1971 in radio

Events

• 2 January: A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
• 3 January: Open University begins broadcasts on the BBC in the United Kingdom.
• 5 January: FIP begins broadcasting from Paris on 514 m.
• 19 January: Moscow Radio broadcasts criticism of the Sultan of Oman in Arabic. One of the accusations against him is that he allowed the setting up of a radio station called "Voice of the Free South" in opposition to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.
• 14 February: All of ABC Radio's FM stations change call letters, all on the same day:
• *WABC-FM in New York becomes WPLJ, for White Port & Lemon Juice.
• *KABC-FM in Los Angeles becomes KLOS, for Los Angeles.
• *KGO-FM in San Francisco becomes KSFX, for San Francisco.
• *KQV-FM in Pittsburgh becomes WDVE, for a D o V E, the symbol of peace.
• *WXYZ-FM in Detroit becomes WRIF, for a guitar "R I F F".
• *WLS-FM in Chicago becomes WDAI.
• *KXYZ-FM in Houston becomes KAUM, meaning unknown.
• 20 February: The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning; many radio stations just ignore it, while WOWO in Fort Wayne takes it seriously and interrupts programming for 20 minutes.
• 18 March: Prambors FM is launched in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• 26 March: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares Bangladesh's independence in a radio message.
• 1 April: Bayern 3, a public radio station owned and operated by Bayerischer Rundfunk, is launched in West Germany.
• 10 May: Members of the Front homosexuel d'action révolutionnaire interrupt a live radio broadcast on France's RTL, in which controversial presenter Menie Grégoire is introducing a phone-in on the subject of homosexuality.
• 24 May: U.S. Senator Clifford Case introduces Senate Bill 18, to remove funding for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty from the CIA's budget.
• 15 July: DXDB Radyo Bandilyo, an AM radio station owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Malaybalay, is launched in the Philippines.
• 19 September: MBC FM4U, South Korea's second FM station, is launched.
• 2 November: Radio Waikato begins broadcasting in Hamilton, New Zealand, on 954 kHz AM.
• 19 November: Triple M Central Coast begins broadcasting from Gosford, New South Wales, Australia, under the name 2GO.
• December: WNBC in New York lures Don Imus and his Imus in the Morning program away from WGAR in Cleveland ; WGAR replaces him with fellow shock jock John Lanigan.
• date unknown
• *Radio Malaysia becomes the first radio station in Malaysia to broadcast 24 hours a day, nationwide.
• *The FM- and TV-mast Helsinki-Espoo, the third highest structure in Finland, begins transmission.
• *WLOL-FM and KSJN, both in Minneapolis, Minnesota, participate in "quadcast" experiments.
• *Sergiu Celibidache becomes conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra.
• *David McCallum Sr. ends his tenure as leader of Mantovani's orchestra.

  Debuts

• January 18 – La Case Trésor, presented by Guy Lux, is broadcast for the first time in France.
• May 3 - All Things Considered, NPR's flagship news program, broadcasts for the first time.
• October – Odd Grythe begins hosting Husker du..., an entertainment show for the elderly, for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
• November 7 – WCCI-FM in Savanna, Illinois signs on at 100.1 FM. The station will later move to 100.3 FM.
• December – KOEL-FM, licensed to Oelwein, Iowa, signs on the air at 92.3 FM. Its initial format is country music.
• date unknown
• *Bill Ballance begins hosting the Feminine Forum radio show on KGBS in Los Angeles
• *The Music of the NOW Man is launched on the American Forces Network in the Far East.

  Births

• January 20 – Pixie McKenna, Irish doctor, radio and TV presenter
• April 16
• *High Pitch Eric, member of the Wack Pack from radio's The Howard Stern Show
• *Selena, US Latin singer and radio personality
• May 20 – Chris Booker, American radio and television personality.
• May – Frank Brinsley, host of The Frank Show
• June 10 – Kyle Sandilands, Australian radio presenter
• June 23 – Alan Cox, American comedian and radio personality, currently on WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio
• July 21 – Nuno Markl, Portuguese comedian and radio host
• July 30 – Tom Green, Canadian comedian and talk show host
• August 23 – Hugh Douglas, former NFL player, regular personality on Philadelphia sports radio station WIP
• August 26 – Thalía, Mexican singer, actress and radio presenter
• October 13 – Billy Bush, radio personality, co-host of TV show Access Hollywood, first cousin of George W. Bush
• October 20 – Dannii Minogue, Australian singer and radio presenter
• December 17 – Alan Khan, South African radio DJ

  Deaths

• January 7 – Richard Kollmar, 60, actor and Broadway producer.
• January 13 – Henri Tomasi, 69, French composer and conductor, one of the first radio conductors and a pioneer of "radiophonic" music
• March 16 – Bebe Daniels, 70, US actress, writer, producer and radio personality
• July 6 – Louis Armstrong, 69, African-American jazz musician, actor, singer, radio and TV personality
• July 11 – Carleton G. Young, 64, American radio and television actor
• October 3 – Seán Ó Riada, 40, Irish composer, former music director at Radio Éireann and presenter of Our Musical Heritage