Rogers made headlines last week when it shut down six sports and news/talk stations across Canada, laying off 230 employees in the process. The move sent shockwaves through Canadian radio, arriving just weeks after iHeartMedia’s own mass layoffs south of the border left hundreds without jobs. But according to Jon Pole, President and co-founder of My Broadcasting Corp., the Rogers cuts are a symptom of much deeper structural problems facing the industry — not an isolated event.
Pole’s company operates 26 stations across Ontario, making it the largest radio operator in the province by station count. From his vantage point, the issues facing Canadian radio go back decades, and they have little to do with whether the medium still works.
“Canadian radio’s challenge is that we had an incredible run in the 1990s when profits and margins were outstanding, much like they were in the United States,” Pole said. “Big companies came in and bought stations from really good operators, and I think there was a sense that running radio was easier than it actually is.”
Those companies, he explained, did what large corporations often do when they take over an industry they don’t fully understand. They prioritized numbers over relationships, and that shift set the stage for everything that’s followed.
Three Companies, One Problem
Canada’s radio landscape is dominated by three major players, and Pole believes that concentration has amplified the industry’s struggles rather than stabilized them. Since all three companies operate at a similar scale with similar priorities, their shared blind spots compound each other instead of canceling out.
“So you have companies focused primarily on financial performance rather than opportunity,” Pole said. “On top of that, all three of those companies are outstanding Canadian companies, but they’re so large that even a successful radio division isn’t particularly meaningful to their overall business because they make so much money elsewhere.”
That dynamic creates an uneven playing field for smaller, independent operators. Unlike the conglomerates, Pole doesn’t have other revenue streams to fall back on, and that reality shapes how he runs his business every single day.
“Radio is the only thing I do,” Pole said. “I have to innovate, scratch, claw, grind, meet people, and build great relationships.”
The disparity becomes even more glaring when comparing where the big companies choose to spend. Pole pointed to Rogers’ baseball investments as an example of misplaced priorities, noting the company poured hundreds of millions into signing players while radio divisions withered from neglect.
Staffing Cuts Have Gutted Sales Teams
Beyond corporate priorities, Pole says the most tangible damage shows up on the sales floor. Stations that once had ten salespeople now often get by with two, and that reduction directly limits how many advertisers a station can reach.
“It’s simple math,” Pole said. “Two people can’t call on as many clients as ten can.”
Sports and all-news formats, the exact formats Rogers eliminated, depend heavily on local advertising rather than national buys. Consequently, those stations need dedicated sales staff who understand how to court local business owners. Without that infrastructure in place, even a beloved station can quietly become unprofitable.
“It’s driven by local advertisers,” Pole said. “It’s the local business owner who gets in the truck every morning, listens because he loves the Leafs, the Canucks, the Red Wings, or whatever team matters in that market.”
Pole doesn’t believe the audience disappeared. Instead, he thinks the sales infrastructure needed to monetize that audience eroded over time, leaving passionate listener bases with no one working to convert that passion into revenue.
“Those stations survive because of local businesses,” Pole said. “When you don’t have a sales force out selling that product, this is what happens. It doesn’t mean the product isn’t loved. It simply means no one is bringing in the advertising dollars.”
Radio Isn’t The Cassette
Despite the challenges, Pole rejects the narrative that radio is dying. He’s heard that prediction his entire career, and yet the medium has consistently proven its critics wrong.
“The media hasn’t helped much either,” Pole said. “They’ve been predicting radio’s demise since I was 15 years old, and I’m 52 now.”
What’s changed, in his view, isn’t radio’s relevance but rather its willingness to act like it. Once an industry known for being culturally central, radio has settled into a passive role rather than fighting for attention.
“What’s changed is that our industry went from being cool and relevant because we did cool and relevant things to becoming just another option, no different than the cassette,” Pole said. “We can’t be the cassette.”
Looking ahead, Pole predicts consolidation will continue, though not in a way that eliminates opportunity entirely. He expects most markets to eventually settle around one dominant broadcaster running several stations with strong local programming, while smaller players compete for what remains.
“I think what we’ll eventually see is every market having one truly outstanding broadcaster operating three, four, or maybe five stations, depending on the market size,” the My Broadcasting Corp. President shared. “They’ll have strong newsrooms, larger staffs, traffic, weather, and local programming, and they’ll earn the lion’s share of the revenue.”
For Pole, the path forward requires investment, patience, and operators willing to treat radio as more than a line item. Turning around stripped-down stations, he cautioned, won’t happen overnight or without real financial commitment.
“It would take significant investment in people,” Pole said. “It would take experience and know-how. And it would require people who understand how to make radio work its magic again.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.