This week's entry is of a building many of us have likely walked by numerous times while inside Disney's Hollywood Studios but never paid much attention to. Near Echo Lake, is a building attached to Sounds Dangerous that was once used a lot more than it is today.
The old Radio Disney building was built as part of the original Disney-MGM Studios that opened in 1989. The park wasn't just a working television and movie studio, it also included the medium of radio and it made perfect sense to have a working radio studio right next door to the Monster Sound Show (later changed to Sounds Dangerous), an attraction dedicated to showing off how important sound is.
When the Studios opened, the first "tenant" of the radio studio was a childrens broascasting networked called Radio AAHS (pronounced Oz). Radio AAHS rented the studio until 1996 when Disney created its Radio Disney brand, and subsequently ended Radio AAHS' tenure and allowed Radio Disney to move in.
Radio Disney made regular broadcasts live from the park, including Radio Disney’s “Mickey and Minnie’s Tune Time” live with B. B. Good (1998–2001) and Mike Harvey’s “Super Gold,” heard on radio stations across the nation. Guests could watch live broadcasts through a window and often the hosts would come out during breaks to meet guests and even offer quick peeks into the studio.
Radio Disney made regular broadcasts in this Studio for years until the early part of the last decade, when by 2005, Radio Disney ceased broadcasting from the Disney-MGM Studios and moved to the Radio Disney headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
Ever since Radio Disney left, the radio studio has been mostly vacant. There have been occasional radio broadcasts from the building now and then over the years, but by in large, it hasn't come close to being fully utilized. In October 2010, Disney removed the Radio Disney signage and replaced with "WDW Radio Studio" signs.
