THE CBC IN HAMILTON? IT'S TIME

Recently CBC News general manager and editor in chief Brodie Fenlon touted the creation of 11 new CBC Bureau's with 33 new journalist positions throughout Canada as a part of its commitment to local news. It is a welcome sight to see underserved communities get a CBC Bureau. Local news, you see, has taken a major hit over the last few years. We all know the reasons. A sharp decline in ad revenue has meant the shuttering of a lot of local community news in audio, video and written form.

The 11 bureau's cover five provinces and one territory, with one notable bureau being in the rapidly growing Peel Region in Southern Ontario and just outside of Toronto. According to the 2024 numbers the population base is 1.5M people and that's not declining anytime soon.

There is a another vastly underserved city that is in dire need of an influx of local news and that is my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. Not to go all Dusty Rhodes on you, but there have been hard times indeed in the Hamilton media scene.

The closing of 900 CHML left a vast hole in local news. CHML, a mainstay to the say the least, had been around for close to a century and the one day in August 2024 it was gone. Literally one minute it was broadcasting and the next minute a message indicating the station was done. If you want to find out what is going on in Hamilton on the radio dial? Well, there's not much there.

The 1150 band last held by Bell Media is home to a 70's - 90's based music station but really does not offer much in the way of significant news reporting or more importantly news talk. The FM stations, like 102.9 and 107.9 do provide traffic reports but are music heavy. If you want to find people talking about significant issues in the Hammer, you have to go Cable 14, a local TV station with a limited platform and limited resources. There's lots of great local focus and content to be had, especially if you like local sports but it can only go so far.

There's CHCH News, based in Hamilton (Waterdown actually), but it serves a lot of masters as it covers both the Halton and Niagara regions, on top of Hamilton. They do that through around 15 hours of news per week, including weekends and its Morning Live Show which runs three hours a day but again serves a lot of masters. They've added news and sports focused podcasts too and that has helped but there's room to grow. They have even partnered up with 1150 to simulcast their 6pm news program on the radio station but that is not new content, it is just a different content platform.

The local stalwart The Hamilton Spectator has trucked along admirably considering their staff seems to be declining, and they too have dipped their toe into the podcast waters through Scott Radley. That will take time to grow into a niche audience.

Hamilton is a vibrant growing city with innumerable stories to tell and issues to cover. Yes, there's television, and yes there is a published daily newspaper but the gaping hole is in the audio medium. Note that I said "audio" rather than "radio". These days you have to think beyond just "radio" and look at podcasting, even TIkTok, Instagram and YouTube which is what CHCH and The Spectator have tried to do.

All this long winded summery can basically be summed up in one sentence. (then why didn't you say it in one sentence Clark?). Hamilton needs CBC radio. There, I said it. CBC has not been shy in expanding its audio/radio footprint as they do have stations in Ontario in Windsor, London, and Kitchener- Waterloo. Hamilton's population now totals close to 800,000 when you encompass places like Stoney Creek, Binbrook and Flamborough and you can expand to the Niagara region, though I'd be hesitant to stretch out that far given the diverse regions that Hamilton covers. Hamilton's city proper is 611,000 according to 2025 numbers.

This used to not be a feasible idea with CHML around is it would have created unnecessary competition and the splintering of an audience that was already declining. Well, now with no CHML and other radio stations trying to carve out their own niche, the time is right for a big beautiful CBC radio station with local programming all day long. Think of the potential of starting out the day with a three hour morning Hamilton focused show, and then adding hard hitting news and issues content through your day parts leading to a 3 hour drive home from either 3-6 or 4-7. Evenings could be devoted to the specific topical audio easily packaged into podcast form. Include the tiny but hardworking CBC Hamilton digital bureau and partner up with other local media? I think the rest will take care of itself.

Sure there are budgets and other important things to consider, but that's for the high minded, over my pay grade people. Plus the CHML studios might be the perfect fit and location assuming the building and office space has not been gutted or harvested.

When CBC News boss Brodie Fenlon posted on LinkedIn about the 11 new bureaus and 33 journalists, I commented about a need for a CBC radio station in Hamilton. Mr. Fenlon AND one other gave that an approving thumbs up! Well, there will be a double Fonz-worthy thumbs up to Mr. Fenlon if he considers adding the great city of Hamilton to its CBC radio plans.

Steve Clark

Steve is a long-time Hamiltonian who has called games in the city at the AHL, OUA and OHL level, and also has done a ton of broadcasting in Niagara. This includes CBC Sports He also has opinions beyond sports.