U.S. Radio Station Count Climbs, Led by Noncommercial FM Surge. | Story

It is getting easier to find a non-commercial FM station on the radio dial, but the number of AM stations continues to decline. The latest count shows 1.2% of the AMs licensed in the U.S. disappeared in the last year. The Federal Communications Commission reports 4,360 AMs were licensed as of June 30. That is down by 53 in the past year, including the loss of seven AMs during the second quarter.

The challenge faced by AM owners isn’t new, and while 82 million people still tune into AM radio, according to Nielsen data, weaker signals and formats have been at risk. Several companies have since the start of the year taken steps that they resisted in the past. Cumulus Media, Salem Media Group and Townsquare Media have each taken stations dark, with candid statements about their uncertain futures. Cumulus has said the moves will allow it to focus on “strengthening and maximizing the impact” of other stations, while Townsquare has similarly said that it would rather invest money in other areas of its business rather than lose it on these stations.

While many AMs have turned to FM translators to reach listeners, the FCC’s count of translators and boosters continues to drift lower after an explosion of new ones in recent years. It says there were 8,880 licensed as of June 30. That’s down from 8,906 a year earlier. Those numbers may get a boost in the coming years after the Commission approved a plan to allow stations to use FM boosters to geo-target listeners.

If the industry is looking for a growth story on the radio dial, it remains on the FM band. The number of non-commercial educational stations has continued to climb as religious operators have stepped up their acquisitions of commercial FM signals. The result is the FCC reports there were 4,689 licensed non-commercial FMs at mid-year, up 333 from a year ago — or 7.6%. That includes the addition of 55 during the second quarter alone.

The conversion is resulting in fewer commercial FMs. As of June 30, the FCC says there were 6,602. That’s down by 18 from a year earlier, although the number of commercial FMs has largely remained steady during the past year.

Overall, the FCC reports there were 15,651 licensed full-power radio stations as of June 30. That is up 1.7% from a year ago.

The low-power FM numbers have remained largely stagnant during the past several years, although they have begun to slowly grow once again after last year’s filing window opened the opportunity for new stations to sign on. The FCC says there were 1,977 LPFMs licensed at the end of the first half. That is a dozen more LPFMs than at the midway point of 2024.

Beyond radio, the FCC reports there were 1,767 full-power television stations, with 1,780 low-power TV stations licensed at mid-year. Overall, there were a total of 33,532 radio and television licenses issued by the FCC as of June 30.