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How Many Radio Stations Are There in the United States?

Here’s the updated answer from the FCC

Here are the latest broadcast license totals from the FCC.

As of the end of March, there were 4,725 licensed AM stations, down slightly from 4,736 last year at this time.

The number of commercial FMs grew slightly to 6,624, up from 6,603.

The number of FM educational stations increased to 4,057, up from 3,917.

There are 6,082 translators and boosters on the FM dial, up from 6,053 a year ago.

And the number of low-power FMs declined to 774, from 802, though this will increase significantly soon thanks to the recently closed LPFM window.

So here’s your updated answer to the perennial question “How many radio stations are there in the United States?” There are 15,406 radio stations by the traditional statistic counting AMs, FM commercial and FM educational stations; but there are 16,180 if you add in low-power FMs; and 22,262 if you count FM translators and boosters.

If you then add in all the types of TV stations, including UHF and VHF translators and low-power TV, the total number of broadcast stations in the FCC database is now 30,465.

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