• January 1 —
WBEA-FM in
Elyria, Ohio (
Cleveland market) drops the "B107" top 40 format to become the second affiliate for the
Satellite Music Network's "
Z Rock" service, with new WCZR call letters. • February 14 — Dubbed the "Valentine's Day Massacre,"
KMET-FM in
Los Angeles switches formats to
new-age music, with no
disc jockeys, as
KTWV. KMET's entire airstaff is dismissed with the move. • March 30 --
Infinity Broadcasting buys
KVIL-AM-FM Dallas from Sconnix Broadcasting. The sale price was $82 million, the largest amount of money for an AM-FM combo up to that date. • July 1 — The first all-
sports radio station,
WFAN 1050 AM in New York, debuts at 3:00 p.m. It replaces country-formatted
WHN, and inherits the rights to
New York Mets play-by-play. • July 20 —
Westwood One acquires the assets of the
NBC Radio Network,
The Source and
NBC Talknet in a $50 million deal, which was consummated that August 25. The sale was initiated by
General Electric's 1986 purchase of
RCA (primarily for the
NBC television network) and did not include the seven NBC Radio
owned-and-operated stations. • August 4 — The
Federal Communications Commission rescinds the
Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and
television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues. • October 31 —
DWNU begins broadcasting operations. This station became the Philippines' one and only home for new rock as
NU 107. • November 9 —
Hot Hits WCAU-FM
Philadelphia flips from
CHR to
Oldies as
WOGL. • November 15 — WCZR in
Elyria, Ohio (
Cleveland market) drops "
Z Rock" for
new-age music as
WNWV "The Wave." It is patterned directly after
KTWV. ==Debuts==