WHY RADIO FACT SHEET
Radio Format Analysis
Individual preferences in Radio listening are wide and varied – and Radio operators respond by offering a broad range of programming to serve every taste! Here’s a list of the current popularity of formats aired on nearly 11,000 commercial Radio stations licensed in the U.S. today. An additional 242 commercial stations are licensed under construction permits for future broadcast; 185 commercial stations are currently dark/off the air. Close to 2,300 HD Radio stations are using HD Radio Technology, and there are over 1,500 HD2/HD3/HD4 multicast channels on the air. Number of commercial streamed AM/FM Radio stations: 7,256. NextRadio reports over 1.5 million app downloads of FM radio on smartphones.



Rank  Format  # Stations 
1  Country  2,093 
2  News/Talk  1,390 
3  Spanish  843 
4  Sports  794 
5  Classic Hits  793 
6  Adult Contemporary  597 
7  Contemporary (CHR Top 40)  577 
8  Classic Rock  483 
10  Hot AC  462 
9  Oldies  432 
11  Religion (Teaching, Variety)  328 
12  Rock  302 
14  Black Gospel  214 
13  Adult Standards  202 
17  Contemporary Christian  166 
15  Southern Gospel  163 
16  Urban AC  161 
18  Ethnic  156 
20  R&B  138 
19  Soft Adult Contemporary  126 
22  Modern Rock  103 
21  Alternative Rock  102 
23  R&B Adult/ldies  64 
24  Variety  44 
25  Jazz  27 
26  Pre-Teen  23 
27  Rhythmic AC  19 
28  Easy Listening  18 
30  Gospel  14 
29  Modern AC  12 
31  Classical  11 
  Other/Format Not Available  60 
Source: Inside Radio/M Street Corp., January 2015 (No Canadian or Mexican Stations are included). HD Radio stats from iBiquity/HD Digital, January 2015.