The number of noncommercial FM stations in the United States continues to break records every three months.
The FCC this week released its latest totals. There were 4,730 licensed noncoms or “educational FMs” at the end of September, which is 41 more than at the end of June of this year and 353 more than in September 2024.
The Federal Communications Commission conducted an application window for new noncom FM stations in late 2021, and we’ve been seeing the product of that window over several years. (For more on this trend see our previous story in July.)
For longer-term context, the number of FM NCE licenses in the country has more than doubled in the past 23 years, according to a Radio World analysis of FCC records. In September of 2002 there were 2,331 NCE stations.
There are 4,343 AM stations, down 57 from a year ago. The AM category peaked in the early 1990s at around 5,000 licenses, according to our review of FCC data.
There are 6,594 commercial FMs, down 24. The number of FM translators and boosters is 8,871, the vast majority of which are translators; that is down 23 from a year ago.
And the number of low-power FM stations is 1,985, up by 18. That total should grow further due to a window for applications in 2023.
