Report: Canucks’ radio broadcast to move to Kiss radio

The Vancouver Canucks have found a new home on the airwaves.

According to both Daily Hive and The Province, the team’s games will be carried on KiSS Throwbacks (104.9 FM) for the 2026-27 season.

The announcement comes a little over a month after the Canucks previous radio flagship, Sportsnet 650, was shut down, along with five other radio stations, by Rogers Communications, which also owns KiSS. It marks the first time that the Canucks will solely be heard on FM radio in the Metro Vancouver area.

While nothing has been confirmed by Rogers or the Canucks, it’s widely expected that Brendan Batchelor will return as the play-by-play voice, a role he has held since 2017. Randip Janda, who joined the broadcast crew in 2022, is also believed to be back in the booth as color commentator. According to reports, the broadcasts will feature an hour-long pregame show, with an unspecified postgame duration, and are expected to wrap up four hours after puck drop. Similar to what the Canucks have done since the COVID-19 pandemic, the broadcast team is reportedly going to call road games from monitors in a studio in Vancouver. Just another way that Rogers is trying to save a buck.

It’s unclear whether any or all of the team’s preseason games will be broadcast on KiSS FM. The Canucks’ season opener will take place on Sept. 29 against the Edmonton Oilers.

The end of Sportsnet 650 was the final nail in the coffin for traditional sports radio in the city of Vancouver. Back in 2021, telecommunications rival Bell Media disbanded TSN 1040, which was the Canucks’ flagship from 2006 to 2017. Sportsnet gained the broadcast rights after that and has held them for the past eight seasons.

The Canucks aren’t the only team that had to switch radio stations this summer. The rival Calgary Flames announced its new flagship, QR Calgary 770AM, after Sportsnet 960 was shut down as part of Rogers’ massive changes.