The Canucks' radio rights holder cut on- and off-air staff on Tuesday.

Sportsnet 650, the radio home of the Vancouver Canucks, cut four staff members on Tuesday and then announced they’re re-jigging their lineup of hosts.

Rick Dhaliwal, an industry veteran known for landing news scoops through his deep connections across the world of hockey and football, confirmed he is among the people being let go.

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Dhaliwal isn’t the only on-air personality who is out: Jawn Jang, who co-hosted the mid-morning show alongside Satiar Shah, confirmed to Postmedia News he has been let go.

“I’m simply grateful,” Jang said of his time at 650. “Grateful for the opportunity to have worked a dream job, meet incredible people and connect with so many great listeners. Thanks for listening and see you soon.”

Two production-side staffers were also let go, including afternoon show producer Cam Mitchell, who has worked in local sports radio for many years and also works on the production side of Sportsnet’s TV broadcasts, and morning drive-time board operator Kellan Tochkin, who was once a Canucks prospect but who moved into the world of radio last year.

A spokesperson for Sportsnet didn’t answer questions about what motivated the layoffs or why these four in particular were being let go but did confirm the new hosting lineup, which rolls out next Monday: afternoon drive-time host Scott Rintoul will move to the mid-morning slot, taking over for Shah and Jang. The new program, which will run from 9 a.m. to noon, will be called the Scott Rintoul Show.

Rintoul will take over hosting duties for the lunchtime Canucks Central at Noon program. Bik Nizzar is joining him as co-host.

Shah is taking over Rintoul’s chair on the afternoon drive-time show with Andrew Walker, still called The Program.

The hosts for the morning drive-time show, the Starting Lineup, will continue to be James Cybulski and Perry Solkowski, while the mid-afternoon, Reach Deep, also retains hosts Dan Riccio and Randip Janda.

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Brian Wiebe, an instructor in BCIT’s broadcast and media department, said he’s never surprised to hear about layoffs at radio stations, though he was surprised by the personnel affected by Tuesday’s layoffs.

“A lot of times these moves are made to cut costs, and when they’re made to cut costs oftentimes you’ll see more expensive people go,” he said. “But with these, there’s no common thread.”

There are plenty of personalities who are surely making more money than the quartet let go.

All that said, he added this kind of news is a reminder of the reality of the business, especially when local management don’t have a lot of say in the final decision-making.

“We tell them it’s a business first and foremost,” he said about preparing students heading into the broadcasting industry. “We tell them that this is the kind of thing that can happen, especially when you don’t have local ownership. You’re just a number.”

Layoffs happen in every line of work, it’s just that the nature of media puts you in front of people in a way other jobs don’t, he said.

“In every line of work, layoffs happen all over the place. They’re just not people you heard and read …. It’s way more noticeable, because these people have a public presence.”

Like many other commentators, Wiebe speculated that Rogers’s huge NHL TV rights contract, signed in 2013, was proving to be a wide-reaching financial challenge.

“A huge amount of money that I think is a bit of an albatross. It reverberates through the company,” he said.