We all know that large cities and metro areas have many radio and TV stations, but it’s surprising when you realize that there are many highly-populated cities that have no full-power licenses.
While acknowledging the fact that “community of license” is largely symbolic due to the lack of any requirement that stations provide any specific service to said community, here is a look at the largest communities in each Upper Midwest state that have no full-power licenses:
Iowa
| Community | Population | Rank in state |
| Urbandale | 43,879 | 12 |
| Marion | 39,910 | 14 |
| Waukee | 22,598 | 23 |
| Johnston | 22,077 | 24 |
| Coralville | 21,630 | 25 |
Minnesota
| Bloomington | 85,226 | 5 |
| Plymouth | 78,879 | 7 |
| Maple Grove | 71,569 | 8 |
| Woodbury | 71,298 | 9 |
| Eagan | 66,377 | 11 |
Nebraska
| Chalco | 10,092 | 16 |
| Schuyler | 6,269 | 29 |
| Offutt AFB | 5,280 | 33 |
| Wahoo | 4,520 | 36 |
| Gothenburg | 3,469 | 44 |
North Dakota
| Watford City | 7,146 | 12 |
| Minot AFB | 5,974 | 14 |
| Grand Forks AFB | 2,785 | 19 |
| Stanley | 2,697 | 21 |
| Hazen | 2,448 | 24 |
South Dakota
| Rapid Valley | 8,553 | 14 |
| Harrisburg | 6,420 | 17 |
| Tea | 5,714 | 18 |
| Dakota Dunes | 3,231 | 25 |
| Blackhawk | 3,029 | 27 |
Wisconsin
| Oak Creek | 36,321 | 22 |
| Franklin | 36,013 | 23 |
| Fitchburg | 30,032 | 27 |
| Mount Pleasant | 27,008 | 28 |
| Caledonia | 25,182 | 32 |
Populations are from the 2020 American Community Survey
What is the most common theme? Suburbs. Most communities without licenses are in or near metro areas that have a lot of stations licensed to neighboring communities. The numbers stand out the most in Minnesota, where four of the state’s ten most populated cities have no full-power licenses.
This is largely symbolic, though, since regulations do not require stations to target programming at their community of license or do anything special to serve them, other than maintenance of a public file and a toll-free phone number. Radio and TV stations licensed to suburbs generally target their programming to the entire metro area in the same way as stations licensed to the core city.