Expert: Bill - 5/29/2007

Question
How many radio stations are there in the US?

Answer
Hi, this is a tricky question. There are 14,608 stations in the U.S. as of December 31, 2006. (The Federal Communications Commission releases numbers each quarter. March hasn't been added to their site yet. Of these, 4,754 are AM radio, 6,266 are FM (commercial) and 2,817 are FM Educational (non-commercial). There is also another newer category called LOW POWER FM which adds another 771 stations. These stations have very limited reach into a community and are reserved for schools, churches, etc.

There is yet another category that you might consider. The FCC allows some stations to use another transmitter to boost their signal into an area that it normally wouldn't reach. There are 4,131 FM translators and boosters. If you include these, there are a total of 18,739 licensed radio stations!

If you'd like to check some historical totals, this and more information can be found at WWW.FCC.GOV/MB/Audio/Totals