Vancouver's TSN 1040 off the air after Bell suddenly pulls the plug - Action News
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British Columbia

Vancouver's TSN 1040 off the air after Bell suddenly pulls the plug

At 9:30 a.m., the TSN 1040 morning show cut away for a commercial break and then announced that the station would be "reprogrammed" as of Friday.

Vancouver's most popular sports radio station shut down Tuesday morning, surprising fans and staff alike

A sign showing Montreal's BCE-owned radio station, 1040 am, is shown.
TSN 1040 abruptly went off the air Tuesday morning, surprising staff and Vancouver sports fans alike. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Some of Vancouver's most enduring sports media personalities were unceremoniously dumped by Bell Media Tuesday morningwith the sudden announcement it was shuttingdown radio stationTSN 1040.

Gone from the airwaves are Donny & the Moj(Don Taylor and Bob Marjanovich) Matt Sekeres and Blake Price, morning team Mike Halford and Jason Brough, and veteransJeff Paterson, Rick Dhaliwal, Brook Ward and Rob Fai.

At 9:30 a.m., the morning show cut away for a commercial break and then announced that the station would be "reprogrammed" as of Friday. The news was followed by Green Day's Good Riddancebefore the airwaves turned to music.

The move shocked fans and seemed to catch employees off guard.

On Twitter, Price riffed about his job loss referencing two of his show's regular segments: Tell Me I'm Wrong and Memo To:.

"TMIW but this sucks. Memo to: the listeners and colleagues. Thanks for an amazing run," he posted.

In a statement, Bell Media said, "It was a difficult decision, but the realities of the quickly evolving broadcast media landscape in Canada have made this change unavoidable."

According to reports, the station is switching to a comedy format.

TSN 1040 launched 20 years ago as TEAM 1040 and was the longest running and most popular of the two sport radio stations in the Vancouver market, consistently earning higher ratings thanSportsnet 650.

Sportnet 650 owns the broadcast rights to the market's top sports obsession: the Vancouver Canucks.

TSN 1040 had the broadcast rights to the B.C. Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps games.

TSN sports radio stations inWinnipeg andHamilton also suffered the same fate as Vancouver.

Last week, Bell laid off hundreds of employees at other media outlets across Canada.

With files from Canadian Press