The year 1972 in radio involved some significant events.
Events
February –
WOC-FM (103.7 FM) in
Davenport, Iowa flips from a format that formatted
beautiful music and also simulcasted WOC's
AM signal to a
contemporary hit radio format, and adopts the call sign KIIK-FM, or KIIK 104 as it would be known to fans. It is the
Quad Cities market's first FM top 40 station and – with the advantage of an FM stereo signal – will be the first serious challenge to
KSTT (1170 AM), the market's top-rated station.
Two new Top 40 stations launch in major
Canadian cities, as
CFTR Toronto abandons its simulcast of beautiful music
CHFI-FM for Top 40 early in the year, and in Ottawa, CKPM becomes
CFGO on June 21.[1][2]
June 6 -
KPOO-FM signs on in
San Francisco, becoming the first black-owned non-commercial radio station in the western United States.[3]
Bill and Becky Ann Stewart sell
WPBC and
WPBC-FM, both of
Richfield, Minnesota, to Fairchild Industries. Later that year, both stations become
WYOO.
WDRQDetroit, having debuted the previous year as a news/talk station, flips to
Top 40, as does
WAAM in nearby
Ann Arbor (dropping its longtime
MOR format). Detroit also loses a Top 40 station on April 25, 1972, as
WKNR changes from "Keener 13" to beautiful music as
WNIC, simulcast with its FM sister (formerly WKNR-FM).
NBC sells off their
Cleveland radio stations (
WKYC-AM and
WKYC-FM) to Ohio Communications, headed by
Cleveland Indians,
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Cleveland Arena owner
Nick Mileti, and radio executive Jim Embrescia. The stations were renamed "3WE" WWWE-AM and "M105" WWWM-FM, with the AM station attaining flagship rights to the Indians and Cavaliers, and hired pioneering sports/talk host
Pete Franklin for "Sportsline."
Metromedia sells off their
Cleveland stations,
WHK and
WMMS, to the Detroit-based
Malrite Communications Group. After protests and pleas from WMMS' devoted following, Malrite vows to maintain the FM stations'
progressive rock format, and relocates their corporate headquarters to Cleveland. Farther west in
Toledo, progressive rock fans get a Christmas gift as WCWA-FM becomes
WIOT-FM on Christmas Day.
January 1,
Jane Morgan, 92, British-born American actress whose career encompassed concert halls, vaudeville, the legitimate stage, radio, television and film.[6]
^
abcCox, Jim (2008). This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History. McFarland & Company, Inc.
ISBN978-0-7864-3848-8. P. 6.
^"Mr Douglas Smith". The Times. London. 1972-10-16. p. 14.