Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California.
The network broadcast music programming oriented towards children, pre-teens and teenagers, focusing mainly on current hit music and a heavy emphasis on teen idols (particularly those signed with Disney Music Group record labels, such as Hollywood and Walt Disney); compared to most CHR stations, Radio Disney was far more aggressive in playing only current hits and eschewed recurrent rotation.
For many years Radio Disney affiliated with stations in markets of varying size, mainly large and mid-sized markets; however, by the early 2010s, Disney had begun to phase out the network's affiliations with terrestrial radio stations, and sold its owned-and-operated Radio Disney stations (with the exception of KDIS in Los Angeles) to third-parties, in order to focus more on its programming, marketing, creating revenue producing events and distribution of Radio Disney as an internet radio outlet on digital platforms.
In 2015, Radio Disney partnered with iBiquity to distribute the network terrestrially via its HD Radio platform, and with iHeartRadio for further digital distribution. In the same year, Radio Disney launched a spin-off service, Radio Disney Country, which carried a country music format catered towards a similar audience; in 2017, this service replaced the main Radio Disney service on KDIS, which was renamed KRDC. The network also lent its name to the Radio Disney Music Awards, an annual music awards presentation broadcast on television from 2014 to 2019 by Disney Channel.
On December 3, 2020, Disney announced that Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country would be shut down in the first quarter of 2021. On April 14, 2021, Radio Disney ceased broadcast when its last remaining terrestrial station, KRDC in Los Angeles, was quietly changed to a simulcast of KSPN 710 AM, an ESPN Radio frequency. Two years later, KRDC was sold to the owners of Christian Talk station KWVE-FM, and today, now operates as KWVE.
Background
Disney had for a long time been involved in the music business, building off its success in movies and TV shows, which later became Disney Music Group. However, with radio, Disney was not committed to the medium only doing a few shows. Radio Disney is Disney's third foray into radio. In late 1955, Walt Disney started The Magic Kingdom radio show—running Monday through Fridays and which was heard on ABC Radio. Even before the 1996 Disney-CC/ABC merger, Disney and ABC Radio considered as early as 1991 planned for a children's radio network but dropped the idea. Starting on July 31, 1994, Disney started a weekend radio show, Live From Walt Disney World, that originated from both Disney World and Disneyland on Radio AAHS.
In November 1995, ABC Radio Networks and Children's Broadcast Corp. reached an agreement for ABC Radio to provide marketing and sales to Radio AAHS. After Disney's acquisition of CC/ABC, Disney had ABC Radio cancel the agreement in August 1996 plus announced the start of its own children's network and ended AAHS's Disney World broadcasting rights.
History
ABC Radio Networks (1996–2006)
Radio Disney was test launched at 5 am on November 18, 1996, in four markets, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Birmingham, Alabama by ABC Radio Networks. On March 8, 1997, a fifth test market was added, Seattle on former KidStar station KKDZ.
Pleased with the results in those four test markets, ABC Radio Networks announced on May 8 that Radio Disney would begin a nationwide rollout, starting on October 1. On August 26, Radio Disney was launched in Los Angeles on KTZN/710, and by the end of the year, the network had 14 affiliates.
By August 1998, 28 stations had affiliated with Radio Disney, with an expected 63 stations by the end of 1999. Radio Disney purchased KAAM (AM) (Plano, Texas) for $12 million and switched the station to the network in August. In 1998, the network was based out of its Dallas station.