The year 1976 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting. __TOC__

Events

*September - Fairchild Industries sells WYOO-FM and AM in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The AM becomes

WAYL WAYL (91.9 Hertz, MHz) is an FM radio, FM radio station city of license, licensed to St. Augustine, Florida. The station is currently owned by Delmarva Educational Association and airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format using the moniker ...

and the FM station becomes a simulcast of

KDWB KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an American commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. KDWB's radio format is Top 40/CHR. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, while its studios ar ...

*September 6:

DWRT-FM DWRT (99.5 FM), on-air as 99.5 Play FM (stylized as ''PL>Y''), is a 24-hour radio station owned and operated by Real Radio Network Inc. It is one of the partner stations of Tiger 22 Media. Its studio is located at Unit 906-B, Paragon Plaza B ...

(

Manila, Philippines Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

) signs on the air as 99.5 RT, and it became the first Top 40 station in the Philippines. * KXOL in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

flips from

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 " con ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

Debuts

* January – WEMO (101.3 FM, now KUUL) of

East Moline, Illinois East Moline is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 21,374 at the 2020 census. East Moline is part of the Quad Cities, along with the cities of Rock Island, Illinois, Rock Island, Moline, Illinois, Moline, and ...

signs on, formating a mix of light

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

and middle of the road music. * March 8 -

Radio 210 Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medi ...

(now Heart Berkshire) begins broadcasting to the

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

area.Radiomusications: Radio Reference: Independent Local Radio Stations (TBS Editors)
; accessed 28 April 2008 * March 14 -

951 Remix 95 The Ultimate One (95.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting from Trinidad and Tobago owned and operated by Guardian Media Limited. It is currently the oldest station in Trinidad and Tobago. The station rebranded from "951 The Best Mix" to "951 ...

begins broadcasting in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

95FM The following radio stations broadcast on FM frequency 95.0 MHz: Bahrain * 95.0FM Traditional FM in Bahrain Cambodia * 95.0 Bayon FM, sister radio channel for Bayon Television China * CNR The Voice of China in Changsha (during 05:00-01:00 ne ...

. * March 16 -

Downtown Radio Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of AM, FM and DAB transmitters. As of December 2022, the station has a weekly audience of ...

, the first

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, begins broadcasting to the

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

area. * April 12 -

Beacon Radio Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Shropshire, Wolverhampton and the Black Country. As of Sep ...

(now Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country) begins broadcasting to the

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

area; this is the final station in the first wave of

stations to begin transmission. * Unknown date - DWLS-FM, the flagship FM station of GMA Radio-Television Arts in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

was launched with a jazz format.

Births

* October 21 -

Lindsay Brien Lindsay may refer to: People *Clan Lindsay, a Scottish family clan *Lindsay (name), an English surname and given name, derived from the Scottish clan name; variants include Lindsey, Lyndsay, Linsay, Linsey, Lyndsey, Lyndsy, Lynsay, Lynsey Places ...

, American radio personality in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, entertainment reporter for

Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

, and part of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

The Real World Real World or The Real World may also refer to: * Real life, a phrase to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds Television * ''The Real World'' (TV series), 1992–2017 * "The Real World" (''Stargate Atla ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

season in 1998. * December 21 -

Clarence Black '' Survivor'' is an American reality television show, based on the Swedish program, ''Expedition Robinson ''Robinson'', formerly ''Expedition Robinson'', is a Swedish reality game show and the original version of the international '' Surviv ...

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 th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

personality and contestant on '' Survivor Africa''. *

Brody Brody ( uk, Броди; russian: Броды, Brodï; pl, Brody; german: Brody; yi, בראָד, Brod) is a city in Zolochiv Raion of Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately ...

, American radio personality on WDGC-FM in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

Deaths

*March 2 -

Hollace Shaw Hollace Shaw (July 24, 1913 – March 2, 1976) was a coloratura soprano who performed on old-time radio and on the stage. Early years Shaw was born in Fresno, California.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dicti ...

, 62, American coloratura soprano on many

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

programs.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 240. *March 24 -

Nelson Case Nelson Case (February 3, 1910 – March 23, 1976) was an American radio and television announcer. Case was the son of Walter and Ethel Case. His father was a newspaperman, and his mother was a driving force in the Long Beach Community Players. He ...

, 66, American radio announcer.Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . *June 25 -

Jay Jostyn Jay Jostyn (December 13, 1901 – June 25, 1976) was an actor in the era of old-time radio. He is best known for portraying the title role in ''Mr. District Attorney'' on radio.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical D ...

, 74, American radio and TV actor. * Santos Ortega, 76, American actor and comedian.

References

Radio by year {{radio-stub