The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2024. 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.
In Metro Manila, Philippines, FM radio station DWOW relaunches as All Radio 103.5, with a Soft AC format. The rebranding aligns with its TV counterpart All TV, and the businesses owned by former politician and businessman Manny Villar.
4
KTFS/940-Texarkana, Texas, switches from its gospel format to sports as ESPN Radio. This change brings ESPN Radio back to the market after the former KTRG’s license was returned to the F.C.C. for cancellation on November 8, 2023.
Philippine Collective Media Corporation (PCMC) officially relaunches the FMR brand as "FM Radio". Coinciding with the relaunch, DYWF-Cebu returns on-air; this time branded as "FM Radio 93.1", to be operated by PCMC.
Canadian broadcaster Meredith Shaw launches the Sunday morning program The Feel Good Brunch on CHFI-FM—Toronto and other adult contemporary radio stations owned by Rogers Radio across Canada.
iHeartRadio Canada, the radio division of Bell Media, announces the divestiture of 45 stations in rural and smaller markets, constituting nearly half of its station count, stating that the business of small market radio was failing. The stations will be split up among multiple, mostly independent, broadcasters.
BBC Radio 4 stops broadcasting opt-outs on longwave and will permanently simulcast the FM service until the longwave transmitters get turned off for good.
CBS Sports Radio rebrands as Infinity Sports Network, resurrecting the Infinity brand used by one of the predecessors to its owner, Audacy, Inc. The move comes four years after the originally planned expiration of a licensing agreement with CBS Sports. Audacy and CBS issued cease and desist orders to all Infinity affiliates to stop any further use of the CBS brand.
In Manila, Philippines, DWAV – broadcasting as Wave 89.1 – quietly made its final broadcast, and Adventist Media took over the station's operations, effectively reformatted as AWR Manila 89.1.
In Davao, Philippines, Brigada News FM transferred its broadcast from 91.5 (owned by Primax Broadcasting) to 93.1 (owned by Mareco Broadcasting Network).
Asian Sound Radio gets merged into Lyca Radio after they acquired Lyca Media acquired Asian Sound's license. Lyca Radio expands their mediumwave transmissions into Greater Manchester.
Genesis Communications Network ceases operations after 26 years. The broadcast syndication company, whose best-known hosts include Alex Jones and Michael Medved, will migrate its remaining programming to competing networks.
Wisconsin Public Radio realigns its statewide over-the-air services, with its "Ideas Network" and "NPR News & Music" networks retired in favor of one solely for NPR news and local and national talk programming (WPR News) and one devoted exclusively to classical and other music genres (WPR Music).
Interactive Broadcast Media, owner of DWWW-Metro Manila, began operating DWHT, an FM radio station in Dagupan, Philippines; enacted as a relay station of DWWW.
DWSS-AM (owned by Supreme Broadcasting System) was return to Airwaves as DWAR Abante Radyo 1494 (operated by Prage Management Corporation) after 4 years of hiatus.
9
Coloff Media announces the purchase of radio stations KMAQ (1320 AM) and KMAQ-FM (95.1 FM) in Maquoketa, Iowa, United States, from Dennis Voy.
The Philippine radio station Mellow 94.7, under the FBS Radio Network, temporarily dropped the Mellow branding and was known as simply 94.7 (pronounced “ninety-four-point-seven”).
Good Karma Brands moves New York City's ESPN Radio affiliation, which has been on FM 98.7 since 2012, to AM 880, changing its callsign to WHSQ. The move comes due to the end of Good Karma's local marketing agreement with 98.7 licensee Emmis Communications at the end of the month, with Good Karma striking a new LMA with WHSQ's owner Audacy, the owner of ESPN's rival WFAN. The move ends a 57-year run for 880 as New York's all-news radio station, and the end of the station's 96-year run as CBS Radio Network's flagship station, 78 of those years under the call sign WCBS. WCBS's remaining programming merged onto its sister station and erstwhile rival WINS beginning August 26.
Westwood One returns its Saturday night classic country request program Country Gold, which has been on-air since the early 1990s, to its previous format with a professional radio disc jockey as host, as Steve Harmon takes over the program. For the previous 12 years, Country Gold (previously Country Gold Saturday Night) had been hosted by famous country musicians, as Randy Owen hosted from 2012 to 2016, followed by Terri Clark from 2016 to 2024.
After an 11-month trial run on several of iHeartMedia's owned-and-operated stations, Premiere Networks introduces a nationwide conservative talk morning show hosted by Michael DelGiorno. iHeart, although it had maintained a nearly full slate of daily conservative talk programming for the previous two decades, had not offered a morning drive time show to its stations, as most of the U.S.-based company's stations had programmed local morning shows, regionally syndicated offerings or shows from unrelated formats until the company's long-running personnel reductions made such programs untenable.
Cumulus Media closes its last remaining New York metropolitan area asset, suburban AM station WFAS in White Plains, without attempting a sale. WFAS had ceased analog broadcasting in 2021, operating solely as a digital station from then until its closure.
A helicopter crashes into a radio transmission tower in Houston, Texas, resulting in at least 4 deaths. The accident knocks two stations which transmit from the tower off the air, KLTN and KAMA-FM (both owned by Uforia Audio Network).
In Metro Manila, Philippines, DWFM 92.3 FM (formerly 92.3 Radyo5 True FM) moved to DWLA 105.9 FM, replacing Neo Retro 1059 after nearly 4 years. It is now known as 105.9 True FM.
In Davao City, Philippines, DXFM 101.9 FM (formerly 101.9 Radyo5 True FM Davao) moved to DXET 106.7 FM, replacing Radyo Digoseño (owned by the City Government of Digos), marking the return of TV5's operations on this frequency after a 14-year hiatus as Dream FM (2004–2011), albeit as an airtime lease operator.
Zone Corp, a broadcaster serving the Bangor, Maine region, announces the pending shutdown of all of its radio stations (WZON, WKIT and WZLO) after the withdrawal of its major financial backer, horror novelist Stephen King. The company had never been profitable and had largely been subsidized by King's other ventures, something he stated he was no longer willing to do as he approached old age and needed to stabilize his own financial situation.
Sage Alerting Systems announces it will no longer manufacture the 3644 ENDEC, one of only three Emergency Alert System encoders available in the United States and the only such encoder built primarily for radio. (Competing encoders by Digital Alert Systems and Trilithic have mainly been designed for television.) Sage cited the existing encoders' durability and long usage life, increasing difficulty in acquiring replacement parts, and a "bursty" sales market that peaked mainly during low-power broadcast license expansion windows. The Federal Communications Commission requires every AM and FM radio station licensed in the United States to have an EAS encoder.
February 28 – Bob Heil, 83, American organist, sound engineer (founder of Heil Sound), amateur radio operator (K9EID) and host (Organ Music on WTWW, Ham Nation on TWiT)[51]
April 27 – Andy Santillan, 65, Filipino disc jockey of DWRR & DWAV (now Adventist World Radio Manila 89.1) and Filipino voice over announcer of Radio Philippines Network
April 28 – Francis Cardona, 64, Filipino veteran broadcaster, creator, producer and host of Asenso Ka Pinoy
November 21 – Alice Brock, 83, American artist and restaurateur. "Alice's Restaurant," named after her, is a Thanksgiving radio tradition, to which she recorded personal introductions in 2022.[79]
^"Death Notices: Davis". The Washington Post. January 12, 2024. ProQuest2914142438. Peter Dixon Davis, 97, of Dorset, Vermont, passed away peacefully on Saturday January 6th, 2024. Peter was born in Beverly Hills, California on September 12th, 1926. Peter was "discovered" as a child and became a star at 5 years old. Peter enjoyed a successful 15-year career as a radio, movie and television actor. He was part of Jack Benny's Gang and was also part of the cast of One Man's Family. He appeared on the Little Rascals, and he worked in film with the likes of William Powell and Shirley Temple.
Media related to 2024 in radio at Wikimedia Commons