A long-standing talk radio station in Kamloops, B.C., is transitioning to a music format as it reduces its news-gathering capabilities in the Interior city.
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.
“Our remaining news team at Radio NL will continue to provide the most local newscasts throughout the day reflecting all that is important in our community.”
Jones’s statement was provided 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.”
Jones did not say how many staff were affected by the decision. Scheduled talk radio programs had already been replaced by music programming on Tuesday morning.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.
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.”