The U.S. FM Landscape by the Numbers

Nick’s Signal Spot is a new feature in which Nick Langan explores RF signals, propagation, new equipment or related endeavors. 

I’ve consumed a good deal of sports writing over the years and I always manage to enjoy articles that incorporate numbers. There’s no shortage of ways to analyze the action, after all.

With as many radio stations that exist, I thought the subject might draw parallels. I’ve referenced the RadioLand app I maintain and what I probably enjoy most about it is the data aspect. The program imports directly from the FCC’s LMS database, as well as two main sources for programming information — the WTFDA North American FM station database for programming formats and slogans, and the HD Radio Directory, for HD operation and subchannel data.

In the spirit of a Sunday sports column, I thought I would run a numbers-based feature this time around in the Signal Spot, taken from RadioLand database data. I chose 21 stats for the 21 counties in New Jersey that I’ve been driving across quite a bit recently.

The 21 stats that matter

There are 21,950 U.S. FM stations in my dataset, updated as of May 12. The stations encompass commercial and noncommercial stations, translators and LPFMs from all U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and Guam. I’ll offer the disclaimer that my data includes all active licenses. It is possible that stations in this count are not actually on the air.

13,159 – The approximate height above mean sea level, in feet, of 93.5 K228AG(FM) Leadville, Colo., the highest AMSL of any U.S. station.

5,945 – The number of FM stations in the U.S. that use directional antennas. That makes up approximately 27% of all stations. 

4,558 – The number of active Class A FM stations, the most common, non-translator class. 

3,124 – The number of FM stations in the U.S. that run Religious Teaching programming, the most of any format. Country is second, with 2,521 such stations, while Contemporary Christian is third with 2,382 stations. 

1,936 – The number of FM stations running HD Radio in the U.S., according to the HD Radio Directory. That makes up approximately nine percent of stations. That count does not include subchannels. Below is a heatmap I generated showing where the most HD stations are concentrated, which you can also view here.

1,496 – The number of FM stations in California, the highest total of any state. 

912 – The number of FM stations licensed to Educational Media Foundation, the most common U.S. operator. 

739 – iHeartMedia is second and has the most FMs of any commercial broadcaster. 

417 –The number of U.S. stations on 88.1, the most of any FM frequency. 

263 – The number of FM stations that use the word “Mix” in their moniker. That’s the most of any monikers. “Q” appears in 180 FM slogans and “Hot” in 156. 

250 – That’s the most common ERP wattage in the U.S., with 3,671 such stations. 

107.9 – The most common commercial FM frequency in the U.S., with 276 stations. 

99.7 – The least common commercial FM frequency in the U.S., with 158 stations. 

71 – The latitude of 99.7 KAAC(FM) in Utqiavik, Alaska, the nation’s farthest north FM station.

41 – The number of FM stations in Delaware, the fewest of any state.

38 – The percentage of FM stations that fall in the Central time zone. That’s the most of the U.S. time zones. Pacific is next with 25%, followed by Eastern with 24% and Mountain with 10%.

38 – That’s also the percentage of all U.S. FM stations that are translators, or 8,342 in total. 

28 – The number of FM stations in the U.S. that have three-letter base callsigns, like KSD, WLS and WRR.

27 – The number of characters in the community of license of 106.5 W293CZ(FM) Elmira Heights – Horseheads, N.Y., the most characters of any active U.S. FM station. 

18 – The number of FM stations in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) where their transmitter ERP is greater than 100,000 watts. A table of those stations is below.

7 – The number of FM stations running a Bluegrass format in the U.S., according to the WTFDA database. 

Comment on this or any article. Email [email protected].