Calgary Flames hockey is off the air
By Elliotte Buracas, July 24 2026—
On Tuesday, July 7, Sportsnet 960 The Fan began their morning talk show as usual. On air, bright and early, everything was running smoothly.
Suddenly there was dead air.
With no explanation, the broadcast cut out.
The news broke around 11 a.m. announcing that Rogers Sports & Media had shuttered a number of radio stations across Western Canada.
These included Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, which broadcast Vancouver Canucks games; and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, which broadcast the Calgary Flames games, Calgary Wranglers (the Flames American Hockey League affiliate) and the occasional Calgary Hitmen junior games.
The closure of these radio stations follows the announcement that the CBC will no longer broadcast Saturday prime-time games.
According to the CBC, they “will no longer broadcast NHL hockey games after it and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement on a new sublicensing deal.” This ends a 12-year partnership, and the nearly 75-year tradition of Hockey Night in Canada airing on the public broadcaster.
With no conflict of broadcasting rights to hash out, the question remains as to why the Western Canada stations, who were already a part of Sportsnet broadcasting operations, were closed down.
According to Connie Thiessen from the Broadcast Dialogue, with the loss of these six stations, over 200 positions were cut. Employees were only notified the morning of the day the stations were closed.
Within hours of going dark, 960 was playing an intermittent farewell message. It played between sharp bursts of static; two to start and end the message, one between each phrase. “We are proud to have served Calgary sports fans,” said a masculine voice to what must have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of Southern Albertans tuning in to hear.
“Thank you to everyone who contributed to the station over the years, especially our listeners.”
By Wednesday, the airwaves were completely empty.
The change won’t have much of an effect on those who still utilize cable television. All local games will still stream on television, and are therefore included in the price they would already be accustomed to paying.
However, the cancellation of Hockey Night in Canada has removed the two most accessible ways to watch or listen to hockey across the country. The radio broadcast could once be accessed from virtually anywhere: a car, a browser, or even one’s bedside clock. Hockey Night in Canada required only a free CBC Gem account and Rogers made the decision to cut both.
Those without cable — a group which is growing larger and larger as the years go on — have lost the two of the most accessible and cost-free ways to watch their favourite teams.
For students who live on a tight budget, this could mean there is no longer any way at all to watch or listen to Flames games. The closure took away the ease of listening to Flames games and keeping up with the workload of a university student. The radio made it achievable. Certainly, more achievable than watching or attending games with that same workload.
Students are creatures of habit. For those who incorporated Sportsnet 960 into their routine, be it while studying, in transit, or otherwise, an important and steadying connection to the Flames has been lost. Routine aside, the station has held sentimental value to Calgarians, students or otherwise.
The closure of 960 and 650 means there are no longer any NHL market sports talk radio stations remaining in Western Canada — which is to say, there is nothing even remotely close to home that is able to replace the loss of the local station.
At this time there are no plans to broadcast Flames games by radio in the future. The only way to watch or listen to a Flames game is by directly paying money — money that, for those who relied on the radio to keep up with the team, isn’t in the budget.
Sportsnet 960 covered more than just Flames games. They broadcast Wranglers and Hitmen games during the hockey season and broadcast the Toronto Blue Jays games in the summer. The closure of the station means a lack of access to several major sports teams that are important to Calgarians; but more importantly, it means the loss of a community of listeners, broadcasters and reporters who were united by those teams.
Even now, every major junior hockey team in Alberta has more accessible broadcasting than the Hitmen, by way of local radio broadcasts and free television broadcasts on Victory Plus. The platform notably streams Western Hockey League games, as well as certain NHL teams’ games. However, most of these teams are in cities which had no sports radio station to begin with. They have independent agreements with local stations; for example, the junior team in Medicine Hat broadcasts their games on the local country music station.
Hockey is often called “Canada’s game.” During the Great Depression, when prairie farmers found themselves in the depths of Canada’s version of the Dust Bowl and with no crops to tend to, they filled their time by listening to hockey. Watching the games from home was impossible at the time as television broadcasting had not yet been invented which made radio a vital lifeline for rural communities. It was by radio that Canadian culture spread itself across the west of the country. A hockey game on the radio was a staple of the prairie household, and to this day, still is. Hockey Night in Canada was a nation-wide event. Now, at least for Western Canada markets, both are gone.
The loss of these six radio stations, particularly the two sports talk radio stations, is a concerning and disappointing change. People have lost their jobs with little warning. Fans have lost a beloved connection to an accessible broadcast of their favourite hockey teams. And with seemingly no plans to fill the void of Flames and Wranglers radio broadcasts, Calgarians will have to find new ways to keep up with their team.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Gauntlet or its editorial board.