The FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations. Following the same trend that we’ve seen, the number of licensed stations continues to grow, with the current grand total at 15,470 licensed full power radio stations as of September 30, 2015.
As we saw last quarter, the biggest increase this quarter is in the number of low power FM (LPFM) stations, with 1,364 licensed LPFMs at the end of September. This is 215 more LPFMs than at the end of June, 2015. The next highest gain was in FM translators and boosters, which increased by 56 this quarter, making for a grand total of 6,422.
For the quarter ending September 30, 2015, the number of AM stations decreased by 6, the number of FM commercial stations increased by 22, and the number of FM educational stations (including college radio, high school radio, public radio, religious radio, community radio, etc.) decreased by 1.
Here’s a run-down of the count:
As of September 30, 2015:
AM Stations: 4,692 (down from 4,698 in 6/15 )
FM Commercial Stations: 6,688 (up from 6,666 in 6/15)
FM Educational Stations: 4,090 (down from 4,091 in 6/15)
Total Radio Stations: 15,470 (up from 15,455 in 6/15)
Not included in Total Radio Stations:
FM Translators and Boosters: 6,422 (up from 6,366 in 6/15)
Low power FM (LPFM): 1,364 (up from 1,149 in 6/15)
To see more quarterly statistics about the total number of radio stations in the United States, take a look at all of our station count reports here.
