The year 1959 saw a number of significant happenings 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

*3 February – A light-aircraft crash near

Clear Lake, Iowa Clear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,687 at the 2020 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related ...

, kills three musicians:

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed i ...

and KTRM-

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

deejay JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Jr., as well as the plane's pilot. The tragedy will go on to become known as "

The Day The Music Died On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became ...

". *11 May – At 10 am, KROW 960 AM in San Francisco switches its call letters to

KABL KNEW (960 AM broadcasting, AM) is an American biz news radio station city of license, licensed to Oakland, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by iHeartMedia and most of the programming comes from Bloomberg Radio. KN ...

. The KABL name will stay with the station until September 2004.

Debuts

*German-American musicologist

Karl Haas Karl Haas (December 6, 1913February 6, 2005) was a German-American classical music radio host, known for his sonorous speaking voice, humanistic approach to music appreciation, and popularization of classical music. He was the host of the classi ...

starts ''

Adventures in Good Music ''Adventures in Good Music'', hosted by Karl Haas, was radio's most widely listened-to classical music program, and aired nationally in the U.S. from 1970 to 2007. The program was also syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around th ...

'' at WJR in

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 ...

. *14 March –

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

WTUL WTUL is a progressive/alternative FM radio outlet in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, operating at 91.5 MHz with an ERP of 1,500 watts. The transmitter is located on the campus of Tulane University. The station, which is owne ...

signs on for the first time. Owned and operated by Tulane University, this progressive-music station. will give

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

his start in broadcasting. *3 April – '' Pick of the Week'' is first broadcast on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

. * 7 June KKLS signs on in

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

Closings

*2 January –

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

ends ''

Our Gal Sunday ''Our Gal Sunday'' is an American soap opera produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, network broadcast via CBS from March 29, 1937, to January 2, 1959, starring Dorothy Lowell and, after Lowell's 1944 death, Vivian Smolen in the title role. The orig ...

'', ''

This Is Nora Drake '' This Is Nora Drake '' is an American old-time radio soap opera. It was broadcast from October 27, 1947, to January 2, 1959, first on NBC and later on CBS. Beginning in May 1948, it was also carried on CFRB in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Format O ...

'', ''

Backstage Wife ''Backstage Wife'' is an American soap opera radio program that details the travails of Mary Noble, a girl from a small town in Iowa who came to New York seeking her future. Personnel Vivian Fridell had the title role from 1935 until the early 194 ...

'' and ''

Road of Life The Road of Life () was the set of ice road transport routes across Lake Ladoga to Leningrad during the Second World War. They were the only Soviet winter surface routes into the city while it was besieged by the German Army Group North under ...

''.Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press. . *2 January – ''

The Kate Smith Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' ends its run on network radio ( Mutual).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. 7 *9 January – ''The Howard Miller Show'' ends its run on network radio (

Births

* 2 January –

Joe Bevilacqua Joseph K. Bevilacqua (born January 2, 1959) is an American actor, producer, director, author, dramatist, humorist, cartoonist, and documentarian. Biography Early life Bevilacqua was born on January 2, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, the son ...

, award-winning American voice actor, radio producer,

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, humorist and documentary film producer. * 9 January –

Andy Kershaw Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music. Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken word pe ...

, English world music presenter. * 27 January –

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

, American sportscaster, previously

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. * 28 January –

Randi Rhodes Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' o ...

, American radio host. * 30 April – Matt Casey, American radio personality. * 22 May –

Graham Fellows Graham David Fellows (born 22 May 1959) is an English actor and musician, best known for releasing the 1978 single "Jilted John", which reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart, and creating the comedic character John Shuttleworth in 1986. Jilted ...

, English comedy performer. * 3 June – John Carlson, American conservative talk radio host on

KVI KVI (570 AM) is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. Owned by Lotus Communications, it airs a conservative talk radio format called "News Talk 570 KVI." Its transmitter is on Vashon Island and its studios and offices are located ...

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 ...

. * 7 June –

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

, American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who began his career on the radio station

WIFE-FM WIFE 94.3 FM is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Rushville, Indiana, the station is owned by Rodgers Broadcasting Corporation. History WIFE first signed on the air on August 5, 1971, as WRCR, owned by the Rush C ...

(WRCR-FM). * 13 August –

Danny Bonaduce Dante Daniel Bonaduce (born August 13, 1959) is an American radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce (''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', '' One Da ...

, American comedian, actor and broadcast personality.

Deaths

* 9 January –

Hans Bredow Hans Bredow (26 November 1879 – 9 January 1959) was a German radio broadcasting pioneer and the first chairman of Weimar Germany's Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft, National broadcasting service. He is regarded as the "father of German broadcasting ...

, "father of German radio" (born 1879). * 3 March –

Lou Costello Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), professionally known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with straight man Bud Abbott and their routine "Who's on First?" ...

, American comic actor (''

The Abbott and Costello Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''), heart attack (born

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

). * 6 December –

Len Doyle Len Doyle (February 2, 1893 - December 6, 1959) was an American actor on stage and in old-time radio. He is perhaps best known for playing investigator Harrington on ''Mr. District Attorney'' on radio and television.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''R ...

, American actor, played investigator Harrigan on ''

Mr. District Attorney ''Mr. District Attorney'' is a radio crime drama produced by Samuel Bischoff that aired on NBC and ABC from April 3, 1939 to June 13, 1952 (and in transcribed syndication through 1953). The series focused on a crusading district attorney initia ...

'' (born 1893). .

References

Radio by year {{Radio-stub