1992 in radio
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The year 1992 in radio involved some significant events.
Events
[edit]- January - KUBE/Seattle completes its shift from Mainstream Top 40 to Rhythmic CHR.
- January 15 - AC-formatted KZOL/Salt Lake City flips to modern rock as KXRK
- January 22 - Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation.
- February - WPLJ in New York City completes its shift from Top 40 to Hot adult contemporary. In addition, the station rebrands from "Mojo Radio" to the current "95-5 PLJ."
- February 12 - Washington, D.C. area Top 40 radio station WAVA-FM changes to a religious format, which continues to this day.
- February 18 - After over two decades as Baltimore's premier Top 40/CHR outlet (including a brief stint with disco and a few name and call letter changes), WBSB flips to Gold-based Hot AC as "Variety 104.3."
- February 18 - The "Young Country" format debuts with KRSR 105.3 in Dallas dropping its hot AC format to become KRRM. The KRRM calls stood for "The Armadillo," but were just a placeholder for the KYNG calls, which it would acquire from a station in Coos Bay, Oregon.
- February 21 - Associated Broadcasting Company is a radio station "Kool 106" (later 106.7 Dream FM) launched.
- March 4 - WIKZ in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania flips from Contemporary hit radio as "Z-95" to Soft adult contemporary as "The New MIX95"
- April 20 - KKDJ/Fresno flips from album rock to modern rock
- May 22 - KMMK/Las Vegas flips from adult contemporary to modern rock as KEDG
- June 22 – Radio Wimbledon, the Official Radio Station of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships is launched.
- August 1 - The FCC relaxes its longstanding rule allowing ownership of only one station per service per market. The new rules allow two stations per service per market and spur a big round of consolidation that would cash out owners like Noble Broadcast Group, Malrite Communications, Shamrock Communications and TK Communications.
- September 8 – KJJO in Minneapolis, Minnesota flips from modern rock to country music.
- October - Dallas/Ft. Worth gets its first duopoly as Alliance Broadcasting and KYNG take over KODZ "Oldies 94.9." The station is promptly flipped to a soft-leaning country format as KSNN "Sunny 95."
- October 26 – WAPW/Atlanta flips from CHR to Modern rock as "99X".
- November 1 – KOAI/Dallas-Fort Worth drops its smooth jazz format as "106.1 The Oasis" to bring top-40 back to the market as KHKS "106.1 Kiss FM." (KEGL had left the format in the summer.) In response, KCDU "CD 107.5" switched from Classic rock to Smooth Jazz a day later, picking up the KOAI call letters and "Oasis" moniker and firing PD Gary Reynolds, who had been hired just two weeks earlier.
- November 9 - WIBF/Philadelphia flipped from ethnic to modern rock as "WDRE".
- Late November - WHTE-FM's new branding went live and became 101.9 FM in the Charlottesville, Virginia Area.
- December 25 - KQLZ/Los Angeles drops their "Pirate Radio" branding, and the album rock format, for modern rock as "100.3 FM."
- Undated - An appearance by survivor Christine Buckley on The Gay Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1 in the Irish Republic to discuss industrial schools brings an "overwhelming response" from others who feel they were victims of physical and emotional abuse in these institutions.[1]
Debuts
[edit]- January 4 — ESPN Radio debuts as a weekend service (under the name "SportsRadio ESPN"), with Keith Olbermann, Tony Bruno and Chuck Wilson among the first group of hosts for the flagship program GameNight.
- April — Country Countdown USA, a countdown program spotlighting the top 30 songs of the week, as reported by Radio & Records magazine. The show is hosted by Lon Helton, country editor for R&R, and features an in-studio interview with a currently popular country music singer or act.
- October 10 – Billboard reintroduces the Crossover chart publishing its last chart after nearly 22 months. This time it is renamed the Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover chart, which would later be christened as the Rhythmic Contemporary chart in 1997.
No dates
[edit]- WTCX in Lakeville, Minnesota signs on the air with a Hot AC format.
- Armstrong & Getty show debuts
Closings
[edit]- December 30 – English service of Radio Luxembourg closes down after 59 years of broadcasting.
Deaths
[edit]- February 2 - Bert Parks, American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer (born 1914)[2]
- February 4 - John Dehner, American actor in radio, television, and films (born 1915)[2]
- February 15 - Marcos Rodriguez, Sr., Spanish radio pioneer, founder of KESS and Cuban entrepreneur (65)
- March 18 - Ed Prentiss, American actor in radio, perhaps best known for portraying the title role on the radio version of Captain Midnight (born 1909?)[3]
- May 17 - Lawrence Welk, American musician, radio and television personality (born 1903)
- July 9 - Eric Sevareid, American news reporter (born 1912)
- October 16 - Shirley Booth, award-winning American actress and radio personality (born 1898)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Buckley, Christine (May 19, 2009). "A long journey in search of justice for victims of abuse". The Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
- ^ a b Cox, Jim (2008). This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3848-8.
- ^ DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. p. 219.