May 6 –
Bob Kingsley, producer of the syndicated "
American Country Countdown," takes over as host. He replaces Don Bowman, who had hosted for the first 4½ years. Kingsley will helm the program for 27 years.
October 7 – "
American Top 40" expands from three to four hours. Several new features are added to the program, which is reaching its peak in popularity.
No dates
Likely fall –
WEMO (101.3 FM) of
East Moline, Illinois switches its adult contemporary/MOR format to
country music, and changes its call letters to WZZC. The new station, an ancestor to
WLLR, stabilizes an FM country music format, which – except for a brief run in 1977-1978 on WHTT-FM (96.9 FM) – had been absent from the
Quad Cities market for more than five years.
8 March – The first episode of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - the radio series later to be turned into a book, a television programme, a game, and a film - is broadcast on
BBC Radio 4.
3 July – The radio play Pearl by
John Arden is first performed.
24 December – In
Sweden, pirate radio station Radio FM in Stockholm goes on air.
Closings
29 January – Adventure Theater (a children's program, not to be confused with Adventure Theater, a 1956 anthology series on
NBC) ends its run on network radio.[2]
March 27 –
Wilfred Pickles, English radio presenter (b. 1904)
April 28 –
Walter Fischer, Austrian medical doctor, journalist, radio broadcaster, translator, poet, anti-fascist resistance fighter and Communist Party official (b. 1901)[3]
June 29 –
Bob Crane, American actor, drummer, radio host and DJ (b.
1928)