1936 in radio

Events

• 1 January – Cessation of all commercial radio broadcasting in Germany.
• 2 January – Bing Crosby becomes full-time host of the Kraft Music Hall, following Paul Whiteman, after having been a guest host on 5 December 1935.
• 20 March – The Lisnagarvey transmitter begins service, broadcasting the Northern Ireland Regional Programme of the BBC on a frequency of 977 kHz.
• 25 March – First radio broadcast from the Parliament of New Zealand.
• 30 March – Backstage Wife moves from Mutual to the NBC Blue Network.
• 28 May – The Klaipėda transmission station in Lithuania enters regular service, broadcasting programmes from Radio Klaipėda and Radio Kaunas on a frequency of 565 kHz.
• 8 June – All India Radio is launched after years of experimental broadcasting.
• 12 June – Pittsburgh becomes the first city in the U.S. to have a 50,000 watt station.
• 6 September – Fireside chat: On Drought Conditions
• 17 September – Major Bowes Amateur Hour moves from the NBC Red Network to CBS.
• 2 November – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation takes over responsibility for public service broadcasting in Canada from the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission.
• 11 December – In a worldwide radio broadcast, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom makes a speech from Windsor Castle explaining the reasons for his abdication of the throne.

  Debuts

• 5 January – Famous Jury Trials debuts on WLW.
• 12 January – Radio-Cité transmits the first episode of the long-running daily serial La Famille Duraton, which will continue on various stations until 1966.
• 27 January – David Harum debuts on NBC.
• 31 January – The Green Hornet debuts on WXYZ.
• 7 February – The Flying Red Horse Tavern debuts on CBS.
• 29 February – The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air debuts on CBS.
• 3 March – Renfrew of the Mounted debuts on CBS.
• 28 June – Ma and Pa debuts on CBS.
• 4 September – Bughouse Rhythm debuts on NBC.
• 14 September – Big Sister debuts on CBS.
• 14 September – John's Other Wife debuts on NBC.
• 26 September – Hal Peary first appears as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on Fibber McGee and Molly.
• 30 September – The Bishop and the Gargoyle debuts on the Blue Network.
• 18 November – Robert Lachmann begins a series of live radio broadcasts for the Palestine Broadcasting Service, called Oriental Music.
• Mordecai Ham begins his radio ministry in the United States.

  Finales

• 22 May – The Flying Red Horse Tavern ends its run on network radio.
• 14 September – Carefree Carnival ends its run on network radio.

  Births

• 2 March – John Tusa, Czech-born British broadcast presenter and administrator.
• 30 March – John Tydeman, British radio drama producer.
• 21 April – James Dobson, American chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, host of internationally syndicated daily radio show of the same name.
• 16 May – Roy Hudd, English comedy performer.
• 1 August – Laurie Taylor, English sociologist and radio presenter.
• 4 September – Wayne Cody, American radio and television sportscaster who spends the bulk of his career at KIRO in Seattle, Washington.
• 11 September – Roger Barkley, American radio personality and talk show host, best remembered for his work with Al Lohman as part of The Lohman and Barkley Show on KFI Los Angeles, California.
• 20 November – Bill Wallis, English character actor.

  Deaths

• 23 January – Dame Clara Butt, contralto opera singer, 63
• 17 February – Hiram Percy Maxim, 66, co-founder of the American Radio Relay League
• 6 April – Väinö Lehmus, 50, Finnish stage, film and radio actor
• 15 August – Sir Henry Lytton, Gilbert & Sullivan comic baritone singer and actor, 71