The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2026. 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.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provided federal subsidies to public broadcasting stations in the United States, dissolves after it was defunded in a rescissions act which was signed into law the previous year.
Citing a revenue loss due to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's dissolution and a decline in Canadian donations caused by international tensions, WNED-FM in Buffalo, New York, which had operated as a non-commercial classical music station for the previous 50 years, reverts its license to commercial operation and begins investing on commercial advertising. The station later announces its intention to move its programming to non-commercial licensed station WBFO, which retains select NPR shows due to contractual obligations, in May. WNED-FM will shift to a commercially supported format with news, sports and other content in August.
The Buffalo Bills Radio Network in the US announces the end of its 14-year relationship with Audacy, Inc. and announces that Good Karma Brands would assume control over affiliate relations starting in the 2026 Buffalo Bills season, with an intended target to expand its network throughout the United States and into Canada. As Good Karma does not own a station in Buffalo, the Buffalo Bills would sign an affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media to return Bills games to former flagship WGRF in May. This change would also affect the Sabres Hockey Network upon the conclusion of the 2025–26 NHL season.
DWSS-AM and DWBL-AM suspends broadcasting for a month, from midnight of February 9, 2026, until March 10, 2026, as the station upgraded its transmitter to improve its coverage, while its cable channel counterpart, Abante TV and online livestream remain available.
WGR in Buffalo, New York, expands its programming into a regional network with the introduction of simulcasts of its programming along with the WGR brand on what was then WLKK in rural Wyoming County (which changes its call sign to WGR-FM) and WROC in Rochester. The move comes as part of a wider strategy by owner Audacy, Inc. to have FM simulcasts in a majority of major markets where it operates AM sports stations and counteract its major league sports rights being transferred (see February 3 entry).
iHeartMedia launches a new iteration of TikTok Radio in partnership with TikTok as part a new agreement that began in late 2025, succeeding a previous agreement TikTok had with SiriusXM that ended in November 2025. In addition to airing on iHeart’s digital platforms, the station will also be broadcast on the HD subchannels of various iHeart radio stations in major cities.
CBS News Radio shuts down after 99 years of operations. The network was the last remnant of the CBS Radio Network, which was founded in 1927. The network itself had been divested to Audacy by the time of its closure, with CBS News having continued to produce its content.
NPR announces it has laid off or bought out the contracts of 28 news staffers in an attempt to reorganize the newsroom and deal with funding reductions. Noted NPR correspondents Don Gonyea (national politics), Joe Shapiro (investigations), and Nell Greenfieldboyce (science) independently confirmed that they were among those whose roles at the network were eliminated.
^Seyderhelm, Jennifer (14 January 2026). "Vale Brian Wilshire". RadioInfo Australia. radioinfo. Archived from the original on 14 January 2026. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
Media related to 2026 in radio at Wikimedia Commons