The year 1961 in radio involved some significant events.
Events March 7 – Los Angeles station KLAC begins FM broadcasting as KLAC-FM.Broadcasting Yearbook 1963 p. B-20. April 1 – The Zenith Radio FM Stereo standard is authorized for US FM stations by the FCC. April 12: 07:00 UTC – Soviet announcer Yuri Levitan broadcasts news of Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 mission, the first human spaceflight, on Radio Moscow while it is still in progress. October 8 – The BBC Home Service in the United Kingdom first broadcasts In Touch; the world's first national radio programme for people who are blind; it will still be running in 2021.
Debuts February 11 – KSHE debuts as a female-oriented rock station in St. Louis, Missouri. April 12 – WLKW/990-Providence, Rhode Island signs on as Rhode Island's only 50 kW A.M. station. June 25 – WPLM-FM/99.1-Plymouth, Massachusetts signs on. KHAK-AM and KHAK-FM, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sign on at 1360 AM and 98.1 FM, respectively. Although formatting country music, neither station is exclusively country until some point later in 1960s. WIBC-FM in Indianapolis, Indiana signs on the air. WNOR, an Active Rock station in the Hampton Roads area of the United States, has its debut. WKFD/1370-Wickford, Rhode Island begins broadcasting. Lohman and Barkley, a radio talk show featuring Al Lohman and Roger Barkley, begins on KLAC in Los Angeles and runs on several stations until 1986. October 23 – WAMU is established as an FM station and part of the Educational Radio Network, in Washington, D.C. December 23 - WURV signs on as WFMV in Richmond, Virginia.
Births February 25 – Todd Blackledge, American sports radio host, previously NFL player March 4 – Tom Churchill, Iowa-based radio and television weatherman, inventor of the Digital Weatherman, a computer automation system March 14 – Gary Dell'Abate, American radio producer (The Howard Stern Show) April 26 – Anthony Cumia, American radio personality (The Anthony Cumia Show, previously of The Opie and Anthony Show) September 29 – Stephanie Miller, American comedian and radio talk show host (The Stephanie Miller Show) October 25 – Pat Sharp, English radio DJ and children's television host December 30 – Sean Hannity, American talk radio host and conservative commentator
Deaths January 30 – Dorothy Thompson, American journalist and radio commentator (born 1893) April 21 – Wallace Greenslade, English radio announcer (born 1912) October 22 – L. Stanton Jefferies, English musician and radio producer (born 1896)
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