Radio station statistics span several different measurements: licensed transmitters, digital multiplex services, household coverage and weekly listening. The figures below cover the United States and United Kingdom, with licensing measured on March 31, 2025, UK platform data measured in March 2025, and audience figures taken from the RAJAR Q4 2025 survey period ending December 14, 2025.
Contents
- Licensed radio stations in the United States
- UK analogue and digital service counts
- UK digital radio coverage
- UK radio audience totals
- BBC radio audiences
- Commercial radio audiences
Licensed radio stations in the United States
The FCC’s Broadcast Station Totals as of March 31, 2025 separates US radio licences by broadcast type. It listed 4,367 licensed AM stations, 6,621 licensed commercial FM stations and 4,634 licensed educational FM stations. Together, those three categories totalled 15,622 stations. These are licensed-station totals, so they should not be read as a count of unique brands, programmes or separately measured audiences. FCC, Broadcast Station Totals as of March 31, 2025.
| US radio category | Licensed stations | Measurement date |
|---|---|---|
| AM | 4,367 | March 31, 2025 |
| Commercial FM | 6,621 | March 31, 2025 |
| Educational FM | 4,634 | March 31, 2025 |
| AM, commercial FM and educational FM combined | 15,622 | March 31, 2025 |
The FCC also listed 8,891 FM translators and boosters and 1,976 low-power FM stations. Translators and boosters extend or support signals and therefore represent a different type of facility from the main AM, commercial FM and educational FM categories. The same FCC release listed 33,524 total broadcast stations across radio and television categories; that broader number is not a radio-only total. FCC, Broadcast Station Totals as of March 31, 2025.
These distinctions matter when comparing statistics. A count of licensed stations answers how many authorised facilities appear in the regulator’s table. It does not answer how many stations a listener can receive in a particular location, how many services are carried on digital platforms or how many people listen each week.
UK analogue and digital service counts
Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 - UK Report recorded a UK digital radio structure built around national and local multiplexes. In March 2025, the UK had one BBC UK-wide DAB multiplex, one Digital One multiplex, one Sound Digital multiplex and 58 local commercial multiplexes. The corresponding service counts were 11 on BBC UK-wide, 30 on Digital One, 30 on Sound Digital and 651 on local commercial multiplexes. Ofcom, Media Nations 2025 - UK Report.
| UK digital platform | Multiplexes | Services | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| BBC UK-wide DAB | 1 | 11 | March 2025 |
| Digital One | 1 | 30 | March 2025 |
| Sound Digital | 1 | 30 | March 2025 |
| Local commercial | 58 | 651 | March 2025 |
Small-scale DAB reached 32.2% of UK households in March 2025. This household-reach figure describes access to the platform, not the number of services carried by it and not the percentage of people who listen to every service available. Ofcom also recorded 308 community analogue radio services: 20 on medium wave and 288 on FM. Ofcom, Media Nations 2025 - UK Report.
The UK counts therefore combine several layers of radio: national digital multiplexes, local commercial digital multiplexes, small-scale DAB coverage and community analogue services. They are useful for describing distribution infrastructure, but they are not directly interchangeable with FCC licence categories or RAJAR audience measures.
UK digital radio coverage
Ofcom reported DAB homes coverage across the UK of 97.4% for BBC, 91.7% for Digital One, 82.6% for Sound Digital and 92.0% for local DAB in March 2025. Small-scale DAB homes coverage was 32.2%. Coverage of major UK roads was lower: 87.4% for BBC, 80.2% for Digital One, 72.6% for Sound Digital and 76.8% for local DAB. Ofcom, Media Nations 2025 - UK Report.
Regional coverage varied by platform. The table shows homes coverage, rather than road coverage.
| Region | BBC DAB | Digital One | Sound Digital | Local DAB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 98.4% | 94.8% | 86.7% | 93.4% |
| Scotland | 95.3% | 81.7% | 69.0% | 85.4% |
| Wales | 92.2% | 67.5% | 56.9% | 83.1% |
| Northern Ireland | 87.3% | 85.4% | 56.8% | 87.5% |
Small-scale DAB homes coverage was 31.8% in England, 34.5% in Scotland, 35.1% in Wales and 36.1% in Northern Ireland. Those regional percentages show why a UK-wide average can conceal meaningful differences between nations and between multiplex platforms. Ofcom, Media Nations 2025 - UK Report.
For practical interpretation, homes coverage and major-road coverage should remain separate. A service can have broad household availability while having a different footprint for in-car listening. The Ofcom figures also identify platform reach; they do not establish listening levels or the commercial performance of an individual station.
UK radio audience totals
RAJAR’s Q4 2025 Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening reported that all radio reached 50.000 million UK adults aged 15 and over each week. Average listening was 20.3 hours per listener, producing 1,014,900 thousand total hours. All BBC Radio reached 30.904 million adults weekly, with 14.1 average hours and 434,368 thousand total hours. All commercial radio reached 39.431 million, with 14.2 average hours and 560,385 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
Among adults aged 15 to 44, commercial radio reached 18.570 million weekly, averaging 11.6 hours and 216,109 thousand total hours. Among adults aged 45 and over, it reached 20.861 million, averaging 16.5 hours and 344,277 thousand total hours. Commercial radio therefore had separate reported reach and usage measures for these age groups. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
RAJAR also reported 28.184 million weekly listeners for all national commercial radio, with 10.6 average hours and 297,403 thousand total hours. All local commercial radio reached 25.558 million, with 10.3 average hours and 262,983 thousand total hours. Other radio reached 4.143 million, averaging 4.9 hours and 20,146 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
The Q4 2025 RAJAR share-of-hours release reported 42.8% for BBC radio and 55.2% for commercial radio. BBC network radio had a 38.5% share, while local commercial radio had a 25.9% share. BBC local and regional radio reached 6.792 million listeners weekly, and national commercial radio reached 28.184 million. RAJAR, Q4 2025 BBC Radio and Commercial Radio Reach and Share.
Reach, average hours, total hours and share of hours describe different aspects of listening. A service may have a large weekly reach without having the highest average time per listener, so the measures should be read together.
BBC radio audiences
The Q4 2025 RAJAR station measurements show different audience profiles across BBC services. BBC Radio 2 reached 12.709 million weekly listeners, averaging 11.0 hours and 140,173 thousand total hours. BBC Radio 4 reached 8.922 million, averaging 11.7 hours and 104,630 thousand total hours. BBC Radio 1 reached 7.081 million, averaging 6.4 hours and 45,620 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
BBC Radio 5 Live reached 5.291 million listeners weekly, with 6.2 average hours and 33,006 thousand total hours. BBC 6 Music reached 2.396 million, with 9.7 average hours and 23,283 thousand total hours. BBC Asian Network UK reached 584 thousand, with 5.8 average hours and 3,379 thousand total hours. BBC World Service reached 1.008 million, with 4.6 average hours and 4,639 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
The reported UK regional services were smaller by weekly reach. BBC Radio Scotland reached 835 thousand listeners, averaging 5.5 hours and 4,561 thousand total hours. BBC Radio Wales reached 309 thousand, averaging 7.1 hours and 2,200 thousand total hours. These figures are UK audience measurements for the stated Q4 2025 survey period and should not be treated as transmitter counts. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
Commercial radio audiences
Among the commercial services reported by RAJAR, Greatest Hits Radio 2 reached 5.912 million weekly listeners, averaging 9.3 hours and 54,931 thousand total hours. Smooth Radio Network UK reached 5.854 million, averaging 6.7 hours and 38,991 thousand total hours. TalkSPORT reached 3.236 million, averaging 7.0 hours and 22,732 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
Radio X Network UK reached 1.967 million listeners, averaging 8.7 hours and 17,177 thousand total hours. Absolute Radio reached 1.940 million, averaging 6.5 hours and 12,623 thousand total hours. Gold Radio UK reached 1.683 million, averaging 7.2 hours and 12,149 thousand total hours. Absolute 80s reached 1.422 million, averaging 5.4 hours and 7,688 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
Planet Rock reached 1.078 million weekly listeners and had 10.1 average hours and 10,932 thousand total hours. Boom Radio reached 692 thousand, averaging 13.3 hours and 9,193 thousand total hours. Talk reached 565 thousand, averaging 12.4 hours and 7,008 thousand total hours. CountryLine Radio reached 89 thousand, averaging 5.8 hours and 518 thousand total hours. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.
Regional commercial services included Smooth Radio North West, which reached 1.189 million listeners weekly, averaging 7.7 hours and 9,176 thousand total hours. Heart Yorkshire reached 521 thousand, averaging 5.1 hours and 2,646 thousand total hours, while Capital Scotland reached 460 thousand, averaging 4.7 hours and 2,172 thousand total hours. These are service-level audience measurements for Q4 2025, not estimates of coverage or licence totals. RAJAR, Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening.