WASHINGTON: U.S. broadcast licenses exceed 30,000. As of March 31, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission counted a total of 30,643 licenses in its databases.
Of those, 1,774 were full-power TV stations. of those, 1,022 were commercial UHF stations; 360 were commercial VHFs; 285 were educational UHFs; and 107 were educational VHFs, according to the FCC’s count.
Class A TV stations, which are low-power broadcasters with interference protection, totaled 515. Of those, 439 were UHF, the rest, VHF. The low-power TV station total was 2,172. UHFs made up 1,656 of those licensees; 516 were VHF.
Full-power radio stations comprised 14,728 licenses. 6,533 were FM commercial; 3,417 were FM educational, and the rest were AM. Low-power FMs totaled 859.
A total of 10,595 TV and radio translators were licensed. 6,141 were FM boosters; 3,043 were UHF translators; and 1,411 were VHF translators.
