The year 1982 saw a number of significant events in

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

history.

Events

* 19 January — It is announced that Watermark Inc., producer of

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...

with

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...

, is being sold for approximately $5 million to ABC Radio.Battistini, Pete. ''American Top 40 with Casey Kasem (The 1980s).'' AuthorHouse, 2010. p. 133.
/ref> * 14 February — First broadcast of ''

Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember Dick Clark's Rock, Roll and Remember (sometimes shortened to ''Rock, Roll and Remember'') was a weekly American rock and roll radio documentary show hosted by Dick Clark featuring oldies music. It was broadcast on United Stations Radio Networks ...

''. * 10 May — After 22 years as a

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 ...

music station, WABC in New York City changes to

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

. * 23 July — KDKA in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, becomes the first AM station to broadcast in Stereo sound. * 14 November —

KBOX KBOX (104.1 FM, "Pirate Radio 104.1") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Lompoc, California and serves the Santa Maria—Lompoc area. The station is owned by American General Media and broadcasts an adult hits format. It is pro ...

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 ...

drops its longtime

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

to become KMEZ and simulcast the

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 musi ...

format of their sister station KMEZ-FM. * 15 November —

KOST KOST (103.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an AC radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. Its studios are co-located with its sister stati ...

switches from beautiful music to Adult Contemporary. * KENR in

drops

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, ...

for

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

as "The Radio Magazine." By November, the station would flip once again, this time to

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 ...

. *

WBBM-FM WBBM-FM (96.3 MHz) is a top 40 (CHR) radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It is known on the air as B96 and it is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,300 watts, broadcasting from a transmitter atop t ...

Chicago debuts its long-running Top 40 format, beginning as a

Hot Hits Hot Hits was a radio format created by consultant Mike Joseph in the 1970s. That concept, which helped spur the birth of what is now known as CHR, also revitalized the Top 40 format and would play a role in bringing the format to the FM band throug ...

station called "96 Now!" In September, WHYT Detroit also goes Hot Hits and is also known as "96 Now!" * The year brings two other significant format changes in Detroit – ailing Top 40 station

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 ...

experiences a ratings surge after adjusting its format to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

that summer, and WABX jettisons its long-running album-oriented/progressive rock format for a New Wave-based CHR format called "Hot Rock." * KMEL morning host Alex Bennett moves to upstart rival

KQAK KQAK is a commercial classic hits music radio station in Bend, Oregon, broadcasting on 105.7 FM. History of the KQAK call sign KQAK was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) call sign of a now defunct classic rock—and, more memorably, ...

in August. *

Drake-Chenault Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake (1937� ...

syndicates ''The History of Country Music'', a 52-hour country music version of the radio syndicator's successful ''

The History of Rock and Roll ''The History of Rock & Roll'' is an American radio documentary on rock and roll music, first syndicated in 1969. Originally one of the lengthiest documentaries of any medium (48 hours in the 1969 version, 52 hours each for the 1978 and 1981 vers ...

''. This series, identical to the rock version in features and scope but with country music, is hosted by radio personality

Ralph Emery Walter Ralph Emery (March 10, 1933 – January 15, 2022) was an American country music disc jockey, radio and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. Emery promoted numerous stars on his radio and TV shows, and was called the Dick Clark o ...

Debuts

* Ruth Bennett, mother of KMEL morning host Alex Bennett, begins as host of weekly ''Kamel Album Countdown'' on the station, allegedly becoming the world's oldest

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

disc jockey. A few months later, her son leaves the station.

Deaths

* 5 January —

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's ''Dudle ...

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

Goodman Ace Goodman Ace (January 15, 1899 – March 25, 1982), born Goodman Aiskowitz, was an American humorist, radio writer and comedian, television writer, and magazine columnist. His low-key, literate drollery and softly tart way of tweaking trends ...

, 83, American humorist, radio writer and comedian, television writer, and magazine columnist. * 2 May —

Hugh Marlowe Hugh Marlowe (born Hugh Herbert Hipple; January 30, 1911May 2, 1982) was an American film, television, stage and radio actor. Early life Marlowe was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born Hugh Herbert Hipple. He was of primarily Engli ...

, 71, American film, television, stage and radio actor * 27 July —

Dan Seymour Dan Seymour (February 22, 1915 – May 25, 1993) was an American character actor who frequently played villains in Warner Bros. films. He appeared in several Humphrey Bogart films, including ''Casablanca'' (1942), ''To Have and Have Not'' ...

, 68, American announcer in radio and television * 16 November —

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...

, 82, English comedian * 10 December —

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 ...

, 83, American actor and comedian

References

Radio by year {{radio-stub

Events

Debuts

Deaths

See also

References