2026 in radio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2026. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, station launches, closures, and format changes, as well as information about controversies and deaths of radio personalities.
Notable events
January
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Dutch DJ Tiësto launches his new weekly trance radio show, Prismatic, replacing his previous EDM weekly show Club Life. | [1] |
| 5 | The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provided federal subsidies to public broadcasting stations in the United States, dissolves after it was defunded in a rescissions act which was signed into law the previous year. | [2] |
| 31 | Citing a revenue loss due to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's dissolution and a decline in Canadian donations caused by international tensions, WNED-FM in Buffalo, New York, which had operated as a non-commercial classical music station for the previous 50 years, reverts its license to commercial operation and begins investing on commercial advertising. The station later announces its intention to move its programming to non-commercial licensed station WBFO, which retains select NPR shows due to contractual obligations, in May. WNED-FM will shift to a commercially supported format with news, sports and other content in August. | [3][4] |
February
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | The Buffalo Bills Radio Network in the US announces the end of its 14-year relationship with Audacy, Inc. and announces that Good Karma Brands would assume control over affiliate relations starting in the 2026 Buffalo Bills season, with an intended target to expand its network throughout the United States and into Canada. As Good Karma does not own a station in Buffalo, the Buffalo Bills would sign an affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media to return Bills games to former flagship WGRF in May. This change would also affect the Sabres Hockey Network upon the conclusion of the 2025–26 NHL season. | [5][6] |
| 9–March 10 | DWSS-AM and DWBL-AM suspends broadcasting for a month, from midnight of February 9, 2026, until March 10, 2026, as the station upgraded its transmitter to improve its coverage, while its cable channel counterpart, Abante TV and online livestream remain available. | [7] |
| 17–22 | WGR in Buffalo, New York, expands its programming into a regional network with the introduction of simulcasts of its programming along with the WGR brand on what was then WLKK in rural Wyoming County (which changes its call sign to WGR-FM) and WROC in Rochester. The move comes as part of a wider strategy by owner Audacy, Inc. to have FM simulcasts in a majority of major markets where it operates AM sports stations and counteract its major league sports rights being transferred (see February 3 entry). | [8][9][10] |
| 17 | Radio Free Asia resumes its broadcast operations to China after almost a year of shutting down as a result of the reduction of its parent agency, the United States Agency for Global Media. | [11] |
| 18 | The Intervision 2026 song competition is announced to be held in Saudi Arabia. | [12] |
March
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | TikTok launched its own national radio station in a joint partnership with iHeartMedia titled TikTok Radio. | [13] |
April
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Alex Jones suspends his Infowars broadcast amid acquisition attempts by satirical news site The Onion. | [14] |
May
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | CBS News Radio shuts down after 99 years of operations. The network was the last remnant of the CBS Radio Network, which was founded in 1927. The network itself had been divested to Audacy by the time of its closure, with CBS News having continued to produce its content. | [15] |
| 27 | NPR announces it has laid off or bought out the contracts of 28 news staffers in an attempt to reorganize the newsroom and deal with funding reductions; noted NPR correspondents Don Gonyea (national politics), Joe Shapiro (investigations), and Nell Greenfieldboyce (science) independently confirm they were among those whose roles at the network were eliminated. | [16] |
Deaths
- January 4: Michael Reagan, 80, American conservative talk radio host[17]
- January 7: Raffaella Bragazzi, 66, Italian television presenter and radio host[18]
- January 13: Brian Wilshire, 81, Australian radio host[19]
- January 14: Ado Schlier, 90, German radio personality[20]
- February 17: Jesse Jackson, 84, American talk radio host (Keep Hope Alive) and civil rights activist[21]
- February 21: Koos Postema, 93, Dutch radio and television presenter[22]
- February 25: Fahmy Omar, 97, Egyptian broadcaster, served as president of Egyptian Radio from 1982 to 1988[23]
- March 11: Ernie Anastos, 82, American broadcaster and radio station owner[24]
- March 16: Orion Samuelson, 91, American farm broadcaster and last host of the National Barn Dance[25]
- April 13: Dave McGinnis, 74, former NFL head coach (Arizona Cardinals) and radio analyst for the Tennessee Titans Radio Network[26]
- April 16: Don Schlitz, 73, American songwriter and Grand Ole Opry member[27]
- April 17: Bob Kevoian, 75, American morning radio host (The Bob & Tom Show)[28]
- April 25: Roderick "Braggy" Braganza, 57, Filipino radio jock and station manager (DWQZ 97.9 Home Radio)[29]
- May 4: John Sterling, 87, American sportscaster (New York Yankees Radio Network)[30]
- May 6: Ted Turner, 87, American businessman and founder of the Headline News television channel was formerly simulcast on radio[31]
- June 3: Rocky Allen, 71, American radio host (Rocky Allen Showgram on various local stations across the United States)[32]
