as a remnant of a vibrant culture in what has become a booming residential market (and that as a pawn in national newspaper chain). As Hamilton’s population balloons, its identity and ability to reflect this new reality shrivels.
In its own way CHML was like many private stations across the country (CJAD, CJOB, CHED, CHQR, CKNW) that prospered by reflecting the local, not national perspective on news and sports. But two factors aligned against this model in the modern age. First, the advent of different delivery systems from digital to SiriusXM to grey market cut their listenership and savaged their advertising base.
They were not alone. “@cp_doge Legacy media is witnessing a decline in viewership, while 𝕏 continues to break new all-time usage records. This is because legacy media simply can’t compete with the hundreds of millions of people providing real-time information on 𝕏.”
Local stations like CHML, already fighting CBC for listeners, now were challenged by podcasts, independent opinions and a rapidly devolving demographic of aging listeners. They reacted by doubling down on their base, ignoring competing communities. This led to cutbacks, the elimination of familiar stars and the desertion of sponsors.
Second, when financial pressures got tight, many of these stations were bought and controlled by national chains. The economic formula for those stations switched from satisfying a local model of small businesses and city council to feeding a publicly held beast— the national chain. In the short term it brought stability and programming.
But as time went by, listeners noticed that the programming generated by the chain was Toronto-centric. The political slant was also dominated by the 416/613/514 axis. Attempts to localize the stations again via Toronto head office resulted in fly-over management.
Sports rights, often an asset to local programmers, were swallowed by the national all-sports media chains. In 2015 the Cats went to a Bell Radio station for a time, only to return to CHML til 2024. The death of the station sends the team games over to online and a smaller FM frequency.
Worse for local broadcasters, their solvency was now tied to the overall health of the chain. Problems elsewhere become their problems. In the case of CHML, that means the woes of publicly traded CORUS, which is now taking a financial beating. The company is madly slashing staff. ”By the end of August, Corus expects it will have reduced its full-time workforce by 25 per cent — or nearly 800 jobs — compared with September 2022. By the end of May, Corus had cut about 500 employees.”
The radio situation was prefigured by the demise of local Canadian newspapers which went from revenue-generators to welfare cases when they became married to large chains. When we arrived at the Calgary Herald in 1998, the paper had 11 full-time sports reporters and three editors. Now merged with the equally dismal Calgary Sun, there are three full-time reporters. The sports editor is in Edmonton. The paper is laid out in Hamilton. Door to door is non-existent.
The empty Herald/ National Post building, the most desirable real estate property at one time in the city, is now stripped of its presses and is used by a car rental company. The situation is replicated at many of the formerly great Canadian papers. The national chain model is dire with only the Globe & Mail as an semi-independent entity.
And yet this prime minister, dependent on their corporate donations, pumps millions into a sunset industry, propping up a few major communications firms bleeding red ink on the broadcast side (their phone/ communications branches keeps Rogers and Bell in business). Leaving local markets abandoned and neglected while unionized workers and wealthy owners scramble for the scraps left in the trough. As they say in the biz, That’s A Wrap.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.s.
The other broadcast shocker was the sudden demise of Hamilton Ontario’s iconic CHML 900 radio station on August 14. Its owners at Corus shuttered the station with no fanfare or warning to its devoted listeners. For decades CHML (and CHCH TV) was the plucky electronic voice for the western end of the Golden Triangle, the buffer against the massive media voice coming out of Toronto.
Along with the CFL Tiger Cats, CHML personified the blue-collar sensibilities of Steel Town. The Cats were a touchstone of their identity with Vince Mazza and Bob Bratina (later Hamilton mayor) on their crew. It was where local advertisers could pitch their products to the city and down the Niagara Peninsula. It was where local news had a voice. You got your local traffic and sports news first, not as a tag-end of a Toronto newscast.
Now, only the Hamilton Spectator stands as a remnant of a vibrant culture in what has become a booming residential market (and that as a pawn in national newspaper chain). As Hamilton balloons, its identity shrivels.
In its own way CHML was like many private stations across the country (CJAD, CBOY, CHED, CHQR, CKNW) that prospered by reflecting the local, not national perspective on news and sports. But two factors aligned against this model in the modern age. First, the advent of different delivery systems from digital to SiriusXM to grey market cut their listenership and savaged their advertising base.
They were no alone. “@cp_doge Legacy media is witnessing a decline in viewership, while 𝕏 continues to break new all-time usage records. This is because legacy media simply can’t compete with the hundreds of millions of people providing real-time information on 𝕏.” https://x.com/cb_doge/status/1826367199658881119
Local stations like CHML, already fighting CBC for listeners, now were challenged by podcasts, independent opinions and a rapidly devolving demographic of aging listeners. They reacted by doubling down on their base, ignoring competing communities. This led to cutbacks, the elimination of familiar stars and the desertion of sponsors.
Second, when financial pressures got tight, many of these stations were bought and controlled by national chains. The economic formula for those stations switched from satisfying a local model of small businesses and city council to feeding a publicly held beast— the national chain. In the short term it brought stability and programming.
But as time went by the listeners noticed that the programming generated by the chain was Toronto-centric. The political slant was also dominated by the 416/613/514 axis. Attempts to localize the stations again via Toronto head office resulted in fly-over management.
Sports rights, often an asset to local programmers, were swallowed by the national all-sports media chains. In 2015 the Cats went to a Bell Radio station for a time, only to return to CHML til 2024. The death of the station sends the team games over to online and a smaller FM frequency.
Worse for local broadcasters, their solvency was now tied to the overall health of the chain. Problems elsewhere become their problems. In the case of CHML, that means the woes of publicly traded CORUS, which is now taking a financial beating. The company is madly slashing staff. ”By the end of August, Corus expects it will have reduced its full-time workforce by 25 per cent — or nearly 800 jobs — compared with September 2022. By the end of May, Corus had cut about 500 employees.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/corus-entertainment-2024-q3-results-1.7263649
The radio situation was prefigured by the demise of local Canadian newspapers which went from revenue-generators to welfare cases when they became married to large chains. When we arrived at the Calgary Herald in 1998, the paper had 11 full-time sports reporters and three editors. Now merged with the equally dismal Calgary Sun, there are three full-time reporters. The sports editor is in Edmonton. The paper is laid out in Hamilton. Door to door is non-existent.
The empty Herald/ National Post building, the most desirable real estate property at one time in the city, is now stripped of its presses and is used by a car rental company. The situation is replicated at many of the formerly great Canadian papers. The national chain model is dead with only the Globe & Mail as an independent entity.
And yet the prime minister, dependent on corporate donations, pumps millions into this sunset industry, propping up a few major communications firms bleeding red ink. Leaving the local markets abandoned and neglected while unionized workers and wealthy owners scrambling for scraps in the trough.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.