Every two years, the Federal Communications Commission is required to publish a Communications Marketplace Report that assesses the state of competition across the broader communications marketplace in the United States. Radio World reports the figures include everything from deep dives into the mobile wireless spectrum and cable industry prices to, more relevantly for our readers, a breakdown of annual revenue and programming formats of licensed broadcast radio stations in the country.
Station count
In its report, the commission notes that the number of AM, FM and LPFM radio stations in the United States has remained relatively steady in recent years. This is because new stations are possible only through new allocations and award of licenses, either via auction, in the case of commercial stations, or a comparative system for non-commercial stations.
Top 10 radio station owners
In the report, the FCC lists the top 10 largest radio station owners, ranked by revenue. It says these owners control stations that are not confined to particular geographic regions; rather, their stations are spread across various geographical markets in the United States. As can be seen in the chart below, iHeartMedia continues to saturate U.S. markets with 745 stations, as compared to its runner up, Cumulus Media, with 355 stations. (Terrier Media Buyer is Cox Media Group.)
This data from the commission also shows that radio revenue never fully recovered from the decline experienced during the recession following the 2008 financial crisis.
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