2015 in radio
The following is a list of events that affected radio broadcasting in 2015. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, station launches, closures and format changes, as well as information about controversies.
Notable events
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
| Date | Event |
| 10 | The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1 moves to Friday afternoons at 4pm during Greg James's show to coincide with the global change of new music releases from Sundays to Fridays. It is the first time in 28 years that The Official Chart has taken place on a day other than a Sunday. |
| 10 | The global change in the move of new releases on Friday also affects the changes in Billboard, resulting in the Hot 100 chart to adjust the real-time monitoring of songs receiving airplay at radio stations in the United States by synching up to that Monday to Sunday period after formerly encompassing each Wednesday to Tuesday due to the Hot 100 now following a Friday to Thursday cycle. |
| 14 | As part of a $5 million settlement it made with the United States Department of Justice, Entercom agrees to swap four of its Denver properties, KYGO-FM, KOSI, KKFN, and KEPN, to Bonneville International in exchange for Bonneville's KSWD/Los Angeles. The swap brings Entercom to Los Angeles for the first time, while Bonneville marks its maiden entry into the Denver market. The swaps become official July 17. |
| 15 | KFLY/Eugene, Oregon fires their entire airstaff. The station flips from Active Rock to Triple-A on July 30. |
| 17 | After 12 years airing Radio Disney, WRDZ-FM/Indianapolis, with new owner and now called WUBG, flips to Country. |
| 24 | ESPN officially terminates Colin Cowherd after he made negative comments about Dominican Republic baseball players on his radio program, which was condemned by Major League Baseball and the players association. Ironically, Cowherd was expected to leave ESPN at the end of the year, but decided to expedite the departure immediately. His last show will air July 31. |
August
September
October
November
December
Debuts
Closings
Deaths
- January 1: Mario Cuomo, 82. Former Governor of New York and early progressive talk radio host.
- January 2: Little Jimmy Dickens, 94. Frequent host and member of the Grand Ole Opry; country musician and comedian.
- January 4: Lance Diamond, 68. Radio host on WJYE and musician.
- January 7: Bernard Maris, 68, French journalist and radio presenter
- February 12
- *Alison Gordon, 72, Canadian sports journalist, writer and broadcaster
- *Gary Owens, 80, DJ at several stations from 1952 to 2007, most notably KMPC in Los Angeles; voiced thousands of commercials and cartoon characters, was the announcer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and hosted a daily program on the syndicated Music of Your Life network.
- February 14: Bernd Dost, 75, German journalist and broadcaster
- February 15: Sergio Blanco, 66, Spanish singer, Eurovision entrant
- February 19: Warren Thomson, 79, Australian pianist and broadcaster
- March 5: Fred Latremouille, 69, Canadian radio host.
- March 11: Tony Fenton, 53, Irish radio presenter
- April 3: Paul Grigoriu, 70, Romanian radio personality.
- April 5: Gordon Moyes, 76, Australian radio evangelist and politician
- April 7: Stan Freberg, 88. Host of The Stan Freberg Show and When Radio Was, advertising executive and actor.
- April 14 : Roberto Tucci, 93, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, President of Vatican Radio
- April 16 : Nimal Mendis, 81, Sri Lankan singer and songwriter
- April 17 : Don Quayle, 84, journalist and NPR's first president.
- May 1: David Day, 63, Australian radio broadcaster.
- May 14: B.B. King, 89, Blues musician whose career and stage name originated from his stint as an air personality at WDIA/Memphis.
- May 15: John Stephenson, 91. American radio, television and voice actor.
- May 23: Anne Meara, 85, Actress, singer, writer, producer and comedian, recipient of a Clio Award for her work with her husband in a series of radio ads for Blue Nun Wine.
- June 11: Jim Ed Brown, 81, American country musician. Member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1963 and host of the Country Music Greats Radio Hour since 2003.
- June 12: Monica Lewis, 93, American actress and singer, notable for being the voice of the Chiquita Banana girl and the host of her own radio program on WMCA/New York City.
- July 6: Stan Carew, 64, musician and regular host on CBC Radio.
- July 13: J. R. Gach, 63. Shock jock with various stops across the United States.
- July 17: Van Miller, 87. Longtime radio play-by-play announcer, best-known work was as voice of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network from 1960–71 and 1978–2003; other notable roles included calling the Buffalo Braves, Buffalo Stallions, Niagara Purple Eagles, and various non-sports roles at WFCB/Dunkirk, New York and WBEN/Buffalo, New York
- July 24: Peg Lynch, 98. American comedy writer and radio actress
- July 31: Alan Cheuse, 75. Novelist, George Mason University creative writing instructor, and literary commentator for NPR's All Things Considered
- August 25: Marguerite McDonald, 73. Canadian radio journalist, original host of CBC Radio's The House.
- August 29: Luo Lan, 95, Taiwanese writer and radio personality
- October 1: Usnija Redžepova, 69, Serbian singer who began her career on radio
- October 26: Ed Walker, 83. Washington, DC radio personality.
- December 27: Dave "Hendu" Henderson, 56. Radio commentator for the Seattle Mariners.