Over 10 years, the number of AM radio stations in the United States has dropped by 7%, while the number of noncom FMs has increased 16%. And FM translators and boosters soared 36%.
The FCC has released its latest count of broadcast station licenses, providing the totals as of the end of December 2025.
Here we report those results and compare them to one year ago and to a decade ago:
AM radio: Like others in radio we watch the AM total with particular interest given the challenges of that band and frequent reports of smaller stations going silent. There were 4,342 AM licenses as of the end of December. That’s down 41 stations from a year ago and down 342 from 2015, a decline of 7%. Steadily, the senior band is shrinking.
FM commercial: This category declined slightly over both one and 10 years. There were 6,589 FM commercial stations in December, 36 fewer than a year earlier and down 112 from 2015, a 2% drop.
FM educational: This category is in demand. As of December there were 4,755 noncom FMs. That was an increase of 278 stations in just one year, the result of a recent application window. It’s also an increase of 660 stations over 10 years, a 16% jump. (In late 2002 there were only 2,331 NCE stations.)
FM translators and boosters: There were 8,867 of these in December, down very slightly from a year earlier but up by more than 2,300 licenses compared to a decade ago, for an increase of 39%. Translators grew dramatically in part because of the FCC’s program to provide translators to AM licensees.
Low-power FM: There were 1,994 LPFMs in December, 26 more than a year earlier as new stations from the 2023 LPFM window come online. Ten years ago the number was 1,433. (The LPFM category’s historic peak to date was around 2,200 stations about eight years ago.)
