Several national groups track the number of radio stations carrying certain formats. For example, InsideRadio reported last August that the leading formats among all stations nationally are Country, News/Talk, and Religion.
While these statistics are interesting, they can’t account for the fact that not all radio stations are created equally. Some are major 100kW signals in big cities reaching millions of people, while others are smaller signals in rural areas reaching only a few thousand.
One thing is true no matter what the market size: Broadcasters put their top-priority formats on the biggest signals.
So, what formats are broadcasters choosing to put on the biggest FM signals? There are currently 428 class B, C, C0, and C1 stations on the air in the Upper Midwest. Here’s how many stations are carrying each format (some are combined in italics and also listed separately):
118 Country
79 Recent Pop (CHR, Hot AC, AC)
65 Public Radio (NPR News, Classical, AAA)
62 Christian (Talk/Teaching and Contemporary Christian)
37 Classic Hits/Variety Hits
34 Christian Talk/Teaching
32 NPR News/Music
31 Adult Contemporary
30 Classic Rock
29 Contemporary Hits
28 Contemporary Christian
19 Hot Adult Contemporary
19 NPR News/Talk
19 Rock/Active Rock
10 Classical
7 Native
6 AAA/Alternative
5 News/Talk/Sports
2 Spanish-language
1 Hip-Hop/R&B
1 Soft Oldies
It is important to note that class B is the technical equivalent of class C2 in regions where class C2/C1/C0/C stations don’t exist. Since the purpose of this list is to show what formats are being carried on the biggest FM stations inn their markets, Class B stations are included.
The total includes all stations licensed in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, as well as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and stations licensed to East Moline, Moline, and Rock Island, Illinois.