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.
In a maneuver tied to the loss of revenue from the CPB dissolution and a decline in Canadian donations caused by international tensions, WNED-FM in Buffalo, New York, which had operated as a noncommercial classical music station for the previous 50 years, reverts its license to commercial operation and began exploring the sale of commercial advertising. The station later announces its intention to move its programming down the dial to noncommercially licensed WBFO, which will retain select NPR shows due to contractual obligations, in May. WNED-FM will shift to a commercially supported format with news, sports and other content to be determined.
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 will assume control over affiliate relations from the 2026 Buffalo Bills season onward, hoping to expand its network throughout the United States and into Canada. Good Karma does not own a station in Buffalo, leaving it unclear where Bills games will be carried terrestrially in the Buffalo market. This change will also eventually affect the Sabres Hockey Network upon the conclusion of the 2025–26 NHL season.
DWAR Abante Radyo (DWSS 1494 AM) and DWBL 1242 announce they will go off-air for a month, from midnight of February 9, 2026, until March 10, 2026, as the station is upgrading its transmitter to improve its coverage, while its cable channel counterpart, Abante TV and online livestream remain available.
WGRBuffalo, 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 is 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 the pending loss of its major league sports rights (see February 3 above).
Radio Free Asia announces that it has resumed its broadcast operations to China after almost a year of shutting down as a result of the reduction of its parent agency, the United States Agency for Global Media.
CBS Radio News will shut down after 99 years of operation. 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.
^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