We learn that Radio’s station count in 2026 dipped for a third straight quarter. We take note of this article from Radio Ink.
“Radio’s station count dipped for a third straight quarter, and the pressure is landing on AM. The FCC’s newest totals show commercial stations on both bands still shrinking, with noncommercial FM growth no longer enough to keep the overall radio tally from sliding.”
Wanting to get more scope and detail, we asked GPT to give us totals of licensed broadcast stations for five years, 2022 -2026. (Of course, 2026 information is incomplete.)
Here’s the table:
Year-by-Year Total Broadcast Stations
- 2022 – 33,570 stations
- 2023 – 33,447 stations
- 2024 – 33,305 stations
- 2025 – 33,551 stations
- 2026 – 33,442 stations
There is nuance when the table above is expanded to reveal station categories (below). Note: This table includes UHF and VHF television groups; we have left them in. Our focus is on the top three lines: AM, FM Commercial, and FM Educational.
• AM Stations: Decreased from 4,490 in 2022 to 4,258 in 2026.
• FM Commercial: Decreased from 6,677 in 2022 to 6,540 in 2026.
• FM Educational: Increased from 4,207 in 2022 to 4,815 in 2026.
• Total Broadcast TV: Increased slightly from 1,756 in 2022 to 1,777 in 2026.
• FM Translators & Boosters: Decreased from 8,949 in 2022 to 8,826 in