Contents
- What FM radio station counts statistics include
- FCC-licensed commercial FM totals
- Educational and noncommercial FM counts
- Low-power FM station totals
- FM translators and boosters are a separate count
- How to compare FM radio station counts statistics
- Sources
What FM radio station counts statistics include
FM radio station counts depend on which FCC category is being counted. The FCC’s broadcast-station notices list commercial FM, educational FM, low-power FM, and a combined category for FM translators and boosters. These are separate licensing categories, so they should not be added together as if each entry represented the same kind of station or service.
The figures below are counts of stations licensed at specific benchmark dates, not measures of how many outlets were broadcasting at every moment, how many distinct owners operated them, or how many listeners they reached. The FCC’s 2024 Communications Marketplace Report also presents dated benchmarks in a table titled “Number of Licensed Broadcast Radio Stations.” Its 2024 column uses a March 31, 2024 benchmark, while the quarterly notices specify their own dates. Those dates matter when comparing totals.
FCC-licensed commercial FM totals
Commercial FM remains the largest of the individual FM station categories shown here. FCC quarterly notices counted 6,675 commercial FM stations on June 30, 2023, 6,670 on September 30, and 6,663 on December 31. That is a decrease of 12 across those two quarter-to-quarter intervals. These are snapshots, not an explanation of why the count changed.
The FCC’s marketplace report provides a wider set of March 31 benchmarks: 6,682 in 2021, 6,763 in 2022, 6,681 in 2023, and 6,663 in 2024. The series rose by 81 between 2021 and 2022, then fell by 100 over the next two annual benchmarks. The report’s 2024 figure and the December 31, 2023 quarterly figure are both 6,663, but they represent different benchmark dates and sources; matching values do not make the dates interchangeable.
A later notice counted 6,589 commercial FM stations licensed on December 31, 2025. By September 30, 2026, the reported total was 6,540. The decrease between those two dates was 49. Across the December 2023 and September 2026 notices, the total declined by 123. The figures describe a change in the count of licensed stations over the stated period, without identifying its cause.
| Benchmark date | FCC commercial FM count |
|---|---|
| March 31, 2021 | 6,682 |
| March 31, 2022 | 6,763 |
| March 31, 2023 | 6,681 |
| December 31, 2023 | 6,663 |
| March 31, 2024 | 6,663 |
| December 31, 2025 | 6,589 |
| September 30, 2026 | 6,540 |
Sources: FCC, 2024 Communications Marketplace Report, Figure II.F.1 and footnote 914; FCC, June 30, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2025 station totals; FCC, September 30, 2026 station totals.
Educational and noncommercial FM counts
The quarterly notices use the label “FM EDUCATIONAL.” They counted 4,236 such stations on June 30, 2023, 4,263 on September 30, and 4,286 on December 31. The total rose by 50 between the June and December snapshots. This pattern differs from commercial FM over those same dates, but the counts alone do not show what changes in licensing activity produced it.
The marketplace report uses “FM Non-Commercial” for its table row. It lists 4,213 stations at the March 31, 2021 benchmark, 4,119 in 2022, 4,219 in 2023, and 4,320 in 2024. That series fell by 94 from 2021 to 2022, then rose by 201 by the 2024 benchmark. The names in the quarterly notices and report are not identical; the safest comparisons are within each source’s own series rather than treating every label as a perfectly interchangeable definition.
The quarterly notices later counted 4,755 FM EDUCATIONAL stations as of December 31, 2025, and 4,815 as of September 30, 2026. The increase between these snapshots was 60. Across the three dated notice counts from December 2023 to September 2026, the total increased by 529. These are FCC category totals and do not provide a breakdown by owner, community, or programming format.
Sources: FCC, 2024 Communications Marketplace Report, Figure II.F.1 and footnote 914; FCC, June 30, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2025 station totals; FCC, September 30, 2026 station totals.
Low-power FM station totals
The FCC counted 1,989 low-power FM (LPFM) stations on June 30, 2023. The total was 1,978 on September 30 and 1,967 on December 31, a decline of 22 across the half-year span. The later notices counted 1,994 stations at December 31, 2025, and 2,014 at September 30, 2026, an increase of 20 between those benchmarks.
The marketplace report’s March 31, 2021 benchmark lists 2,114 LPFM stations. That figure is higher than the December 2023 total and the later 2025 and 2026 snapshots. Because the available observations are not a continuous series, they show selected dated totals rather than every change in between. They do not establish a consistent direction of change for every intervening quarter.
LPFM is listed separately from commercial FM and from the report’s noncommercial FM row. Keeping the categories distinct avoids presenting an unsupported combined total or implying that the labels measure identical groups.
Sources: FCC, 2024 Communications Marketplace Report, Figure II.F.1 and footnote 914; FCC, June 30, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2025 station totals; FCC, September 30, 2026 station totals.
FM translators and boosters are a separate count
The FCC groups FM translators and boosters together in its notice row “FM TRANSLATORS & BOOSTERS.” This category is substantially larger than any of the individual station categories above: it counted 8,935 licensed facilities on June 30, 2023, 8,928 on September 30, and 8,927 on December 31. The six-month difference was eight fewer.
The combined total was 8,867 on December 31, 2025, and 8,826 on September 30, 2026. That is a decline of 41 between the two dates. Comparing December 2023 with September 2026, the count fell by 101. The row combines translators and boosters, so these totals cannot tell how many belonged to either subgroup individually. They also should not be read as counts of full-power commercial or educational FM stations.
Sources: FCC, June 30, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2023 station totals; FCC, December 31, 2025 station totals; FCC, September 30, 2026 station totals.
How to compare FM radio station counts statistics
These counts are most useful when each comparison keeps the benchmark date and FCC category visible. The marketplace report gives a set of March 31 historical benchmarks, while the separate notices provide selected June 30, September 30, and December 31 totals. A March count should not be described as an end-of-year count, and a report row labeled “FM Non-Commercial” should not automatically be relabeled “FM EDUCATIONAL” without qualification.
The observations support several direct conclusions: commercial FM counts were lower in the supplied 2025 and 2026 notices than in the December 2023 notice; the educational total increased between those notice benchmarks; LPFM totals differed across the dated snapshots, with the 2026 count above the December 2025 one; and translators and boosters remained the largest listed category. They do not establish audience size, station ownership, operational status beyond the licensing benchmark, or reasons for category changes. Those questions require evidence beyond station-count tables.
Sources
- Broadcast Station Totals as of September 30, 2026 (DA 26-1064)
- Broadcast Station Totals as of December 31, 2025 (DA 26-49)
- Broadcast Station Totals as of December 31, 2023 (DA 24-17)
- Broadcast Station Totals as of September 30, 2023 (DA 23-921)
- Broadcast Station Totals as of June 30, 2023 (DA 23-582)
- 2024 Communications Marketplace Report (FCC 24-136)