Mid-way through the last decade I declared that, “[w]ith regard to new stations going on the air, 2015 represented the biggest single-year leap forward for non-commercial and community radio in U.S. history.” That’s because 524 new low-power FM stations signed on that year. That was an increase of 56% over the number of existing LPFMs at the end of 2014 (924).

Over the next four years another 753 signed on, bringing the total number low-power stations to 2,186 as of September 30, 2019 according to the FCC. At the close of 2009, when the service was on the cusp of its 10th birthday, there were 864 LPFMs in operation. This means the count more than doubled in the 2010s. No doubt this period saw the biggest expansion of low-power FM in history.

But because the LPFM service is specifically designed to be locally owned-and-operated, with hyper-local service, it’s clear that the last decade also saw the greatest flowering of community radio in US history. In fact, low-power FMs now make up a full 35% of all non-commercial stations in the country. That’s an increase of 14% from the end of 2009. The reason why the percentage didn’t jump more is that the last ten years were good for full-power non-commercial licenses as well, with 942 launching in that time.

Defining & Counting ‘Community’ Radio

Now, one might argue that not every low-power FM station is operated as a true community station, programmed and staffed by local folks who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to broadcast. It’s true that many are owned by groups – religious and otherwise – that fill their schedules primarily with syndicated programming beaming in by satellite or streamed over the internet. There are others that are mostly filled with automated music that feel more like vanity jukebox stations, with no sign of any kind of live or local hosts or DJs. Added together I can’t tell you how many there are, but I could be convinced that they even make up a full half of all LPFMs.

The problem with counting community radio stations is that there is no central authority. The FCC only cares if a station is non-commercial or commercial – it doesn’t dig into the differences between public, religious, college or community stations – or that it meets the ownership and operational requirements to have a low-power license. While the National Federation of Community Broadcasters represents and assists community stations, there’s no obligation for a station to join, even though the organization has worked hard to connect with these new broadcasters.

Nevertheless, even if only a decent minority of these new stations operate with the spirit of community radio, that’s still on the order of at least 200 to 300 new community stations. This estimate is easy to justify by taking a look at any of the top 100 radio markets in the country, where you’ll find a minimum of one new community LPFM. More likely you’ll hear two, three or more. I’m thinking of cities like Portland, OR, Seattle, Philadelphia and Chicago which all added a few. And while some cities, like Philly and Chicago, long have had rich college radio scenes, they didn’t have true community stations, owned by local non-profits and open to local people unaffiliated with a school or college, until this past decade.

But LPFMs didn’t only go up in major markets, although that was a vitally important aspect of this growth. Dozens or even hundreds of smaller cities and towns got new community stations, too. That leads me to think my estimate of 200 to 300 is too conservative.

Growth for All of Radio, too

Despite the supposed imminent death of radio, the medium continued to grow as a whole in the 2010s – by over 2,300 stations – and community radio outpaced all previous growth in the sector. Radio’s share of most folks’ daily listening may have declined, given so much other audio media competing for their ears. But the need and desire for the terrestrial radio hasn’t gone away.

Why a Radio License still Matters

Today, in this always-connected internet environment, it’s significant that many, if not most, community LPFMs have internet streams, which help them reach audiences – especially younger audiences – that don’t use over-the-air receivers. However, this fact doesn’t make their broadcast licenses and terrestrial signals redundant or vestigial. Rather, being a licensed broadcast station is an assurance to the community that the organization is serious, and intends to stick around. The official sanction of a license shouldn’t be underestimated or overlooked, because it’s also a shared asset that a community is more likely to rally behind and value, in part because, if lost, it’s not easily replaced.

Community stations function as community media centers, providing local residents a chance not only to broadcast, but to learn audio or video production, train up on live sound engineering or create podcasts. These are functions that most commercial, public or religious stations don’t serve, even if their programming is a community service. Though an LPFM’s listening audience may be small compared to a town’s local NPR affiliate, the interpersonal network and impact is often much stronger, especially with people who aren’t amongst the local elite or traditionally well-connected.

An Historic Global Flowering

Not only was this the biggest ten-year increase in US history, it was arguably the biggest in world history, too. India certainly adds a lot to that total, with 428 letters of intent (like a US construction permit) issued to groups that applied to build stations, on top of many other countries. This is why the explosion of community radio, especially via low-power FM, is one of the most important radio trends of the last decade.

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The FCC just released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations and the total number of radio stations in the United States remains about the same as it has for the past few quarters, with a grand total of 15,442 licensed full power radio stations.

For the quarter ending March 31, 2015, the number of AM stations decreased by 3, the number of FM commercial stations increased by 7, and the number of FM educational stations increased by 6.

The big news this quarter is the increase in the number of licensed low power FM (LPFM) stations. By the end of March, 2015, there were 87 more LPFM stations than there were at the end of December, 2014. At the same time, the number of FM translators and boosters increased by 63 this quarter.

Here’s a run-down of the count:

As of March 31, 2015:

AM Stations:                        4,702     (down from 4,705 in 12/14 )

FM Commercial Stations:  6,659     (up from 6,652 in 12/14)

FM Educational Stations:   4,081    (up from 4,075 in 12/14)

Total Radio Stations:   15,442  (up from 15,432 in 12/14) 

Not included in Total Radio Stations:

FM Translators and Boosters: 6312  (up from 6,249 in 12/14)

Low power FM (LPFM):          1029    (up from 942 in 12/14)

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.

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Today, the FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations. The total number of radio stations in the United States remained basically flat at the end of 2014, compared with the quarter ending September 30. As of December 31, 2014, there were 15,432 licensed full power radio stations in the United States. The number of AM stations and the number of FM educational stations both decreased by 10 stations each last quarter. The number of FM commercial radio stations increased by 19.

We see bigger changes when we look at the number of FM translators and boosters, which increased by 63 since the prior quarter and low power FM (LPFM), which increased by 69 stations during the last quarter of 2014. The number of LPFM stations will continue to rise in 2015 as additional applications are processed.

Here’s a run-down of the count:

As of December 31, 2014:

AM Stations:                        4,705     (down from 4,715 in 9/14 )

FM Commercial Stations:  6,652     (up from 6,633 in 9/14)

FM Educational Stations:   4,075    (down from 4,085 in 9/14)

Total Radio Stations:   15,432  (down from 15,433 in 9/14) 

Not included in Total Radio Stations:

FM Translators and Boosters: 6249  (up from 6,186 in 9/14).

Low power FM (LPFM):          942    (up from 873 in 9/14)

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.

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This week the FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States.

Based on FCC statistics through December 31, 2013, the number of licensed broadcast radio stations is still on the rise (in keeping with a 20-year trend), with 162 more radio stations at the end of 2013 (15,358) than at the end of 2012 (15,196).

This grand total has been on the increase since I began monitoring these statistics in late, 2011 (there were 14,865 radio stations total at the end of September, 2011).

The only categories in which there was a decrease in the total number of radio stations were AM stations (11 fewer that at the end of December, 2012), FM translators/boosters (21 fewer than at the end of December, 2012) and Low Power FM (33 fewer than at the end of December, 2012).

FM educational radio stations (college radio, high school radio, public radio, community radio, and religious broadcasters) increased the most, with 159 more stations at the end of December, 2013 than at the end of December, 2012. In that same one-year period, the number of commercial FM radio stations increased by 14.

As of December 31, 2013:

AM Stations:                        4727     (down from 4,738 in 12/12 )

FM Commercial Stations:  6612     (up from 6,598 in 12/12)

FM Educational Stations:   4019    (up from 3,860 in 12/12)

Total Radio Stations:   15,358 (up from 15,196 in 12/12) 

Not included in Total Radio Stations:

FM Translators and Boosters: 6054 (down from 6,075 in 12/12)

Low power FM:                          776    (down from 809 in 12/12)

It’s impressive to see that radio is growing every year, particularly non-commercial radio, but the gradual decline in AM stations also points to the challenges than AM broadcasters face. If you want to dig into more quarterly statistics, take a look at all of our station count reports here.

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Two recent market surveys of Internet music services and AM/FM radio confirm my suspicion that nobody knows where the latter medium is going/staying in relation to the former.

If you are an Internet streaming music booster, you will be buoyed by new data from the NDP consumer research group. The survey concludes that in the fourth quarter of 2012 Pandora and similar music services snarfed down 23 percent of average weekly music listening time among music fans aged 13 to 35. That was a 17 percent jump from the previous year.

Here’s the analysis quote from NPD senior vice president Russ Crupnick: “Driven by mobility and connectivity, music-streaming services are rapidly growing their share of the music listening experience for teens and young adults, at the expense of traditional music listening methods.”

Are you an AM/FM booster and bummed out by this revelation? Not to worry. I direct your attention to the new Arbitron/Edison “Infinite Dial” research study. That survey acknowledged the growth of Internet radio over the last four years, but:

»During the same span of time, AM/FM Radio has grown to 243 million weekly listeners and time spent listening has remained approximately two hours a day.

»AM/FM Radio “Rules the Road” with far more frequent users than all other in-car audio options.

»AM/FM Radio delivers far more consumers than other media during the half hour before they arrive to shop.

On top of that, 78 percent of self-professed new music lovers told Arbitron/Edison that AM/FM Radio is “the top source for new music discovery,” as far as they’re concerned.

Arbitron quote from Senior Vice President Bill Rose comin’ atcha:

“We are now seeing the highest levels of weekly online radio listening with the increasing strength of AM/FM streams and other online radio brands and the near ubiquity of devices in which consumers can listen.”

A bit contradictory, this data? I’m starting to think that we are heading towards some kind of de facto AM/FM/Internet standard for radio and music listening (AM being the weakest link of the triad, but still kicking). Smartphones are obviously driving consumers to the ‘Net for music; but the ease and ubiquity of broadcast radio is keeping it in the equation.

Where will everything be in five years? This blogger doesn’t know. Your wisdom appreciated.

The post Reports: Pandora rules, AM/FM survives, where is it all going? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A new survey produced by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hofstra University suggests that radio stations aren’t using Twitter and Facebook as aggressively as television outlets.

“The use of social media is now almost universal in TV, with all categories going near or into the 90-percentile range,” the report concludes. “A lot of stations are using Facebook in particular for story leads and follow-up, and several mentioned crowdsourcing. Quite a few stations are running at least some of the Facebook comments on various newscasts.”

On the other hand: “Radio continues to make strides in the use of social media, but it remains well behind television.”

source: Hofstra University / Radio Television Digital News
Association.

The report offers this background:

“A year ago, radio soared in the use of social media; this time around growth was more like a slow walk. All the categories rose, but, overall, the gains were mostly from stations already engaged in some social media doing more. The percentage of stations doing nothing dropped by less than 3 points.”

Non-commercial radio signals appear to be the most enthusiastic users of social media, of late. “But Twitter use remains most associated with staff size,” the study notes. “The larger the staff, the more likely the station is involved with Twitter and the more involved with Twitter it is.”

Asked about “their most innovative social media project,” only half of radio news directors answered the question, and half of them replied “nothing.” But those who responded more positively pointed to a new mobile application, an online community forum, or some kind of online debate in the works. “Then came blogs/podcasts, streaming, crowdsourcing or special news projects on the web.”

The survey was based on responses to a fourth quarter 2011 questionnaire received from 1,238 television stations, 260 radio news directors, and the general managers of 743 radio outlets.

Why the lag? My guess is that most commercial radio stations just don’t have the staff power that TV stations deploy. Non-commercial radio operations, however, have access to volunteer energy, and there are plenty of volunteers out there with Twitter and Facebook proficiency.

Your guesses are welcome, too.

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Edison Research/Arbitron’s anticipated study on online radio is out, and it suggests that a significant barrier on Internet radio listening may be broken soon. According to the survey, seventeen percent of mobile phone owners have streamed online radio in their automobiles by jacking a handheld into their car radio receiver device. That’s a fifty percent boost from 2011, Edison says, when 11 percent reported connecting their smartphone to a car stereo.

The research groups disclosed some advanced details from the study in March. It’s entitled The Infinite Dial 2012: Navigating Digital Platforms. The weekly usage of online terrestrial radio streams and Pandora “pure play” has jumped from 22 percent of Americans twelve years and older in 2011 to 29 percent in 2012, the report discloses. That’s a 30 percent boost in a year.

“We’ve been tracking the usage of online radio in this series since 1998, and this year’s increase in weekly usage is the largest year-over-year jump we’ve ever recorded,” says Arbitron’s Bill Rose.

More significant details from the report:

“Americans age 45 and older represent the largest percentage increase in social media usage in the past year, now up to 38 percent (from 31 percent in 2011).”

“Vast Majority of Online Radio Listeners Also Listen to Over-the-Air Radio.” 87 percent of them also listened to AM/FM radio in the last week.

“One in Three At-Work Radio Listeners Listen On a Computer or Mobile Device.” 68 percent of that listening is to “regular” radio stations.

“Pandora Shows Year-Over-Year Growth.” 16 percent reported listening to the service in the last week of 2012. It was 10 percent in 2011.

I’m still agnostic on how significant that car statistic is. The survey question was “% of Cell Phone Owners Who Have Ever Listened to Online Radio in a Car by Listening to the Stream From a Cell Phone Connected to a Car Stereo.” Note the word “ever,” which I italicized. It would be helpful to get more data on consistent, as opposed to possibly experimental, use.

The researchers interviewed 2,020 individuals on their digital platform use from January 20 to February 19, 2012.

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Edison Media reports a big surge in Internet radio listening. And mind you, it’s not just the  boring old predictable annual uptick in Internet radio listening that we’ve all become accustomed to hearing about.

This uptick is serious, Edison insists. The weekly usage of online terrestrial radio streams and Pandora “pure play” has jumped from 22 percent of Americans twelve years and older in 2011 to 29 percent in 2012.

“This is a number that we are accustomed to seeing grow bit by bit each year, but this is the largest year-over-year increase we’ve seen since we began tracking this stat in 1998,” says Edison’s Tom Webster. “It’s easy to say that this kind of discontinuous jump is due to the increased usage of Pandora or Slacker or iHeartRadio or other individual brands, but I think there is a different dynamic at play here, driven by another discontinuous jump.”

Edison says the company will reveal the true nature of the aforementioned discontinuous leap when it unveils its full report on April 10, “but let’s just say that the percentage of Americans – mainstream Americans – who now own smartphones is going to show some growth, to put it mildly.”

You don’t have to wait, of course, until April to learn that smartphone use is exploding. Nielsen reports that 49.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers now use smartphones. That’s a boost of 38 percent since February 2011, when “only 36 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones.” The smartphone of choice is often Android, Nielsen says:

with 48 percent of smartphone owners saying they owned an Android OS device. Nearly a third (32.1%) of smartphone users have an Apple iPhone, and Blackberry owners represented another 11.6 percent of the smartphone market. Among recent acquirers who got their smartphone within the last three months, 48 percent of those surveyed in February said they chose an Android and 43 percent bought an iPhone.

Edison seems to think it’s all smartphone use from here on:

Mobile phones are increasingly providing the digital soundtrack to people’s lives on the go – just count the white earbuds, Beats, Boses and other headphones the next time you walk down Main Street. Previously those earbuds delivered mostly our own music files, but what our data shows is that there is pent-up demand for frictionless, mobile audio programming to provide that soundtrack for us, and smartphones are opening the floodgates.

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Here’s the breakdown for all radio types:

Full-power stations

• AM stations – 4790
• FM commercial stations – 6479
• FM educational stations – 3151
  TOTAL 14,420

  FM translator and booster stations – 6155

  Low-power FM stations – 864

  Grand total: 21,439

Note that FM translators and boosters are low-power stations that may not originate their own programming. They may only retransmit the signal of a full-power station. I’m pretty sure that a very large percentage of translators are non-commercial, thought I don’t have the exact number at hand. This is because the rules for non-comm translators are much looser than for commercial ones. A non-comm translator may be located any distance away from the station it retransmits, whereas a commercial translator must be located within its mother station’s expected broadcast range.

Educational stations encompass all non-commercial stations that have NCE licenses, including college, school, religious, community and public stations. The FCC does not distinguish between them.

Even though many observers have tuned out of radio, it’s going to be a long time before 21,439 broadcast stations are going to be abandoned and forgotten.

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Listening to the Radio in Minnie's House at Disneyland

A study released this week from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals some interesting tidbits about how people in the United States are increasingly turning to the Internet as a major source for news.

However, the report, “Understanding the Participatory News Consumer” (PDF) also highlights the fact that people continue to seek information from multiple sources, including radio. According to the report, in a typical day, 54% of Americans “listen to a radio news program at home or in the car.”  The study also found that 59% of study participants reported getting news from both online and offline sources.

The report goes on to describe the demographic differences between various segments of news seekers. Here’s what they say about those who listen to radio news:

“Looking at those who are most likely to listen to radio news either at home or in the car on a typical day, several demographic groups stand out: those between ages 30-64, college graduates, and those who use the internet and cell phones.

Interestingly, those who are online are more likely to get radio news: 57% of internet users get radio news regularly, compared with 44% of non-users. Similarly, 53% of the cell-only population (those who have dropped their landline and rely exclusively on their cell phone) get radio news on a typical day, compared with 39% of those who rely exclusively on landlines.

Radio news is also a major draw for Republicans and conservatives, compared with Democrats, moderates and liberals.”

To see how those listening to radio news differ from those getting their news from TV, newspapers and other sources, take a look at the complete report. It also shares some really interesting findings about participatory news consumers, who tend to utilize multiple news sources and are more likely to interact with the stories that they consume (by blogging, commenting online, posting to Facebook, using Twitter, etc.).

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It looks like Arbitron’s controversial Portable People Meter is still in hot water with the government. The  device, which measures user listening habits sans a written diary,  is scheduled to be the subject of a hearing by the House  Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday,  December 2. This is the committees’ second investigation of the controversial gadget.

“With an unprecedented decline in ratings among popular minority television and radio stations, we must explore the possibility of methodological flaws in the implementation of the PPM,” declared its Chair Edolphus Towns (D-NY, called “ET” by his staff, we’re told).  “As it stands now, the current system jeopardizes the future of minority broadcasting.”

The Portable People Meter is worn by the participant, sort of like a pager. It picks up radio signals around the user and keeps track of the stations to which he or she is listening. Critics of the PPM says its sampling methodology includes too few minority radio fans and that Arbitron recruits an insufficient number of cell phone only households for the device (which are often minority households). Arbitron responds that the  PPM is much more accurate than the old  diary system.

PPM opponents, among them many of the nation’s civil rights groups and minority broadcasting associations (and Stevie Wonder), asked the Federal Communications Commission for a formal investigation of the device, but  the agency offered only a notice of inquiry. Three states have required improvements in the PPM, among them New Jersey. New York, and Maryland.

Anyway, tough talk coming from Towns about this issue:  “I remain deeply concerned that increased use of the PPM may unfairly threaten the financial viability of minority targeted radio stations whose advertising revenues depend on the size of their rated audience.  In addition, there is a serious risk that certain groups of minority listeners will continue to be undercounted, imperiling minority audience radio stations and decreasing the diversity of opinions in radio broadcasting.”

It’s all music to the ears of Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership, which sent us a  statement on the news. “Arbitron’s PPM system is harming a critical medium that has played a transformative role in the social, political, and economic development of communities of color,” said HTTP’s Sylvia Aguilera. “HTTP calls on Arbitron to use this hearing as an opportunity to correct its flawed PPM methodology and begin engaging in responsible business practices.”

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Here’s a sample of the last line of the chart:

Notice that huge jump in indecency / obscenity numbers in March from 505 to 179,997 (while the other categories remained stable)? That’s typical of the roller coaster pattern that is the monthly fluctuation of government indecency complaints. Chances are good that most of these gripes are generated by decency group auto-forms. Anyway, enjoy!

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What does Kingsford the Pig have to do with any of this? Read on.

It was definitely a feel good moment last week when Clear Channel announced that it plans to donate four radio stations to the Minority Media Telecommunications Council. The MMTC says it will work with the National Association of Broadcaster’s Leadership Training Program to “use the stations for training and to incubate new minority and women broadcast owners.”

If Clear Channel were giving these stations to me, I’d be, like, “THANK YOU CLEAR CHANNEL. DUDE. WOW. THANKS.” David Honig, President and Executive Director of MMTC, did the formalities with a lot more class. “Clear Channel Radio’s generosity and support creates an enormous opportunity not only for our own training programs, but for minority and women broadcasters who would not otherwise have the means to operate their own stations,” he said. Very well put.

The donated licenses—all silent for now, it appears—include KYHN in Fort Smith, AR, WTFX in Winchester, VA, KMFX in Rochester, MN, and WHJA in Laurel, MS. It’s a good thing that these signals have gone dark. I took at look at where the content has been transferred. Woah. I wouldn’t want anyone to have to clean that up.

Wikipedia reports that the lights went out on WTFX went a while ago and its broadcast operation moved to WRME Sportstalk 1550. 1550’s web portal actually has a cheesecake page. Yes way. The Babe Section includes the “Thong of the Day (updated daily)” and “Wet on the Net.” Ok. You’re thinking Sports Illustrated, right? But “M.I.L.F. of the Day” and “Lez B Friends”??? There’s also a photo gallery that purports to have serious news shots but is really just dedicated to more nookie stuff. A little desperate for traffic, are we?

Then there’s KYHN, which is presently silent but apparently has a twin, KWHN, both located in the Fort Smith, Arkansas market region. My favorite part of KWHN’s site is the Viral Videos and More page. I mean the tube of Kingsford the Pet Pig is sort of cute. But the jokes? Be sure to check out, Why Some Men Have Dogs and Not Wives. I had to read it, so you do too.

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2. Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4. A dog’s parents never visit.
5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6. You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready to go 24 hours a day.
7. Dogs find you amusing when you’re drunk.
8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, If I died, would you get another dog??
10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.

Wow. That’s really, uh, funny. Through the week the station airs the views of those great friends of women and minorities, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity. These days Rush is taking a break from calling Supreme Court pick Sonia Sotomayor a racist and is doing predictable cartwheels over the Henry Louis Gates mess. Hannity is taking the high road and doing everything he can to stop health care reform. The station’s local host Gary Elmore seems like a decent sort of guy, actually. How’d he get stuck in that place?

How are these stations doing? Arbitron says that in 2007 WTFX (now WRME one presumes) had less than a one percent Average Quarter Hour share in the Winchester, Virginia market—this despite the “Lez B Friends” photos. KWHN pulled in a 3.4 percent share. That’s on the lower end of the scale, albeit better than competing news/talk signal KFPW-AM, which ranked 1.1 share. But many of the music stations in that market have much higher shares, going up to 11 percent.

WJHA of Laurel, Mississippi (“Blues 890”) is silent. Country station KMFX of Rochester, Minnesota (“102.5 The Fox”) is also shut down—maybe. As you can see, the website is still up. And the Rochester Post Bulletin reported about a week ago that an absent deejay is returning to the station. Then it reported on Thursday that the station’s been off the air for a year. So your guess is as good as mine.

Clear Channel says it is going to give the MMTC even more stations. The company says it presently owns 850 licenses. I say donate them all.

The post Clear Channel unloading four silent radio stations to minority non-profit; 846 to go appeared first on Radio Survivor.

source: USAID

A look at radio licensing trends in the United States over the last five years shows an interesting pattern. While the number of commercial AM and FM full power licenses has declined or remained flat, there’s been a big expansion in educational FM stations. Lets’ review the stats in QA form.

Q. How many Federal Communications Commission licensed full power radio stations are there United States?

A. As of December 31, 2008 the FCC counted 14,253. These break down to 4786 AM stations and 9467 FM stations.

Q. How many of those FM stations were commercial versus educational?

A. 6427 were commercial. 3040 were educational (“educational,” of course, includes public radio stations).

Q. How many FM translators and boosters are there?

A. 6120.

Q. How many Low Power FM stations are there?

A. 859. There could be a lot more if the FCC made it easier to get licenses.

Q. Are these license numbers growing?

A. Yes, and no. There were 13,383 full power radio stations at the end of March 2003, so the aggregate is going up. But the number of AM stations has declined by 18 and the number of FM commercial stations has remained nearly the same (up 248 from 2003—a 4 percent increase). Meanwhile the number of FM educational stations has grown by 640—a 25 percent boost in that sector’s growth. So basically educational FM is pulling most of the weight when it comes to conventional radio license expansion. Were it not for that sectors’ strength, the total number of licenses would have increased by 230, a 1.5 increase in growth.

Sources:
BROADCAST STATION TOTALS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2008, FCC, February 27, 2009.
BROADCAST STATION TOTALS AS OF March 31, 2003, FCC, May 5, 2003

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