1977 in radio

In the year 1977, significant events in radio broadcasting included the President of the United States participating in a call-in radio program.

Events

January – WRSQ-FM (104.9) signs on the air in Geneseo, Illinois as a sister station to WGEN-AM (1500 AM). The station's first call letters are short-lived, as the station will quickly adopt the callsign WGEN-FM. The initial format is country music with a community focus.
February 18 – Belgischer Rundfunk (BRF) is founded and takes over responsibility for public-service radio broadcasting in the German language in Belgium.
March 5 - President Jimmy Carter participates with Walter Cronkite in the Dial-a-President radio program on CBS.
May 12 - WTIC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut switches from classical music to a new Top 40 format designed by consultant Mike Joseph. This successful new approach will later be termed Hot Hits.
August 16 - Radio and television stations nationwide interrupt regular programming to report the death of Elvis Presley.
September 1 -- Dave Lingafelt begins airing "The Whacky Wake Up Crew" on WNNC-AM in Newton, North Carolina. He has been on the air for more than 35 years and has since purchased another AM station as well as 95.7 WXRC "The Ride."

3 February: Adventure Theater (a children's program, not to be confused with Adventure Theater, a 1956 anthology series on NBC) debuts on CBS.^[1]

29 May: NBC Radio's all-news "News and Information Service" ceases operations, citing a low number of affiliates. Most stations switch to different formats, but KQV in Pittsburgh launched a locally based production for its all-news format, which it maintains to the present day.

Bud Ballou, radio disc jockey
Sid Collins, (55, American broadcaster best known as the radio voice of the Indianapolis 500 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network from 1952 to 1976.
Bing Crosby, 74, American singer, actor and early radio personality.
Alan Reed, 70, an American actor.

↑ Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.

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