1977 in radio

Events

• January – WRSQ-FM signs on the air in Geneseo, Illinois as a sister station to WGEN-AM. The station's first call letters are short-lived, as the station will quickly adopt the callsign WGEN-FM. The initial format is country music with a community focus.
• February 18 – Belgischer Rundfunk is founded and takes over responsibility for public-service radio broadcasting in the German language in Belgium.
• March 5 - President Jimmy Carter participates with Walter Cronkite in the Dial-a-President radio program on CBS.
• May 12 - WTIC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut switches from classical music to a new Top 40 format designed by consultant Mike Joseph. This successful new approach will later be termed Hot Hits.
• August 16 - Radio and television stations nationwide interrupt regular programming to report the death of Elvis Presley.
• September 1 -- Dave Lingafelt begins airing "The Whacky Wake Up Crew" on WNNC-AM in Newton, North Carolina. He has been on the air for more than 35 years and has since purchased another AM station as well as 95.7 WXRC "The Ride."

  No dates

• KSTP-FM in St. Paul, Minnesota adopts its long-running soft rock format.

  Debuts

• 5 February: Adventure Theater debuts on CBS.

  Closings

• 29 May: NBC Radio's all-news "News and Information Service" ceases operations, citing a low number of affiliates. Most stations switch to different formats, but KQV in Pittsburgh launched a locally based production for its all-news format, which it maintains to the present day.

  Births

• November - Heidi Cortez, American model, writer, and radio host

  Deaths

• April 15 - Bud Ballou, 34, American radio disc jockey
• May 2 - Sid Collins, 55, American broadcaster best known as the radio voice of the Indianapolis 500 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network from 1952 to 1976
• June 14 - Alan Reed, 70, American actor
• October 14 - Bing Crosby, 74, American singer, actor and early radio personality
• November 8 - Ted Ray, 71, English comedian