2001 in radio
The year 2001 in radio involved some significant events.
Events
- 12 January: Jammin 103.5 becomes Kiss 103.5 (WCKS) in Chicago.
- 29 January: The 80s Channel WXXY and WWYX (now WVIV) becomes Viva! 103.1
- 2 April: Jammin 99.5 begins stunting as Survivor Radio, based on the CBS TV series, Survivor.
- 6 April: Survivor Radio stunting ended, still becomes a CHR station as Hot 99.5 (WIHT). "Survivor", by Destiny's Child, was the first song played on Hot 99.5.
- 28 May: KRBV (100.3) in Dallas, TX changes its branding from "Hot 100" to "Wild 100" while maintaining its Top 40 format.
- 15 June: Bruce Williams leaves Westwood One to join the IDT-owned Talk America Radio Network; his departure effectively ended what was originally the NBC Talknet service.
- 3 July: At 12:01 a.m., a complicated seven-station call letter, format, ownership and intellectual property swap commences on seven stations in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton-Lorain region:
- Radio Seaway, owner of WCLV, sells WCLV's class B 95.5 MHz signal to Salem Communications, in exchange for Salem's 1420 kHz facility and Clear Channel's class A 104.9 MHz facility, licensed to suburban Lorain. Salem then sells their 98.1 MHz facility, licensed to Canton, to Clear Channel, and the intellectual property of WRMR 850 kHz to Radio Seaway.
- WCLV relocates from the 95.5 facility to the 104.9 facility, and launches a semi-simulcast on WBKC in Painesville, Ohio. The 1420 facility, which was originally intended to be the primary signal (with the FM as a simulcast), instead assumes WRMR's adult standards format as "Classic Pops 1420," although with the WCLV (AM) calls.
- "Kiss 104.9" WAKS, the original occupant of the 104.9 signal, moved to the Akron-based 96.5 facility. Their transmitter is relocated to sister station WTAM's Brecksville transmitter, and is turned into a Cleveland-market signal.
- WKDD moves from the 96.5 frequency, its original home for 23 years, to the 98.1 facility.
- Salem Communications relaunched the 95.5 facility as CCM WFHM "95.5 The Fish," relocates WHK's Christian talk-and-teaching format from the 1420 facility to the 1220 facility, and WKNR's all-sports format from the 1220 facility to the 850 facility.
- That November, Radio Seaway donates the 104.9 facility to "The WCLV Foundation," a non-profit consortium that leases WCLV-FM back to Radio Seaway in perpetuity.
- 27 July: Energy FM starts broadcasting in the Isle of Man, it is only the second radio station ever to be legally broadcast on the Island. Other illegal stations known to have operated have been Radio Caroline and Toxic 103FM.
- 9 August: Saying that "the rusty pipes are being renewed... I’m so eager to return," Paul Harvey returned to the air for one day after suffering a severe case of laryngitis; he had been sidelined since May while undergoing treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Gil Gross and Sam Donaldson were the chief fill-in hosts used during this time. Harvey returned to full-time duty on August 19.
- 2 September: WEVD 1050-AM in New York is leased out by owner The Forward to Disney/ABC. The locally-based talk format, including hosts Alan Colmes, Ed Koch and Bill Mazer is dropped in favor of ESPN Radio programming (and eventually becomes ESPN's flagship station, WEPN). Nine days later, the station simulcasts future sister station WABC for several weeks.
- 10 September: The Sean Hannity Show enters national syndication from ABC Radio.
- 11 September: Thousands of radio stations interrupt regularly scheduled programming starting at or around 8:50 a.m. EST (13.50 GMT) to cover the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, from multitudes of sources.
- 11 September: In addition to the 2,754 fatalities in New York City, the September 11 attacks resulted the destruction of the transmission mast atop One World Trade Center, killing six engineers and silencing WKCR, WPAT-FM, WNYC-FM and WKTU, in addition to all nine major television stations, and the studio-transmitter link for WNYC (AM). WKTU had a backup transmitter atop the Conde Nast Building at Four Times Square that was immediately activated. WNYC Radio's studio buildings in the Municipal Building were evacuated and relocated to NPR's Manhattan facilities, with WNYE arranging to carry WNYC-FM's programming on a full-time basis. While WNYC (AM)'s transmitter was on the whole time, programming would return later that afternoon with a backup STL dish sent to their transmitter site, which would relay an ISDN feed of WNYC sent via satellite from NPR's Washington facility. WPAT returned to the air that Thursday on the Empire State Building's transmission mast, and WKCR was reactivated from their Columbia University campus. (All of the TV stations would utilize the historic Armstrong Tower - a landmark in the history of FM broadcasting - as early as that Wednesday.)[1][2]
- 31 December: Cox Communications flips the format and call letters of Classical radio station WTMI/Miami, Florida to Dance Music as WPYM ("Party 93.1, South Florida's Pure Dance Channel"). The news would make headlines in the trades and in the Dance Music community. The station would last three years and three months.
Debuts
Closings
Deaths
References