50 Things That Happened in Radio During 2013

By Corey Deitz

1. Famous Chicago deejay, Larry Lujack, died at age 73.
2. The NBA cut a deal with Sirius XM Radio for its own 24/7 channel.
3. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity prepared to leave flagship station WABC-AM for WOR-AM as of January 1, 2014.
4. SiriusXM offered a limited time Nelson Mandela Music Tribute Channel.
5. Satellite radio's Ron and Fez Show survived personal turmoil on the Opie & Anthony Channel and announced a move to Raw Dog, channel 99 beginning January, 2014.
6. John DePetro from WPRO-FM/Providence claims he was threatened by two men on the street outside the radio station.
7. Mike Huckabee announced he would end his nationally syndicated radio show.
8. A judge denied Casey Kasem’s adult children conservatorship over his matters, leaving decisions to his wife, Jean.
9. The morning guy from Swedish station RIX-FM, pulled an early morning karaoke prank on the visiting Portuguese soccer team while they slept.
10. Providence station WPRI-FM started playing all-Christmas music on November 6.

1. Dan Sileo lost his sports radio job at WMEN/Palm Beach when he tweeted he would pay $1000 to any U. of Miami Hurricane player who “takes out” a Florida State player.
2. RadioSearchEngine.com unveiled a website which allows a user to search for any song or artist and find out where it’s playing globally.
3. Grand Theft Auto V hit the market featuring 17 internal radio stations gamers could listen to.
4. After a contentious interview, Paris Hilton dissed the morning show at G105/Raleigh-Durham. The phone was not disconnected and it was still recording.
5. iHeartRadio announced it would offer audio from CNN and TBS.
6. 98.7 The Bull in Portland promoted itself by stuffing one-hundred dollar bills into random product packages at stores to hype it’s “$1,000 Dollar Cash Cow” event.
7. iTunes Radio launched at grabbed 11 million listeners in just 5 days.
8. Radio and TV personality, Svengoolie (Jerry G. Bishop), died at age 77.
9. The third iHeartRadio Music Festival took place in Las Vegas with a lineup including Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Queen + Adam Lambert, Fun, Elton John, Keith Urban, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, and others.
10. Art Bell returned to radio – again – with Art Bell’s Dark Matter heard latenights on Sirius XM Radio
11. Star 94.9 in Florence, Alabama did a little stunting and pretended their signal had been hacked by space aliens. Some people actually fell for it.
12. WGN-AM/Chicago debuted a new lineup September 3 including Steve Cochran, Kathy & Judy and Garry Meier.
13. Ricardo “El Madril” Sanchez on KLAX-FM was top morning personality in Los Angeles – at least in July.
14. Z-100 (WHTZ-FM)/New York celebrated its 30^th birthday.
15. Nationally syndicated radio personality Kidd Kraddick died unexpectedly in late July. He was 53.
16. Pink Floyd got its very own 24/7 channel on Sirius XM Radio.
17. The Swell app started getting notice. Some say it’s a “Pandora” for talk radio and online audio.
18. Sirius XM relaunches its liberal talk channel, SiriusXM Left, into the new Progressive Talk channel.
19. Sirius XM announced it has over 25 million paying customers
20. A new reality show premieres on The History Channel called God, Guns and Automobiles starring Mark Muller and his more famous brother, Erich Muller aka Mancow
21. WBZ/Boston names Jen Brien overnight host from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.
22. Rurual Radio becomes a new 24/7 channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
23. The morning show at 790 The Zone, Mayhem in the AM, gets itself fired for insensitive remarks about Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
24. Howard Sattler on Australia’s 6PR, lost his job after asking the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, if her partner was gay.
25. Harry Birrell, who spent over 30 years as a radio reporter and anchor at KNX-AM/Los Angeles, died at age 85.
26. Comedy Central partnered with Sirius XM to launch a 24/7 comedy channel.
27. Paula White was yanked off the air at BBC Radio Stoke after listeners complained she sounded drunk.
28. The Cowhead Show at WHPT-FM was sued for $18 million dollars by parents of a young man whose photo was used in the “Retarded News” section of its website.
29. A survey of Brits picked Winston Churchill's “We Shall Fight Them on the Beaches” speech from 1940 as the #1 radio moment of all time.
30. Los Angeles radio host Shotgun Tom Kelly was enshrined on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
31. Upon Margaret Thatcher’s death, the song “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” began to climb in sales, putting BBC Radio in a precarious spot for its weekly chart show. In the end, 7 seconds were played with an explanation.
32. Entertainment Weekly Radio launched a 24/7 channel on Sirius XM.
33. Michael Smerconish left terrestrial radio for satellite radio as of April, 2013.
34. Longtime St. Louis radio personality J.C. Corcoran left town after almost 30 years - for an offer in Houston.
35. George Woods launched The Radio Channel, an online stream that plays only songs about radio.
36. TJ Taormina left Z-100/New York for 103.3 AMP/Boston.
37. Remember the Sacramento radio station where a listener died in 2007 from water intoxication during a contest to drink water and hold their pee? Two media watch groups are challenging the station's license.
38. Andrea Tantaros from Fox News Channel’s The Five got her own syndicated radio show.
39. “Mo” from Q92 (WDJQ/Canton, Ohio) got suspended for making fun of a caller with Down Syndrome.
40. Bubba the Love Sponge was found Not Guilty in a defamation lawsuit brough by radio personality Todd Schnitt.