Here it is, the latest update on the number of licensed U.S. broadcast stations, on which the industry waits quarterly with bated breath!
OK maybe not bated, and the report is not always issued quarterly; but the updated numbers always generate a lot of interest among our readers.
The commission announced the following totals for broadcast stations licensed as of Dec. 31, 2014. Its report continues to document recent growth in FM educational, LPFMs and translators over that period. (Here, Radio World has compared the radio station data below with the same report 10 years ago; the approximated percentages below show the change since the end of 2004.)
AM STATIONS 4,705 (–0.2%)
FM COMMERCIAL 6,652 (+7%)
FM EDUCATIONAL 4,075 (+60%)
TOTAL 15,432
FM TRANSLATORS & BOOSTERS 6,249 (+60%)
LOW-POWER FM 942 (N/A*)
*Note that the low-power FM service was established in 2000 and was in its rollout phase 10 years ago. The FCC did not start reporting them in this tally until 2005, when there were about 500 LPFMs licensed.
You can read the latest FCC report here (PDF).
The total number of licenses including all TV stations is 30,952, up 18% from 10 years ago.
