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The Kingston, Ont. 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.
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Postmedia has learned 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.
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“Corus’s commitment to serving our audience across the country remains stronger than ever, and we will continue to tell important local news stories that matter to Canadians,” the statement read.
All staff were informed of the cuts on Thursday morning, the Whig has learned, with many staff sent home Thursday.
The cuts come on the heels of its stock plummeting to 12 cents a share on Tuesday. Its shares have fallen from a peak stock price of $25.16 on Mar. 8, 2013, a decrease of 99.52% in a decade.
The company announced this week that its shareholders suffered a net loss of $769.9 million in the third quarter of 2024 and $747 million so far this year. It also lost key programming rights to Warner Bros Discovery Inc., which will transfer to Rogers Communications Inc. after Dec. 31. The channels affected, including HGTV, The Food Network, and the Cooking Channel, have been significant revenue makers for Corus.
During Corus’s conference call earlier this week, chief financial officer John Gossling said the company expects to reduce its workforce by 25 per cent by August. As of May, Corus has already let go some 500 employees.
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