2025 in radio

The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2025. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, station launches, closures, and format changes, as well as information about controversies and deaths of radio personalities.

Notable events

April

Date	Event	Source
8	Canada's Maritime Broadcasting System rebrands all 5 of its radio stations it had acquired from Bell Media. CKTO-FM in Truro, Nova Scotia, CKBC-FM in Bathurst, New Brunswick and CIKX-FM in Grand Falls, New Brunswick became The Wave with the "Wave" branding expanding into New Brunswick. CJCJ-FM in Woodstock, New Brunswick also became The Wave and flipped to classic hits. CKTY-FM in Truro, Nova Scotia returned to its heritage Cat Country identity.	-
14	Canadian company Vista Radio closes its acquisition on 21 radio stations from Bell Media.	-
20	US network Westwood One purges seven of the 24/7 satellite networks that it inherited from Satellite Music Network, Jones Radio Network and Transtar. The seven networks include Good Time Oldies, a gold-based classic hits network, two classic rock networks, two adult hits networks and its contemporary hit radio network. Most of the stations carrying those networks would be forced to flip to other formats.
22	Ted Cruz becomes the first currently serving United States Senator to host a nationally syndicated radio show as Premiere Networks launches Cruz's podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, which he co-hosts with current Premiere host Ben Ferguson, into weekend syndication. To avoid conflict of interest and campaign finance issues, Cruz will not be paid for hosting the program.
	Several Australian news outlets reported that Sydney-based radio station CADA airs Weekdays with Thy, of which the latter was not a real person, but was AI-generated.

May

Date	Event	Source
29	DWPM Radyo 630, a Philippine AM radio station controlled jointly by Philippine Collective Media Corporation and ABS-CBN, rebranded to DZMM; reviving the callsign 5 years after its shutdown in 2020.
	Mareco Broadcasting Network's Crossover Radio Online permanently ceases operations due to unknown issues.	-

June

Date	Event	Source
7	Philippine news/music network XFM began its broadcast on soft launch through 99.5 DWRT-FM, a radio station in Metro Manila owned by Real Radio Network. Y2H Broadcasting Network, XFM's parent, began occupying the operations of the said station through airtime lease agreement since May 1.

July

Date	Event	Source
1	Overcomer Ministry, the radio evangelism network owned by the estate of R. G. "Brother" Stair, begins cancelling its syndication contracts. Overcomer had previously bought large blocks of airtime on United States shortwave radio broadcasters, providing a key source of revenue for those stations and select AM stations. The program disappeared from most of its affiliates on this date, with select others continuing to air the program until its carriage contracts expire.

September

Date	Event	Source
1	Susan Stamberg retires from NPR. A part of the public radio network since its launch in 1971, Stamberg hosted All Things Considered and the Sunday version of Weekend Edition. Stamberg would die one month later on October 16.
4	Alan Levin, a fixture of radio in Rochester New York, and member of the Radio Hall of Fame, abruptly retires from radio after a format switch of WAIO from Hot Talk "Radio 95.1" to Active Rock "Rock 95.1" and an attempted demoting of Levin to weekends by station owner iHeartMedia. Levin hosted a weekday morning show for 40 years, starting on WCMF-FM Rochester in 1985 and later moving to WAIO after a contract stalemate with WCMF owner Entercom in 2008.
15	Power FM was rebranded as Juander Radyo in Cebu, Philippines and Ormoc, Philippines.
30	Philippine radio program Boys Night Out was abruptly ended its broadcast on Magic 89.9 after 19 years.

October

Date	Event	Source
11	Dr. Demento retires from broadcasting with the release of his final episode of The Dr. Demento Show, ending a 55-year run. Host Barry Hansen had been hosting the show as a subscription online offering for the previous 15 years, after 36 years in broadcast syndication.
30	Singaporean media company So Drama! Entertainment ceases broadcast of its two stations 883Jia and Power 98 from FM terrestrial airwaves as both stations will transition into digital-only broadcast via live audio streaming on the company's new radio platform Kakee. It still decides on whether they'll return its license frequencies back to the Singaporean government.
31	More than 30 years after being replaced by the Spanish-language FM radio station KBUE, the Long Beach, California-based hard rock and heavy metal FM radio station KNAC is resurrected as a replacement of the call letters to the High Desert-based radio station KHDR. This version of KNAC replicates its original format, playing a variety of music from classic rock to hard rock and heavy metal, including heavy bands that no other radio stations would regularly play.
31	WAKW in Cincinnati, for the second consecutive year, is the first non-stunting station in North America to adopt the Christmas music radio format for the 2025 holiday season.

Deaths

January 2 – Bernie Constantin, Swiss songwriter and radio show host, 77
January 3 – Willem van Kooten, Dutch businessman and DJ, 83
January 12 – Arnold Frolows, Australian music director and radio personality, 74
January 13 – Buck White, American mandolinist and Grand Ole Opry member, 94
January 16 – Bob Uecker, American baseball announcer, 90
January 22 – Pete Medhurst, American football announcer, 55
January 29 – Max Schautzer, Austrian-born German television and radio presenter, 84
January 30 – Leif "Loket" Olsson, Swedish television and radio host and singer, 82
February 2 – John Crosse, British radio and TV announcer, 83
February 11 – Philip Brady, Australian radio broadcaster, 85
February 16 – Reymund Tinaza, Filipino radio broadcaster and correspondent, 42
February 24 – Al Trautwig, American sportscaster, 68
March 11 – Bob Rivers, American radio host and parody musician, 68
March 13 – John Feinstein, American sportswriter, 69
March 20 – Bob Davis, American sportscaster, 80
March 22:
*Bill Mercer, American sportscaster, 99
*Andy Peebles, British radio DJ and presenter, 76
March 30 – Jim Quinn, American shock jock and conservative talk radio host, 82
April 14 – Jed "the Fish" Gould, American new wave/alternative disc jockey, 69
April 15 – Winston "Wink" Martindale, American disc jockey and emcee, 91
April 17 – Colin Berry, British radio disc jockey, presenter and newsreader, 79
April 20 – Mike Patrick, American sportscaster, 80
April 23 – Steve McMichael, American Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman and sports radio host, 67
May 11 – Ted Randall, American shortwave radio broadcaster, engineer and announcer, 73
May 22 – Michael Rogas, Philippine radio broadcaster and correspondent, 44
June 4 – Giancarlo Santalmassi, Italian journalist, head of Radio 24, 83
June 18 – Lou Christie, American singer, 82
June 19 – Gailard Sartain, American actor and comedy host, 81
June 21 – Raïssa Gbédji, Beninese singer and journalist, 52
June 24 – Garry Ahern, New Zealand sports broadcaster, 75
July 1 – Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist and owner/founder of the SonLife Broadcasting Network, 90
July 2 – Sven Lindahl, Swedish musician, radio and TV presenter, 88
July 4 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host, 61
July 14 – John MacArthur, American evangelist, 86
August 1 – Jeannie Seely, American country singer, 85
August 4 – James Whale, British radio show host, 74
August 5 – Leonard Lopate, American radio host, 84
August 13 – Art Wander, American broadcaster best known for his work in the sports radio and beautiful music formats, 98
August 21 – James Dobson, American author, psychologist and radio commentator, 89
August 28 – Gary Burbank, American radio comedian, 84
September 10 – Charlie Kirk, American right-wing talk podcaster, 31
September 11 – Bruce DuMont, American, founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Radio Hall of Fame and host of Beyond the Beltway, 81
October 6 – Gisèle Gallichan, Canadian journalist and presenter, 79
October 14 – Sima Birach, Yugoslavian-American owner of mostly brokered ethnic AM radio stations through Birach Broadcasting Corporation, 86
October 16 – Susan Stamberg, American anchor of NPR's All Things Considered and Weekend Edition Sunday, 87
October 17 – Vidar Lønn-Arnesen, Norwegian singer, radio and TV presenter, 85
October 25 – Ofer Nachshon, Israeli broadcaster and radio announcer, 59
October 29 – Pierre Robert, American radio personality and disc jockey, 70
November 1 – Bob Trumpy, American football player and color commentator, 80
November 9 – John Laws, Australian radio presenter, 80
November 11 – Geoff Fox, American radio personality and meteorologist, 75
December 5 – Patrik Hezucký, Czech radio presenter, 55
December 10 - Jim Ward, American actor and radio personality co-host of the Stephanie Miller show, 66.
December 12 - Benjie Liwanag Jr., Filipino journalist, 61
December 29 - John Mulrooney, comedian and radio host, 67.