The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2022. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, and station launches, closures and format changes, as well as information about controversies and deaths of radio personalities.
Notable events
January Date Event Source1Moira Stuart, Kate Garraway and Margherita Taylor are among British broadcasters to be recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours. US radio station WWHX—Bloomington, Illinois, switches from rhythmic CHR to hot AC after four years at midnight, with a new slogan of "Now 100.7". 3US radio station Sports KZIA-HD4/K298BM—Cedar Rapids, Iowa flips from an 'Overtime' brand extension of co-owned KGYM to alternative rock "X107.5". 6US company Binnie Media makes format changes for its northern Boston metro cluster in New Hampshire. The adult hits trimulcast of WFNQ—Nashua, WLNH-FM—Laconia and WBYY—Somersworth/Portsmouth flipped to an adult-based Top 40 format, but retained its "Frank FM" branding, while CHR WJYY—Concord/Manchester shifted to rhythmic contemporary with a lean towards hip hop. 9Malaysian private radio station Molek FM is officially launched. 31US radio station KSEK-FM—Girard, Kansas, changes formats to sports while its former classic rock format moves to KMOQ.
February Date Event Source 2 After identifying with the call sign for 96 years, US radio station all-news KOMO—Seattle and FM simulcast KOMO-FM—Oakville change calls to KNWN and KNWN-FM, respectively. The change was necessitated after Lotus Communications purchased the stations from Sinclair Broadcast Group, which retained KOMO-TV and all registered trademarks for the "KOMO" brand. KNWN AM-FM also re-brand as "Northwest News Radio"; the callsign change was prematurely made effective by the FCC at the end of 2021 (and reverted to KOMO AM-FM at Lotus's request), prompting KIRO-FM—Tacoma, Washington to adopt the slogan "Your Northwest News Station". 9At 6:00 a.m. EST, after a last playing of "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, US radio station WMIA-FM—Miami drops its all-90s format after two years and returns to its previous hot AC format and "93.9 MIA" branding. 14Friends of US radio station WLRN Inc., which has served as the fundraising arm for the broadcasting operations of the Miami-Dade County Public School District since 1974, agrees to take over full-time management of public radio station WLRN-FM—Miami (and its sister television station) and Florida Keys satellite station WKWM—Marathon. The group had clashed with the school board in recent years after Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and a committee recommended that a competing bid and effective merger into South Florida PBS (owner of WPBT—Miami and WXEL-TV—West Palm Beach) be selected. As with many current arrangements of the same type, the district will retain the license assets and final program authority over the radio and television stations. 16US radio station WSYB—Rutland, Vermont, flips from conservative talk to sports. 24After 10 days of an A-to-Z marathon, Mexican radio station XETRA-FM—Tijuana switches to classic alternative. 27Ukrainian radio station Kraina FM relocates to an undisclosed location in the Carpathian Mountains, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
March Date Event Source 1Russian commercial radio station Echo of Moscow is taken off-air by Roskomnadzor because of its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 2Paul Izard returns US radio station WGWE—Little Valley, New York, to the air after 11 months of silence. Izard later discovered predatory language in WGWE's tower lease agreement and a malfunctioning transmitter that forced WGWE off the air after six weeks; Izard, admitting he had failed to exercise due diligence on WGWE's previous owner the Seneca Nation of Indians, quickly gave the WGWE license (initially surrendered, then restored by the FCC at his request) to regional Christian broadcaster Family Life Ministries for $1 and assumption of debts."How Not To Buy A Radio Station" by Lance Venta, May 18, 2022 (radioinsight.com) 3The Board of Directors of Russian commercial radio station Echo of Moscow vote to close the station down. 4Radio stations across Europe simultaneously broadcast John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". 11After nearly 3½ years carrying soft AC under iHeart's The Breeze format, US radio station WISX—Philadelphia changes format to Spanish CHR as WUMR "Rumba 106.1". 21Today FM is launched in New Zealand, a talk radio network replacing Magic Talk. Hosts include Tova O'Brien. 28US company Ideastream Public Media merges operations of NPR members WKSU—Kent (owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream via a public service operating agreement) and WCPN—Cleveland, which adopt a full-time news and information format employing all on-air staff between the two stations. Callsigns and formats are swapped between WCPN and classical music WCLV—Lorain; the former inherits WCPN's former jazz programming in late nights while the latter is turned into a full-power repeater for WKSU. WKSU drops all classical programming and simulcasts WCLV on their HD3 subchannel. 31 Australian radio network ARN Media rebranded The Edge 96.ONE as CADA, reformatted as an urban contemporary station.
April Date Event Source 1Maritime Broadcasting System's CHLQ-FM in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island drops its longtime Q93 branding and rebrands to Max 93.1. The station's format remains Mainstream Rock. 4US company Ryman Hospitality Properties, parent company of Opry Entertainment Group and WSM—Nashville and co-owner of Circle, sells a minority stake in the company to a group consisting of Atairos and NBCUniversal, for approximately $300 million. Outside network news talent licensing agreements for newscasts and commentary and the defunct NBC Sports Radio network, it is the network's first involvement in a radio property since the NBC Radio Network wound down between 1987 and 1989. 18US company Cumulus Media purchases the intellectual property and associated trademarks for "Q101", including the q101.com domain name, from Broadcast Barter Radio Networks for an undisclosed amount. Broadcast Barter, which acquired the intellectual property from Emmis Communications in August 2011 after their sale of alternative WKQX—Chicago (and format flip to "FM News 101" WIQI), launched internet station Q101 Chicago, which operated up to this sale. WKQX, which reverted to alternative in 2014 but instead branded as "101 WKQX", readopted the "Q101" name on May 3 during the station's "10th anniversary" concert (which celebrated the launch of the current iteration of the format on then-WKQX-LP). 20US company Marquee Broadcasting purchases the Southeastern Ohio Broadcasting System, Inc. (d/b/a WHIZ Media Group), owner of WHIZ—Zanesville, Ohio (full-service–talk), WHIZ-FM—South Zanesville, Ohio (CHR), WZVL—Philo, Ohio (country) and WHIZ-TV. This ends nearly 75 years of continuous ownership of WHIZ AM-FM-TV by the Littick family, which retains the license for Columbus-market WWLG—Baltimore, Ohio (operated under long-term LMA by Urban One), while also becoming Marquee's first radio properties. 28After nearly 35 years of being known as either "Oldies 98" or "98.1 WOGL", classic hits US radio station WOGL—Philadelphia relaunches as "Big 98.1". Morning host Sean "Coop" Tabler is retained but all other air talent departs, though most of them were voice-tracked from other Audacy-owned stations. Bob Pantano’s Dance Party, which debuted with the original oldies format in 1987, is moved to WOGL's second digital subchannel. The "fresh start" rebrand is done as part of the long-term industry distancing from the oldies label of older music, as WOGL continued to be known casually as "Oldies 98" among listeners long after it dropped the branding. 29Danny Bonaduce announces a medical leave of absence from The Danny Bonaduce and Sarah Morning Show on US radio station KZOK-FM—Seattle.Spanish Broadcasting System takes over the operations of US radio stations WSUN—Holiday/Tampa and WPYO—Maitland/Orlando from a divestiture trust held by Cox Media Group since Apollo Global Management's 2019 takeover of the chain. The trust had a required deadline of December 2021 for a sale of both stations; a request from Cox to extend the deadline by one year prompted SBS to allege Cox was not acting in good faith after repeated delays in sale negotiations. The FCC extended the deadline to February, when the purchase was made. Cox moves the formats of WSUN (alternative rock) and WPYO (CHR) to HD digital subchannels elsewhere in the cluster, with the former adding a low-power analog translator. SBS begins stunting on both stations in anticipation of debuting Spanish tropical formats branded "El Zol".
May Date Event Source3 After a 41-year run as morning host at US radio station WXKS-FM—Medford/Boston, Matt Siegel abruptly announces his retirement via a pre-recorded message and following a prior unannounced and unexplained two-week absence. Billy Costa, a co-host on Matty in the Morning, takes over as interim host. US radio station WSM—Nashville's Midnite Jamboree airs a diamond anniversary special which also acts as the series finale, concluding its 75-year run. The weekly program ended production in March after the Ernest Tubb Record Shop—which brokered the time slot from WSM and originated the Jamboree broadcasts—went out of business due to "circumstances out of (the shop's) control." 11US soft adult contemporary station KQKK—Walker, Minnesota switches to classic hits as “101.9 The Arrow”, while KAKK switches from classic hits format to sports. 18US classic rock station KTRX—Dickson, Oklahoma, after 21 years in the format, relaunches as hot AC "Star 92.7". 27US adult contemporary station KZSQ-FM—Sonora, California, flips to classic hits as "Star 92.7". 30US CHR station KDWO—Fresno, California, flips to classic hits as "K-Jewel" KJWL, while classic hits KJWL—San Joaquin, California, flips to classic country as "The Legend" KDWO.
June Date Event Source 2The State University of New York, United States, allows the licenses of four of its student-run college radio stations—WCEB from Corning Community College, WAIH from SUNY Potsdam, WQKE from SUNY Plattsburgh and WETD from Alfred State College—to lapse during the colleges' summer vacation, thus ending the stations' over-the-air operations. A fifth SUNY radio station, Genesee Community College's WGCC-FM, was previously allowed to lapse but was reinstated to allow its sale to Family Life Network. SUNY's other student radio stations were unaffected.Station Sales: Week of 12/23. Radio Insight. Retrieved December 23, 2022. 3US company TelevisaUnivision agrees in principle to sell 18 of their radio stations, including WAQI—Miami, WADO—New York City and KTNQ—Los Angeles, to Latino Media Network for $60 million in a year-long transitional process. The composition and financing of Latino Media Network, which includes several political activists affiliated with the Democratic Party, attracts negative attention from both WAQI's anti-Castro Cuban exile listenership and Florida Republican politicians. 8Russian radio station Kommersant FM is quickly taken off air after hackers take over and interrupt the lunchtime news bulletin by playing the Ukrainian national anthem and anti-war songs. 10Australian commercial radio station 2CH, owned by Sports Entertainment Network, changes formats to all-sports. 29After cancelling their morning show the day before, Canadian Hot AC "Kiss Radio" CKKS-FM—Chilliwack/Abbotsford/Vancouver abruptly dismisses the rest of their air staff and proceeds to play Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" in a loop for 24 hours, a stunt that unexpectedly results in international press coverage. CKKS-FM relaunches as modern rock "Sonic Radio" the next day; the brand had been previously used by CKKS-FM predecessor CFUN-FM from 2011 to 2015, but with a CHR presentation.
July