The year 1972 in radio involved some significant events. __TOC__

Events

*February – WOC-FM (103.7 FM) in Davenport, Iowa flips from a format that formatted

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

and also simulcasted WOC's AM signal to a contemporary hit radio format, and adopts the call sign KIIK-FM, or KIIK 104 as it would be known to fans. It is the Quad Cities market's first FM top 40 station and – with the advantage of an FM stereo signal – will be the first serious challenge to KSTT (1170 AM), the market's top-rated station. *Two new Top 40 stations launch in major

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

cities, as

CFTR Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the ''CFTR'' gene. Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his team identified the CFTR gene in 1989 as the gene linked wi ...

Toronto abandons its simulcast of beautiful music

CHFI-FM CHFI-FM (98.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media, it broadcasts an adult contemporary format, switching to Christmas music for part of November and December. The studi ...

for Top 40 early in the year, and in Ottawa, CKPM becomes

CFGO CFGO is a commercial AM radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, broadcasting on 1200 kHz. It is owned by Bell Media and broadcasts a sports radio format, using the brand name '' TSN 1200 Ottawa''. The radio studios and offices are in the Bell Me ...

on June 21. * June 6 - KPOO-FM signs on in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, becoming the first black-owned non-commercial radio station in the western United States. *July 7 –

WCBS-FM WCBS-FM (101.1 FM) is a radio station offering a classic hits format licensed to New York City and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood in lower Man ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

debuts its

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

format.

Also

*Bill and Becky Ann Stewart sell WPBC and WPBC-FM, both of

Richfield, Minnesota Richfield is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling. An inner ring suburb of Minneapolis, it is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Min ...

, to Fairchild Industries. Later that year, both stations become WYOO. *

WDRQ WDRQ (93.1 FM, "New Country 93.1") is a radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Cumulus Media, it broadcasts a country music format. Its studios are located in the Fisher Building in New Center, while its transmitter is located ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, having debuted the previous year as a news/talk station, flips to

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

, as does

WAAM WAAM is a radio station in Ann Arbor, Michigan, known as "WAAM TALK 1600" and "WAAM RADIO". The station is owned by Coolarity A2, LLC. The station operates at a maximum power of 5,000 watts at a frequency of 1600 kHz using a seven-tower direct ...

in nearby Ann Arbor (dropping its longtime MOR format). Detroit also loses a Top 40 station on April 25, 1972, as

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flags ...

changes from "Keener 13" to beautiful music as

WNIC WNIC (100.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Dearborn, Michigan and serving the Metro Detroit media market. Owned by iHeartMedia, WNIC broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format. Each year, usually on the first Friday of Novemb ...

, simulcast with its FM sister (formerly WKNR-FM). *

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sells off their

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

radio stations ( WKYC-AM and WKYC-FM) to Ohio Communications, headed by

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, Cleveland Cavaliers and

Cleveland Arena Cleveland Arena was an arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It was built and privately financed by local businessman Albert C. Sutphin during the height of the Great Depression in 1937 as a playing site for Sutphin's AHL team, the Cleveland Barons. The aren ...

owner

Nick Mileti Nick James Mileti (born April 22, 1931) is an American author, retired lawyer, former businessman, sports entrepreneur and former sports franchise owner who was, during the 1970s, the owner of the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Clevelan ...

, and radio executive Jim Embrescia. The stations were renamed "3WE" WWWE-AM and "M105" WWWM-FM, with the AM station attaining flagship rights to the Indians and Cavaliers, and hired pioneering sports/talk host

Pete Franklin Pete Franklin (September 22, 1927 – November 23, 2004), nicknamed "The King", "Sweet Pete" and "Pigskin Pete", was an American sports talk radio host who worked in Cleveland, New York and San Francisco. He is widely credited with pioneering ...

for "Sportsline." *

Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMon ...

sells off their

stations, WHK and

WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock s ...

, to the Detroit-based

Malrite Communications Group Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Commun ...

. After protests and pleas from WMMS' devoted following, Malrite vows to maintain the FM stations'

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

format, and relocates their corporate headquarters to Cleveland. Farther west in Toledo, progressive rock fans get a Christmas gift as WCWA-FM becomes

WIOT WIOT (104.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Toledo, Ohio, and features a mainstream rock format. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., WIOT serves both Northwest Ohio and Monroe County, Michigan, as an affiliate of '' The Bob & Tom Show'' ...

-FM on Christmas Day.

Debuts

*'The

Pop Chronicles The ''Pop Chronicles'' are two radio documentary series which together "may constitute the most complete audio history of 1940s–60s popular music." They originally aired starting in 1969 and concluded about 1974. Both were produced by John ...

Presents The Forties' on

KSFO KSFO (560 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco, along with f ...

Closings

* April 30 - Arthur Godfrey Time ends after a 27-year run.

Births

*January 27 -

Wynne Evans Wynne Evans BEM MStJ (born 27 January 1972) is a Welsh singer and actor, known for his role as Gio Compario and laterly himself in the Go.compare insurance adverts on television in the United Kingdom. Evans sang the role of Ubaldo Piangi i ...

, Welsh singer and radio presenter *March 9 -

Spencer Howson Spencer Howson (born 9 March 1972 in England) is an Australian radio presenter. He was the host of ''Breakfast'' on 612 ABC Brisbane and when he resigned he had worked for the ABC for 25 years. Career 1990-2016 Howson's family migrated to A ...

, Australian radio announcer * July 20 -

Jay Barker Jay Barker (born Harry Jerome Barker on July 20, 1972) is a retired professional American football quarterback. He is currently a Birmingham radio personality. Football career Barker attended Hewitt-Trussville High School in Trussville, Alab ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

player and

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

radio personality *November 9 - Doug Russell, American radio personality *September 8 -

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (born September 8, 1972), referred to mononymously as Kennedy, is an American libertarian political commentator, radio personality, author, and former MTV VJ. She was the host of MTV's now-defunct daily late-night alternat ...

, American disc jockey and political

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...

Deaths

* January 1,

Jane Morgan Jane Morgan (born Florence Catherine Currier; May 3, 1924) is an American former singer of traditional pop. Morgan initially found success in France and the UK before achieving recognition in the US, receiving six Music recording certification, ...

, 92, British-born American actress whose career encompassed concert halls, vaudeville, the legitimate stage, radio, television and film. * January 10,

Al Goodman Alfred Goodman (August 12, 1890 – January 10, 1972) was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist. Early years Goodman was born in Nikopol, Ukraine, (another source says that he was born in Odessa, Ru ...

, 81, American orchestra leader and music director for various radio network shows including '' The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air'' (1932), ''

Palmolive Beauty Box Theater ''Palmolive Beauty Box Theater'' was an American radio program that featured an operetta or other musical each week from April 24, 1934, to October 6, 1937. It was sponsored by Palmolive soap and produced by Bill Bacher.Dunning, John''On the A ...

'' (1935-1937), ''

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...

'' (1935-1938), ''

The Fred Allen Show ''The Fred Allen Show'' is a long-running American radio comedy program starring comedian Fred Allen and his wife Portland Hoffa. Over the course of the program's 17-year run, it was sponsored by Linit Bath Soaps, Hellmann's, Ipana, Sal Hepat ...

'' (1945-1949) and his pet program, ''The Prudential Family''. * September 26,

Charles Correll Charles James Correll (February 2, 1890 – September 26, 1972) was an American radio comedian, actor and writer, known best for his work in the radio series ''Amos 'n' Andy'' with Freeman Gosden. Correll voiced the main character Andy Brown, a ...

, 82,

radio comedian, best known for his work on the ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

'' show with

Freeman Gosden Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden (May 5, 1899 – December 10, 1982) was an American radio comedian, actor and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the radio series ''Amos 'n' Andy''. Life and ...

Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 6. * October 15, Douglas Smith, 48, English radio announcer. * November 15, Freddie Grisewood, 84, English radio presenter.

References

Radio by year {{radio-stub