The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2021. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, and station launches, closures and format changes, as well as information about controversies.
Notable events
January Date Event Source1The annual Vienna New Year's Concert is broadcast throughout Europe. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic there is no live audience, but the concert is able to go ahead because the orchestra's members have been COVID tested on a daily basis.4On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sends her best wishes to BBC Radio 4's magazine programme Woman's Hour. She praises the programme for having "played a significant part in the evolving role of women".11US broadcasting company Cumulus Media issues a directive to its talk outlets that orders local and syndicated hosts avoid discussing anything to do with allegations of voter fraud on pain of dismissal. The move comes days after the events of the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, seen to have been spurred on by conservative talkers Mark Levin and Dan Bongino, both vocal proponents of debunked election fraud theories. Ben Shapiro, though not employed by the company, is also listed in the memo. A host from Cumulus' KMJ—Fresno, Ray Appleton, is suspended. "Cumulus Corporate Policy Telling Talk Hosts To Stop Denying Legitimacy Of Election Draws Attention" from All Access (January 11, 2021)12WMGG—Egypt Lake, Florida, turns off its analog operations and flips exclusively to digital, becoming the second AM radio station in the United States, following WWFD; unlike WWFD, WMGG has filed with the FCC to operate permanently as an all-digital station, the first station to request a permanent license. The station will maintain an analog FM translator.15Proprietor Armando Calderón Lara surrenders the license for XHACM-FM, a station operating from Cárdenas, Tabasco, Mexico. The station closed down on January 31.CKEC-FM—New Glasgow switches to an adult contemporary format branded as 94.1 The Breeze.18The Q network launches in the Maritime region of Canada as Stingray Radio rebrands four of its rock stations to the "Q" branding. CJMO-FM—Moncton drops its longtime "C103" branding and switches to that branding and CKEZ-FM—New Glasgow drops its "Zed" branding and joins the Q network. In addition, the syndicated morning show BJ & The Q Morning Crew expanded into New Glasgow.25US broadcasting company Alpha Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to start a reorganization with its creditors and lenders."Alpha Media Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Restructuring" from Radio Insight (January 25, 2021)The "Jack" branding makes its way to Medicine Hat, Alberta as CJCY-FM switches to that branding.
February Date Event Source 3 Numerous country stations in the United States, including those owned by Cumulus Media and Entercom among others, pull Morgan Wallen's music from airplay after he was captured on video voicing a racial slur. In addition, he was suspended by his record labels, Big Loud and Republic Records along with being pulled from consideration for the Academy of Country Music Awards. 9Canada's Bell Media abruptly discontinues TSN Radio formats in CKOC-AM—Hamilton, CKST-AM—Vancouver, and CFRW-AM—Winnipeg (CFRW had recently lost its radio rights to the Winnipeg Jets) as part of an ongoing series of cuts across the company. The Hamilton station immediately flipped to BNN Bloomberg Radio (with its Tiger-Cats-produced programming moving to a new online-exclusive network), while the remaining two flipped to Bell's all-comedy format. 12Stingray Radio rebrands three of its radio stations in the Maritime Provinces, CIHI-FM—Fredericton, New Brunswick, CHHI-FM—Miramichi, New Brunswick and CIJK-FM—New Minas, Nova Scotia to the "Rewind" branding. 14After eight months of shutdown since May 5, 2020, ABS-CBN's radio station MOR Philippines relaunched as MOR Entertainment online, a service that will feature live programs daily on social networking site Facebook and Pinoy community app Kumu, podcasts on music streaming service Spotify, content exclusives on video-sharing platform YouTube and iWantTFC. 21Classic hip hop WJXN-FM—Utica/Jackson, Mississippi, flips to adult hits "Jack FM"; the station previously featured this format and branding from 2012 to 2014..
March Date Event Source 1Soft AC KJJZ—Palm Springs transitions to adult Top 40, serving as the de facto successor for the soon-to-be-sold KRCK-FM. 2KRUS (Ruston-Grambling) drops urban gospel for rhythmic Top 40 as "Hitz 96.3". 4WJSR—Richmond ends a five-month stunt with Christmas music and relaunches with classic hits "Awesome 100.9"; at the same time, adult Top 40 WURV—Richmond, Virginia rebranded as "103.7 Your Variety". 8Active rock WAPL—Appleton, Wisconsin fires morning host Len Nelson after he made critical comments about Rush Limbaugh on his Facebook page. Nelson later apologized for making the comments. 11KORL-FM HD3/K298BA—Honolulu, drops Nash Icon for smooth jazz. 15Classic rock KJOT—Boise flips to adult hits "Jack FM". 16 The hosts of the syndicated radio program Free Talk Live are arrested on federal wire fraud charges for establishing a false religious institution to launder cryptocurrency.Grossmith, Pat (March 16, 2021). FBI descends on Keene, 6 people facing federal charges in connection with Bitcoin. Retrieved June 5, 2021. 19Hybrid sports/urban contemporary KGA/K278CY—Spokane, Washington drops all music programming and rejoins Fox Sports Radio as a full-time affiliate."Spokane's Game To Drop Hip Hop For Fox Sports" from Radio Insight (March 18, 2021) 30Entercom rebrands as Audacy, Inc. and also rebrands its Radio.com platform under the Audacy name.
April Date Event Source 1Rhythmic Top 40 WNRG-FM—Milwaukee switches to oldies WRXS "Pure Oldies 106.9". Rhythmic Top 40 KZCE—Phoenix reverts to classic hip hop "101.1 The Bounce." Classic country KGU—Honolulu returns to sports as "95.1 and AM 760 The Shark"7Classic rock WGRF—Buffalo fired the program director and hosts of Morning Bull (Rob Lederman, Rich Gaenzler and Chris Klein) after on-air statements by Lederman on March 24, in which he compared how he likes toast to the skin tones of black women, set up a backlash from multiple advertisers who immediately pulled their spots from the station, and resulted in owner Cumulus Media placing the hosts on suspension the same day. Cumulus later moves Shredd and Ragan from active rock WEDG to WGRF in August.16CHR KAMP-FM—Los Angeles rebrands as "97.1 NOW!" KNOU.Entravision's WNUE-FM—Deltona/Orlando dropped its Tropical/Salsa format and released the airstaff ahead of its flip to Christian AC under new owners Radio Training Network, thus sparking a pre-emptive strike from WPOZ over the use of the "Joy" moniker that RTN plan to use when it launched their format April 19, the same day WPOZ also rebranded with the aforementioned moniker. 19With the launch of a new local show The Morning Wake Up (hosted by Sean Tyler and Sasha Mack) replacing the cancelled syndicated Rick & Sasha, KMJK—Kansas City shifted directions from Adult R&B to urban contemporary, putting in line with rival KPRS.20Clara Amfo is named as the new host of the Future Sounds programme on BBC Radio One.21Talk KFAB—Omaha fires afternoon host Chris Baker after learning in a (since-deleted but archived) tweet that he posted a GIF of Black men in loincloths and spears dancing over the word "Guilty!" following the results of the trial of former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for the murder of George Floyd in 2020 that led to multiple protests and calls for police reforms afterwards.
May Date Event Source 15After 51 years, Dordt University transfers ownership of student-run Religious/Diversified KDCR—Sioux Center, Iowa, to Educational Media Foundation, then converts the station to its K-Love format. The station's programs and sports broadcast move to an online platform. 17WNYC Studios dismisses On the Media co-host Bob Garfield after an outside investigation reveals Garfield violated New York Public Radio's anti-bullying policy."WNYC Fires Bob Garfield, Co-Host of 'On the Media,'" from The New York Times, 5/17/2021 18Bell Media rebrands 25 of its radio stations to the "Bounce Radio" adult hits branding as part of a mass format reorganization. As a result of the rebranding, all of the remaining EZ Rock stations have been phased out. 21Stingray Radio rebrands two of its Top 40 stations, CHRK-FM—Sydney, Nova Scotia and CKIX-FM—St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to the "Hot" branding. 22The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 grand final is broadcast live by radio stations such as ORF (Austria), BNR (Bulgaria), NDR, WDR (Germany), RTÉ (Ireland), RAI (Italy), RS (Serbia), RTVSLO (Slovenia), SR (Sweden) and the BBC (United Kingdom), as well as by stations in non-competing countries such as Slovakia.24Czech Radio launches a new sport radio station on digital channels. Sports WFAS—White Plains, New York concurrently flips to conservative talk and ceased analog operations, opting to broadcast in HD Radio with no in-band on-channel analog transmission. WFAS becomes the new New York market outlet for multiple Westwood One shows including The Dan Bongino Show.Sports WHLD—Niagara Falls/Buffalo, New York also flips to conservative talk, but remains in analog unlike WFAS.Pergament, Alan. WHLD switches format to conservative talk hosts led by Dan Bongino. The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 5, 2021.25Rhythmic classic hits WKAF—Brockton/Boston switches to Spanish Top 40 WZRM "Rumba 97.7", giving the market its first full-powered Spanish-language FM. 28US hip hop radio station KWQW—Des Moines switches to CHR.Alternative WHKF—Harrisburg flips to urban contemporary "Real 99.3".29The Küçük Çamlıca TV Radio Tower in Istanbul, Turkey, is inaugurated, becoming the city's tallest structure.31Belgian broadcaster RTBF Musiq'3 launches Le printemps selon Igor, a five-part 30-minute series in French about composer Igor Stravinsky, written and produced by Axelle Thiry and featuring Alexandre Tharaud. The series is made available to the whole of the EBU.
June Date Event Source 1Classic hits KRKE-FM—Albuquerque switches to classic hip hop "101.3 The Hustle." 3Lotus Broadcasting acquires Sinclair Broadcast Group's Seattle-Tacoma properties, all-news KOMO and KOMO-FM, adult Top 40 KPLZ-FM, and conservative talk KVI, in an $18 million deal transaction. Sinclair acquired the Seattle radio stations as part of its 2013 acquisition of Fisher Communications. With this sale, it also ends a 68-year pairing of radio/TV co-ownership with ABC affiliate KOMO-TV as well as the last radio/TV combo to exist in Seattle. The stations were the only radio stations in Sinclair's portfolio, as it had previously divested its other stations in the 1990s.14Classic hits WMQA-FM—Minocqua, Wisconsin switches to adult contemporary "95.9 The Island".22WNMA—Miami Springs/Miami flips from sports/hot talk to Spanish Christian as "Radio Oasis 1210". 28Martz Communications Group sells its Upstate New York outlets, CHR WYUL—Chateaugay, and the Malone-licensed duo of oldies WICY and country WVNV, to Educational Media Foundation, allowing the religious broadcaster to border-blast its way into the Montreal market."EMF Makes Cross Border Play At Montréal" from Radioinsight (June 28, 2021)
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