The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2023. 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.
Notable events
January Date Event Source1French private musical category D radio station Europe 2 is re-launched.After stunting with Christmas music since November 2022, United States radio station WNUU in York, Pennsylvania, is relaunched as WPPY, broadcasting Adult Contemporary music.10WKPR-Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, surrenders its license.KYTE-Independence, Oregon continues broadcasting illegally after having its license cancelled.23After stunting with Christmas music since November 2022, Puerto Rican stations WRXD-Fajardo/San Juan, WNVI-Moca and the translator stations relaunched the Estereotempo name and its Adult Contemporary format after four years of absence.30The new daily magazine show Commotion is launched on CBC Radio One in Canada.Aliw Broadcasting Corporation's Home Radio, DWQZ-FM, changes provincial stations in the Philippines with a rebranding to DWIZ-AM Regional Integrated News. DWQZ still remains in Pasig City, Metro Manila as 97.9 Home Radio.
February Date Event Source27 US broadcasting company Audacy begins the process of winding down most of its HD Radio digital subchannels due to lack of revenue. (Channel Q, its mostly HD-exclusive LGBTQ service, is unaffected by the cuts.) Further cuts later in the year lead to the company spinning off the licenses of WLFP in Memphis, Tennessee and WTSS in Buffalo, New York to Educational Media Foundation.
March Date Event Source15 Mexican social radio station XHCSAG-FM begins broadcasting after delays in completing its tower, attributed to COVID.
April Date Event Source10 DZRM-AM returns to air after 10 months of inactivity and is rebranded as Radyo Pilipinas 3 Alert.21 US Top 40 station KRBE-Houston, Texas, temporarily rebrands as 104.1 TAY-RBE in honor of Taylor Swift performing the first of her three Eras Tour shows at NRG Stadium that night, with the station's playlist that day only consisting of songs from all of her albums.
May Date Event Source12 New Zealand radio station Pulzar FM broadcasts for the last time, to be replaced by sister station Anthemz.20 Mexican radio station XHCORO-FM closes down for economic reasons.
June Date Event Source14 Canada's Bell Media shuts down six radio stations, CJBK—London, CFRN—Edmonton, CFTE—Vancouver, CKST—Vancouver, CKMX—Calgary, and CFRW—Winnipeg, and is set to sell three more, CHAM—Hamilton, Ontario, CKOC—Hamilton, and CKWW—Windsor, as part of cuts across the company. 26KVOH Rancho Simi, California, a shortwave radio station based in the United States (serving the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico and western Africa), ceases operations, citing the cost of electricity in California.Wavescan Episode 749 (story begins at 19:46). Adventist World Radio. Retrieved July 10, 2023.Hauser, Glenn (June 28, 2023). World of Radio Episode 2196. Retrieved July 10, 2023.30Philippines radio station DWPM Radyo 630 is launched on AM, replacing DZMM-AM TeleRadyo in its frequency. This new station is a joint venture between Prime Media Holdings and ABS-CBN (owner of the former DZMM).
July Date Event Source1 Philippines radio station Q Radio and its provincial stations permanently cease broadcasting after almost 3 years, to become a joint venture of Mareco Broadcasting Network and Brigada Mass Media Corporation as 105.1 Brigada News FM in Metro Manila, 105.1 Brigada News FM Baguio, and 90.7 Brigada News FM Cebu, while the Davao station becomes music-formatted 93.1 News FM in conjunction with its de-facto sister station.12A 74-year affiliation between Saint Bonaventure University and FM 95.7 in Olean, New York, United States, dating to the latter's debut in 1949, ends as the university's men's basketball squad severs ties with the station now known as WPIG and opts to carry its live broadcasts online.
August Date Event Source8Philippines radio station 103.1 Newsline Central Luzon was officially launched under JRS Newsline Multimedia Corporation and affiliated by Soundstream Broadcasting Corporation in San Fernando, Pampanga.14Indian-American entrepreneur Manoj Bhargava announces a wave of acquisitions that includes the assumption of debt from Audacy and the purchase of a minority stake in Cumulus Media, as his Bridge Media Networks—owner of the television network NewsNet—merges with The Arena Group.
September Date Event Source1Canadian radio station CIRR-FM ("103.9 Proud FM"), launched in 2007 as Canada's and the world's first commercial radio station targeted to an LGBTQ listening audience, is scheduled to shut down, with its staff reassigned to sister station CIDC-FM.Connie Thiessen, "Evanov moves to ‘integrate’ GTA stations Proud 103.9 and Z103.5". Broadcast Dialogue, August 16, 2023.1CJRI-FM in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, goes silent after being denied a licence renewal and ordered to cease broadcasting by midnight on August 31, 2023."Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2023-246". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, August 8, 2023.5CKJR in Westaskiwin, Alberta, is slated to shift formats from oldies music to sports, bringing the format back to the Edmonton market after the closure of CFRN in June.Connie Thiessen, "Stingray bringing sports radio back to Edmonton". Broadcast Dialogue, August 14, 2023.5U.S. radio network NPR announces that John Lansing, NPR's president and CEO, is set to retire in December.22The 2023 edition of Europe's Biggest Dance Show is simultaneously broadcast by stations in the UK (BBC Radio 1), Germany (1LIVE and Fritz), Austria (FM4), Norway (NRK mP3), Ukraine (Radio Promin), Belgium (Studio Brussel), Sweden (SR P3), Finland (YleX), and newcomers Catalonia (iCat) and Estonia (Raadio 2).
October Date Event Source9After airing daily for 84 years, the National Research Council Canada's midday time signal (a series of audio tics followed by "the beginning of the long dash" that marked 1PM Eastern Time) is heard for the final time on CBC Radio One, with the discontinuation due to latency issues with digital audio that render the signal inaccurate. Canada will continue to offer a time signal on the CHU shortwave service."The end of the long dash: CBC stops broadcasting official time signal," from CBC.ca, 10/10/202316In the Philippines, AllHitz24 was officially launched under Dumaguete Media Productions and affiliated by CETV Philippines in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental using online radio app.31 WMXL (Lexington, Kentucky) became the first non-stunting station in North America to flip to Christmas music for the 2023 season. (Though WMGA in Kenova, West Virginia had flipped to Christmas music on October 19, this format change turned out to be a stunt as the station changed formats after Christmas.)
November Date Event Source5Killing of Juan Jumalon: 57-year-old Filipino broadcaster Juan Jumalon, known on air as "Johnny Walker", is shot dead while hosting a live show from his home in Calamba, Misamis Occidental. Three men are later charged with murder and theft.30Philippines radio station DWOW under Advanced Media Broadcasting System permanently ceases its K-Lite brand after its 10 years.
December Date Event Source2DZAR Sonshine Radio returns to operate after 1 year of hiatus due to transferring our new transmitter location.6WXNT 1340 AM rebrands from "CBS Sports 1430" as "Indy's Sports Ticket", but retains sports radio programming from CBS Sports Radio in most dayparts and also retains the Rich Eisen show from Westwood One in the evenings. The station will also continue airing Butler basketball.. 19Annie Nightingale, BBC Radio One's first female DJ, makes her final broadcast..19KIFS 107.5 in Eugene, Oregon at 2:00 PM flips from its previous format as CHR "KISS 107.5 FM" to Rhythmic Gold as "107.5 The Beat", as the station focus on Pop Rhythmic hits from the 80s to the 2000s..21DZAR temporarily stopped its operations due to a 30-day suspension order of the National Telecommunications Commission together with DWAQ-DTV and SMNI News Channel.31DR turns off their longwave transmitter forever.
Deaths January 8: Arnie Coro, Cuban radio host, co-founder of Radio Havana (born 1942) Ernst Grissemann, Austrian radio host, journalist, and actor (born 1934) January 13: Ray Cordeiro, Hong Kong disc jockey (born 1924) January 20: Jerry Blavat, American disc jockey (born 1940) January 22: Lin Brehmer, American disc jockey (born 1954) February 11: Ivan Kováč, Slovak middle-distance runner and radio sports commentator (born 1948) March 5: Mark Pilgrim, South African broadcaster (born 1969) March 26: Ray Pillow, American country music singer/executive and Grand Ole Opry member (born 1937) March 30: Doug Mulray, Australian radio broadcaster (born 1951) April 12: Eduard Bagirov, Russian writer and broadcaster (born 1975) April 19: Ed Picson, Filipino sports broadcaster (born 1953) May 19: George Logan, British actor, composer, musician and broadcaster (The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket, etc.) June 3: Totto Osvold, 81, Norwegian radio broadcaster (born 1941) June 8: Wade Goodwyn, 63, correspondent for NPRObituary for Wade Goodwyn from NPR.org, 6/8/2023 Pat Robertson, 93, American radio station owner who transformed the Rural Radio Network into the Christian Broadcasting Network before moving to television (born 1930) June 12: Silvio Berlusconi, 86, Italian radio and television magnate and politician (born 1936) (main article: Death and state funeral of Silvio Berlusconi) June 18: Jellie Brouwer, 59, Dutch journalist and presenter (cancer) June 23: Jesse McReynolds, 93, American country musician and Grand Ole Opry regular since 1964 (born 1929) June 26: Dick Biondi, 90, American radio disc jockey best known for his work in Buffalo, New York and Chicago, Illinois (born 1932) June 27: Bobby Osborne, 91, American country musician (The Osborne Brothers, Rocky Top X-Press) and Grand Ole Opry regular (born 1931) July 5: Awa Ehoura, Ivorian journalist and radio host (age unknown) July 19: Frank Cody, 75, American radio executive (KTWV) August 7 Leonid Volodarskiy, 73, Russian translator, writer and radio presenter (born 1950) Jim Price, 81, retired American baseball player (Detroit Tigers) and radio analyst (Detroit Tigers Radio Network).Former Tigers catcher and analyst Jim Price dies at 81 Detroit Free Press, August 8, 2023 August 17: Rick Jeanneret, 81, Canadian-American play-by-play broadcaster for the Sabres Hockey Network from 1971 to 2022, also disc jockey for CJRN (born 1942) August 18: James L. Buckley, 100, American politician, President of Radio Free Europe from 1982 to 1985 (born 1923) August 23: Magdalena "Moodie Jam" Estrada, 66, Filipina disc jockey (born 1957) August 26: Tony Roberts, 94, American play-by-play broadcaster for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football from 1980 to 2006 (born 1928) August 29: Mike Enriquez, 71, Filipino radio and television news anchor, GMA Network (born 1951) September 1: Jimmy Buffett, 76, American Gulf and Western singer-songwriter, founder of Radio Margaritaville (born 1946) September 8: Sašo Hribar, 63, Slovenian radio satirist and impressionist (heart attack) September 11: Dick Bertel, 92, announcer, news anchor, and media executive at WTIC (AM), NBC Radio Network, and the Voice of America - host of The Golden Age of Radio from 1970 - 1977, an oral history of network radio entertainment programming September 25: Jay de Castro, 46, former Filipino voice actor and dubbing director of ABS-CBN, former Filipino TV reporter of News5 and Filipino radio reporter of DZME 1530 Radyo Uno (born 1977) September 28: DJ Lalla, 34, Romanian DJ and radio presenter (drowned) October 21: Dusty Street, 77, American freeform/progressive disc jockey for KROQ and SiriusXM (born 1946)