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Stunting in radio broadcasting occurs when a radio station abruptly begins broadcasting seemingly uncharacteristic programming or making grandiose claims regarding itself or its competitors to generate attention or word of mouth. This sort of staging is temporary and often used when a station is permanently changing format and call letters, is moving to an entirely different position on the dial, or changes ownership.

An example of stunting might be when a radio station begins playing the same song or artist repeatedly, but will ultimately move to a common programming format afterwards. Sometimes, a series of audio clips and sound effects centered around a certain theme are played as well. Known as a sound collage, the theme under which these bits of audio fall may or may not have something to do with the previous and / or new format. For example, WCBS-FM in New York City played an sound collage featuring audio clips from movies, sound effects, and songs with the word "Jack" removed. This went on for half an hour before the station flipped to Jack FM at 5:00 PM on June 3rd, 2005. These kinds of stunts can range in length from several hours, to several months.

Another example of stunting might be when a radio station begins airing outrageous (and generally false) claims regarding another radio station (such as that station may be "leaving the air") in an attempt to shift listener focus toward itself.

Among the most popular stunts in American broadcasting as of 2007 is the use of Christmas music as a radio format, either at a time of year when it is unexpected (such as KFMS and WNVE for a few days in September 2006 or WTZN-FM in October 2007) or, if the change occurs near the Christmas season, for an unusually prolonged period of time (such as WEXM in Indianapolis, from October 2007 through January 2008).

One of the earliest radio stunts was when on March 15, 1975, WCFL Chicago aired two hours of ocean wave sounds between 5pm and 7pm local time, and switched from rock music to beautiful music. An even earlier stunt was when XEAK (now XETRA) played the same song, "Mope-itty Mope" by The Bosstones, for 72 hours straight in 1961 [1].