Radio history with the meters still moving.
All Things Radio treats broadcasting as both a living business and a memory bank. Episodes move from national radio news and sports chatter into vintage station checks, format changes, jingles, and affectionate shop talk from a panel that knows the medium’s quirks.
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All Things Radio is a long-running conversation about radio as an industry, a craft, and a shared memory. It is not slick nostalgia alone. The show keeps one ear on current broadcasting news and the other on the sound of old stations, preserved airchecks, jingles, and format changes. Bill Sparks is introduced as host, with a recurring panel that brings market knowledge, corrections, stories, and friendly argument. Episodes often begin with national radio news before drifting into station histories, sports media, signal issues, ownership changes, and featured recordings. The pleasure is in the detail. A discussion of NFL broadcast partners can lead directly into WENS Miami. A correction about Beatles airplay can sit beside talk of an Indianapolis television station. An episode remembering the CBS Radio Network can turn into memories of cart machines, reel-to-reels, engineers, station buildings, and the odd afterlife of AM signals. The show also has a collector’s ear. It plays and frames airchecks from places such as San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Glasgow, Kentucky, Baja California, and Las Vegas. Jingles receive the same serious attention as news. Pepperdiner cuts for KGFJ-AM are treated as artifacts worth hearing. The panel’s pace is loose and conversational, with plenty of asides, apologies, jokes, and listener-facing housekeeping. That informality is part of its appeal. All Things Radio feels like sitting in on a standing meeting of people who have spent years remembering how radio actually worked. It suits listeners who want names, formats, markets, and lived-in context rather than a polished documentary arc.
Made for: For radio collectors, former broadcasters, media-history fans, and listeners who enjoy call letters, format talk, jingles, airchecks, and station lore. It also suits people curious about how sports, ownership moves, and signal changes shape what reaches the dial.
What sets it apart: All Things Radio pairs live-panel industry discussion with archival listening, so old airchecks and jingles are heard alongside current radio and sports chatter. Its value comes from accumulated memory: corrections, station minutiae, equipment stories, and market-by-market context that general media shows rarely touch.
Radio industry news, call-letter and format changes, classic airchecks, featured stations and live comments from Zoom Conference.
A jammed cart machine becomes shop talk, and suddenly you wish you'd worked the overnight shift.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
All Things Radio covers Fox's NFL scheduling complaint, a 1985 Miami aircheck, and a Canberra station feature.
All Things Radio opens with Fox's complaint about NFL games moved outside the usual Sunday afternoon windows. The panel explains the concern in practical terms: when a game moves, Fox loses one from its afternoon lineup.
Radio memories lead from familiar names to call letters and station sounds.
All Things Radio begins with a recollection of March 11, 2020, then follows the hosts through a string of broadcast memories. They revisit radio personalities, Lester Smith's involvement with Braves broadcasts on WNAC, and plans for a Bob Bailey Johnny Dollar special.
Station talk, old airchecks and a computer in a closet give this radio roundtable its charm.
All Things Radio Live is at its most engaging when the panel gets down to the practical business of stations: AM, HD subchannels, translators and the equipment behind them.
Vintage spy radio with a hard left turn.
Cincinnati talk radio with sharp elbows.
Classic Jack Benny, week by week.
Bill Sparks hosts All Things Radio, discussing a birthday lunch at Tony's barbecue and the radio show's format.
A radio show host introduces a panel discussion on radio news, sports, and format changes, with a moment of remembrance for a plane crash tragedy.
This episode of All Things Radio features radio news, a segment on New York City and 9/11, and a classic air check of WCBS-FM from 1989.
Bill Sparks introduces a radio magazine episode featuring air checks of classic radio shows and a feature on Australian station 2CA.
A panel discussion on All Things Radio explores the world of country jingles and recent radio industry changes.
Bill Sparks announces All Things Radio's AI ranking and introduces a tribute to radio legend Charlie Tuna.
Bill Sparks hosts All Things Radio, discussing DirecTV and MLB.tv free previews before introducing a feature on the CBS Radio Network.
The host celebrates the 17th anniversary of the radio show 'All Things Radio' and previews a segment about the show's origins.
Bill Sparks and Jeff Bennett open by recalling March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the NBA, NCAA, spring training, and hockey all shifted within about 18 hours.
All Things Radio uses Jeff Bennett's radio-news block to cover WDAE-AM Tampa moving sports to WRUB-FM 95.7, WGR-AM Buffalo adding WLKK-FM 107.7 and 104.7, and KDFC-FM San Francisco joining KUSC-FM Los Angeles as Classical California.
All Things Radio remembers Wink Martindale with a KFWB Los Angeles aircheck from June 2, 1965, alongside current radio-industry coverage.
Bill Sparks and Jeff discuss radio history, featuring air checks of KITS-FM's Hot Hits format from 1980, Pepperdiner jingles from 1964, and a classic rock station in Kentucky.