Commercial AM and FM Station Counts Keep Sliding, Latest FCC Totals Show

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The broadcast landscape keeps quietly shrinking on the commercial side, according to the latest FCC licensing figures — while noncommercial FM keeps doing the opposite.

In the FCC's latest totals, dated 30th September, commercial AM stations dropped to 4,258 — down 42 from last quarter, and a decline of 142 signals overall since September 2024.

Commercial FM stations continued their own downswing too, falling by 20 to 6,540. Ten of those cancellations came from a single owner, Hispanic Target Media, which surrendered ten FM licenses outright. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of modest declines for commercial FM, a category that peaked back in December 2019.

If you want to see the longer-term trend for yourself, there's a 10-year interactive breakdown of station counts built directly from FCC data.

Notable AM Cancellations This Quarter

A handful of AM stations surrendered their licenses over the past quarter, including:

  • Cumulus Media's KZAC(AM) in San Francisco

  • KARN(AM) in Little Rock, Arkansas

  • KFOG(AM) in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

  • WGOC(AM) in Kingsport, Tennessee

  • Saga Communications' WZAN(AM) in Portland, Maine

Noncommercial FM Keeps Climbing

The picture looks very different on the noncommercial side. As previously reported, noncommercial FM stations have grown or held steady every quarter since Q1 2022 — and that trend continued into Q3 2026, albeit at a slower pace. Noncommercial FMs totalled 4,815 stations, up nine from the previous quarter.

One example from Florida's Big Bend region: the Big Bend Heritage Music Association's WZRE(FM) made the jump from an LPFM license on 99.3 to a full 100-watt Class A noncommercial signal on 89.9 — a genuine step up in both power and status.

The Rest of the Numbers

FM translators and boosters also edged down, dropping 20 since June — a category worth watching closely as the noncommercial FM translator window is set to open next month.

LPFM stations held essentially steady at 2,013, down just one from the previous quarter.

Taken together, it's a snapshot of a broadcast landscape still consolidating on the commercial side, even as noncommercial and low-power FM continue to hold their ground.