ON AIR sign at the old Pirate Cat Radio (Photo: J. Waits)
The FCC released a list today, updating its statistics on the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States.
Based on this list, there are more radio stations today (14,952) then there were a few months ago.
The number of AM stations, FM commercial stations, and FM educational stations all increased since the end of September, 2011. The only categories in which there was a drop in the number of radio stations were FM translators/boosters and Low Power FM.
By the end of December, 2011, there were 87 more radio stations in the United States than there were at the end of September. FM educational stations (college radio, high school radio, public radio, community radio, and religious broadcasters) picked up the most stations and increased by 72. By the end of the year there were 10 fewer LPFM stations and 114 fewer FM translators/boosters.
As of December 31, 2011:
AM Stations: 4,766 (up from 4,763 in Sept. 2011)
FM Commercial Stations: 6,542 (up from 6,530 in Sept. 2011)
FM Educational Stations: 3,644 (up from 3,572 in Sept. 2011)
Total Radio Stations: 14,952 (up from 14,865 in Sept 2011)
Not included in Total Radio Stations:
FM Translators and Boosters: 6,099 (down from 6,113 in Sept 2011)
Low power FM: 838 (down from 848 in Sept 2011)
