CLOSURE: Local radio station closing in Toronto
Published April 22, 2025 at 11:10 am
A local radio station has announced that it will be making its last broadcasts and closing down.
ISO Radio has been operating out of a station at Stackt Market in Toronto for over five years now, but they recently announced that the time has come for them to close up shop.
“Our dream for this radio station was to create a platform for emerging artists and DJs in the city—a space where they could build community and feel a sense of belonging. We also wanted to offer curious music lovers a place to discover their next favorite DJ, to hear a song or a set curated by a human, in an increasingly algorithm-driven world,” reads a post on social media signed “Team ISO.”
“The past six years have been a true labor of love. Running a completely profitless model in one of the most expensive cities in North America—fueled only by passion, community, and good vibes—has been just as crazy as it sounds. We pushed through so much adversity to make it here, and feel nothing but pride for making it this far.”
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There are many comments on the post on Instagram lamenting the loss of the radio project and declaring “ISO forever.”
“Our operations team are all moving into different stages in our personal lives and our priorities are shifting. Because this is a fully volunteer-run project that requires so much love and energy, you need to be 100 per cent committed in order to maintain it,” Josephine Cruz of ISO tells YourCityWithIN.com.
“Running a community radio station is really like running a startup that never gets out of the start up phase. I know people probably wonder why we didn’t try to get someone else to run it but it really just requires so much entrepreneurial thinking and problem solving that it would be nearly impossible to pass the torch. So I would rather close a chapter on a positive note and be happy and proud of all that we did over the past six years as a radio station.”
“We plan to keep this page and community alive, so check back in from time to time,” reads ISO’s post.
“We will definitely be keeping our social media alive, and using it to tell stories about Toronto and the creative community,” says Cruz. “We have aspirations to keep creating more audio content including mixes and podcasts. While our time as a radio station may be wrapping up, the bonds that have been formed through ISO’s community will continue on.”
April will be the final month of broadcasting for ISO, after which they’ll close their station at Stackt.