How Edmonton resurrected sports radio without TSN or Sportsnet's help
Who says Rogers and Bell Media have the final say on sports radio in Canada?
Over the past several years, sports radio stations across Western Canada have been dying off. Earlier this month, Rogers killed off Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, leaving both cities without all-sports radio.
That follows decisions from Bell Media to shutter Vancouver’s TSN 1040 in 2021 and Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 in 2023.
Edmonton was a victim of this downward trend, with the TSN 1260 station being abruptly pulled off the air by Bell Media in 2023. The Alberta capital has since rebounded, bringing back all-sports radio without the help of the major Canadian telecommunications companies.
The city currently boasts two dedicated all-sports radio platforms, with Sports 1440 broadcasting to AM radio audiences over the airwaves, while Edmonton Sports Talk pioneers an online-only approach that also dips into FM radio.
Neither platform has any affiliation with Rogers or Bell Media.
That is in large part due to the work of two former TSN 1260 on-air hosts, Jason Gregor and Dustin Nielson.
Returning to the AM dial
Jason Gregor moved quick to get Sports 1440 on the air. (@jasonwgregor/Instagram)
Gregor, the owner of Just A Game Productions, was essential in bringing Sports 1440 to life. He partnered with Stingray Radio just three months after TSN 1260’s demise.
“[TSN 1260] was making money, it was a profitable station, so it wasn’t due to profits, it was due to the lack of a proper vision as to why they shut it down,” Gregor told Daily Hive. “[Sports radio] was a comfort for [Edmonton sports fans] in their life… It became very habitual for people.
“To take that away is difficult and hard, and it’s a big reason why I decided to really work to push radio back.”
Gregor and Stingray worked fast to make this happen, jumping on existing infrastructure and developing a plan that works. The quick turnaround and the strong partnership between Gregor and Stingray Radio are key reasons why Sports 1440 was so successful out of the gate.
Stingray Radio president Steve Jones told Daily Hive that time is of the essence for Vancouver and Calgary to do the same. The longer it takes, the more difficult it will get.
“I think it’s going to take time, because once you lose it, it’s hard to get it back. Once the infrastructure that powers [sports radio in Calgary and Vancouver] is dismantled, it’s hard to rebuild it,” Jones told Daily Hive.Ā
“It might never come back to those markets; that’s a real problem for those markets.”Ā
Finding the right ownership
Rogers shut down Sportsnet radio stations in Vancouver and Calgary. (@linaset/Instagram)
There has been a lot of anger toward Rogers and Bell when it comes to abruptly shutting down sports radio stations across the country. It has alienated fans in Western Canada who feel that those companies are prioritizing Toronto over markets like Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
Jones is in a unique position when it comes to the Canadian media scene. Unlike Rogers or Bell, radio is the top priority for Stingray. It’s their main driving force for everything they do, and it makes sense that they would have more patience for the medium.
He says that just isn’t the case for major telecoms that have dipped their toes into the sports radio business.
āI don’t have a view inside the decision-making process at Rogers or Bell. They have a whole bunch of other interests in media and beyond that take their focus away from radio… So radio becomes, in some cases, kind of small on their [profit and loss] statement,” Jones said.
Evolving the medium
Dustin Nielson is the driving force behind Edmonton Sports Talk. (@reidwilkins/Instagram)
But what about Edmonton Sports Talk?
Nielson finds himself on the other side of the coin when it comes to an evolving sports media landscape, working as an on-air host and CEO of Edmonton Sports Talk.
The 45-year-old broadcaster was a veteran of Edmonton’s AM sports radio scene with TSN 1260, having hosted the station’s highly successful morning show since 2009. Nielson told Daily Hive that he had an offer to return to Edmonton AM radio after TSN 1260 shuttered, but he declined.
Instead, he opted to go with an online streaming platform that mimics sports radio through live shows on YouTube.
“If you do a good show and the station still gets killed, you’re like, ‘Well, what did we do wrong?’ and it wasn’t that we did anything wrong,” Nielson said. “It was that the companies don’t want to spend money on AM radio anymore. Why would I want to stay on AM radio at that point?”
Nielson’s morning show recently jumped to FM radio as well, airing on Edmonton’s 97.5 Cruz FM. The concept of having sports-talk radio move to the FM dial is a novel concept in Canada, and even Jones mentioned that it could be the future of sports radio in Canada.
“When you combine the clear quality of an FM signal with the digital distribution on platforms like TuneIn, Radio Player Canada, or iHeart, you get distribution to a whole generation of people who don’t even know that AM radio exists,” Jones said.
“You offer people the opportunity to take that with them wherever they go, outside of the signal area or around the world.”Ā
It was a risk to move away from such an established medium like AM radio to pursue an online-only format, but Nielson doesn’t seem to have any regrets.
“It’s been almost three years, and we now have more employees here than we did at 1260. The internet, barring something that I haven’t seen coming, isn’t going to be cancelled anytime soon, so I think we’ll probably be okay.”
Unrivalled community support
Out of the ashes of TSN 1260 rose two dominant sports radio alternatives for Edmontonians. Both have been operating for just under three years and seem to be having success co-existing.
Getting away from those big telecoms has helped bring stability, and the passion of Gregor and Nielson helped build the brands. Yet, it would have been all for naught without the support of both Edmonton sports fans and a bevy of eager advertisers willing to spend money with both outlets.
“We make a living off of advertisers, it’s as simple as that. If we didn’t have them, it wouldn’t work. If we didn’t have our massive following, that would lead to being beneficial for the clients, it wouldn’t work,” Nielson said.
“It really all comes down to having a loyal following that’s followed us here and continues to grow.”
It was a combination of Gregor and Nielson going to work and building out two separate, successful business models, and the market responding positively to it.
Reviving sports radio in Vancouver and Calgary will be a major project for whoever takes it on, but somebody will need to take the risk if the medium has any hope of surviving in those cities.