1981 in radio

List of years in radio (table)
… 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 …
In music 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 In television 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 In home video 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

The year 1981 in radio involved some significant events.

Debuts

• March – KWNT (1580 AM) of Davenport, Iowa, switches from its longtime country music format – which it had held since the 1950s, including under its previous call sign KFMA – to a golden oldies format, emphasizing music of the 1930s through early 1950s. It is the first in a series of format switches at the frequency over the next 19 years – formats ranged from oldies to soul to black gospel – all of them unsuccessful.
• March 30 - Radio stations across America interrupt regular programming following an assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
• April 12 – WJOI/Pittsburgh flipped from beautiful music to Top 40, branded as "B94", and adopted the new call letters "WBZZ." That fall, WWJ-FM, a beautiful music station in Detroit, picks up the WJOI calls.
• June 1 – CJCB-FM Sydney, Nova Scotia flips from Easy Listening to Country. Along with the format change, the station changes its call letters to CKPE-FM.
• September 22 – WCAU-FM in Philadelphia debuts a new Hot Hits format called "98 Now!" which sweeps the local ratings and inspires parent company CBS to look at converting its other FM stations to similar formats.
• October — "The Weekly Country Music Countdown," a three-hour weekly countdown program featuring the top 30 country hits of the week as reported by Radio & Records magazine. Hosted by radio personality Chris Charles, the show is the first successful rival to "American Country Countdown."

Deaths

• March 10 - Bob Elson, an American "pioneer in broadcast journalism" best known for his broadcasting of baseball games of the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox.)