Newsroom cut by half as Kamloops' Radio NL transitions to music

More than half the newsroom at a long-standing radio station in Kamloops, B.C., has been let go as part of a transition from a talk to music format.

On Tuesday, Steve Jones, president of Stingray Radio, told CBC News that the company's Kamloops station CHNL — branded as Radio NL — was undergoing a format change that will include a "mix of music, news, sports and community information."

"As a result of this difficult decision, some positions were impacted in news and programming," Jones said in an email.

The radio station has had a decades-long grip on news in the Interior and beyond, breaking stories and covering everything from emergencies to courts and city hall.  

Radio NL news director Paul James told the Canadian Press that four of seven journalists have been let go, but they will still be maintaining a newsroom. 

The news came after Brett Mineer, a longtime reporter for the station, posted to X that "the entire Radio NL newsroom has been terminated."

His post was widely shared, including by B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, who wrote on X that "the closure of Radio NL's newsroom is just bad for local journalism."

Scheduled talk radio programs had already been replaced by music programming on Tuesday morning.

CHNL has been broadcasting to the Kamloops area on the AM band since 1970, and has undergone several format changes over the decades.

It was one of more than 100 licences purchased by Stingray Digital Group Inc. in 2018. 

The reduction of its newsrooms follows the closure of Kamloops This Week, the city's last remaining print newspaper, in the fall of 2023, leaving the city of 98,000 residents with just a handful of local news outlets focused on broadcast and online.

In his email, Jones noted that multiple AM radio stations in Canada have closed in recent years, saying "Stingray still believes in AM radio and in the role that Radio NL will continue to play as an important voice in the Kamloops community."

James said the ability of radio stations, particularly in the smaller communities, to maintain a news-talk operation has become less financially viable.