Corus Entertainment has released its on air-talent at its Kingston radio stations as it continues an ongoing workforce reduction in the name of cost-cutting.
In its Q3 earnings call on Monday, the company indicated another 300 full-time staff would be laid off before the end of August as Corus looks to complete a 25% workforce reduction (equivalent to 800 f-t positions) that began at the outset of its 2023 fiscal year.
On Thursday, staff at 96.3 BIG FM (CFMK-FM) and Fresh 104.3 (CKWS-FM) were reportedly informed of the news, with most shows notably absent from both station websites. An unknown number of cuts were also made at Global News Kingston.
“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,” Corus said, in a statement supplied to media. “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.”
Earlier in the week, Corus confirmed the elimination of a number of positions at its kids content producer and distributor Nelvana, as all development activities at the studio are paused.
Unifor ‘deeply concerned’
Unifor said this week it is “deeply concerned” about the impact of the cuts on journalists and other media workers across the country.
“Every time an announcement like this comes in the media sector, it’s both heartbreaking and boils my blood,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne, in a statement. “The media sector is under extreme threat, and we are at a critical juncture where we need life-saving intervention, including a plan from every single political party in Canada, to save local news. We would expect this necessary plan to receive all party support so that media workers can see this country supports fact-based journalism and democracy.”
Unifor says it’s been informed of cuts in both Global’s online and community news divisions, resulting in “a hollowing out of local news coverage.”
“While on the surface, it may seem that communities are receiving a local newscast, most content is coming from a centralized hub, rather than journalists and media workers on the ground in the local communities themselves,” the union stated.
“The workforce of media companies has been eroded to the point of evisceration,” added Payne. “News coverage is distributed from a main trough and companies are slashing and burning bodies as a result. It’s a courtesy nod to the local coverage, rather than investing in local news.”
Corus stock closed at 11 cents on the TSX Thursday after trading down earlier in the day.
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