---
title: "Where religious radio stations are located, and who owns them"
description: "More than 4,000 religious AM/FM stations broadcast across the U.S. Read about where they are, what their range looks like and independent versus group ownership."
date: "2026-03-26"
authors:
  - name: "Samuel Bestvater"
    job_title: "Senior Data Scientist"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/samuel-bestvater/"
  - name: "Athena Chapekis"
    job_title: "Data Science Analyst"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/athena-chapekis/"
  - name: "Skyler Seets"
    job_title: "Computational Social Science Assistant"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/skyler-seets/"
  - name: "Sono Shah"
    job_title: "Associate Director, Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/sono-shah/"
  - name: "Aaron Smith"
    job_title: "Director, Data Labs"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/aaron-smith/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/03/26/where-religious-radio-stations-are-located-and-who-owns-them/"
categories:
  - "Audio, Radio & Podcasts"
  - "Data Science"
  - "Religion"
  - "Religion & Politics"
  - "Religion & Social Values"
---

# Where religious radio stations are located, and who owns them

Pew Knight Initiative  The Pew-Knight Initiative supports new research on how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Knight Foundation is a social investor committed to supporting informed and engaged communities. [**Learn more >**](https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/)

**About this research**

This Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative is about the AM and FM radio stations across the United States that primarily broadcast religious or faith-based content. It looks at the characteristics of these stations and the programming they play, along with who listens to religious programming and why.

The [Pew-Knight Initiative](https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/) is a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Find related reports online at [https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/](https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/).

**Why did we do this?**

Pew Research Center does high-quality research to help the public, the media and decision-makers understand important topics. Understanding more about the sources Americans turn to for information – including religious radio stations – is a key part of the Center’s long-standing research agenda on news habits and media. Religious radio stations can be heard in most parts of the U.S. and make up a considerable portion of the country’s media landscape.

Learn more [about Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/about/) and our [news habits and media research](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/news-habits-media/).

**How did we do this?**

For this study, we used three main data sources to get a broad look at where religious radio stations are, what their programming tends to sound like and reasons their listeners tune in:

- Data about all FCC-licensed terrestrial AM and FM radio stations in the U.S. from [Radio-Locator](https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/page?page=about), an industry database with information about where stations are located, the geographical areas they cover and the primary type of programming they air. We also examined the websites of religious stations to learn how they describe their mission and religious affiliation.

- Around 440,000 hours of audio collected from the internet broadcasts of more than 2,000 religious stations during the month of July 2025.

- A survey of 5,023 U.S. adults conducted June 9-15, 2025, that asked members of the Center’s [American Trends Panel](https://www.pewresearch.org/the-american-trends-panel/) about the religious audio programming they listen to and why.

Here are the [survey questions](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/pl_2026.03.26_religious-radio_questionnaire.pdf) used for this report, the [detailed responses](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/pl_2026.03.26_religious-radio_topline.pdf) and the study’s [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/03/26/methodology-religious-radio/).

Faith-based radio stations make up a considerable part of the media landscape in the United States. More than 4,000 terrestrial religious stations broadcast throughout the country, according to a Pew Research Center analysis from the [Pew-Knight Initiative](https://www.pewresearch.org/collections/pew-knight-initiative/) – that’s about a quarter of the more than 17,000 FCC-licensed AM and FM stations in the United States. Anywhere people live across the country, there’s probably at least one religious station they can tune in to.

These findings are part of a [larger study on religious radio](https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/03/26/religious-radio-across-america/) in the U.S.

Religious radio stations are spread widely across the U.S. Every region of the country is served by both independent and syndicated stations featuring religious programming.

[![A map showing that 98% of U.S. adults live within range of at least 1 religious radio station](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/pl_2026.03.26_religious-radio_5_01.png?w=640)](https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=294923)

The vast majority of the U.S. adult population (98%) lives within local coverage of at least one religious radio station. On average, listeners can tune into six different religious broadcasts from their home address. About two-thirds of the country’s entire landmass – and 99% of its urban areas – is in range of at least one of these stations.

While religious radio can be heard from virtually all urban areas in the country, overall coverage by region varies.[3. numoffset="3" This analysis uses the U.S. Census Bureau definitions for [regions](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/about/glossary/geo-terms.html) and [urban areas](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural.html).] **The highest concentration of religious radio stations is in the South, **where 87% of the total landmass is served by at least one of these stations.

This is in keeping with the fact that Americans in the South [tend to be more religious](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/03/southerners-tend-to-be-more-religious-than-other-us-adults-but-less-religious-than-they-used-to-be/), on average, than those in other regions: 74% of Southerners identify with a religion, including 68% who are Christian, according to data from the Center’s [2023-24 Religious Landscape Study](https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/).

Religious radio’s geographic coverage is lower in other regions of the U.S.:

- 76% of the Midwest

- 78% of the Northeast

- 38% of the West (which notably includes a number of large, sparsely populated areas where coverage is limited)

### North Carolina has the highest share of religious radio stations  

*% of all AM/FM radio stations that are religious, by state*

| State | Share of stations that are religious | group |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. North Carolina | 36% | 1 |
| 2. Texas | 34% | 1 |
| 3. Nebraska | 32% | 1 |
| 4. South Carolina | 32% | 1 |
| 5. Louisiana | 31% | 1 |
| 46. New Hampshire | 16% | 2 |
| 47. Massachusetts | 16% | 2 |
| 48. Vermont | 15% | 2 |
| 49. Rhode Island | 13% | 2 |
| 50. Connecticut | 12% | 2 |

Source: FCC-licensed terrestrial AM/FM radio stations from Radio-Locator (accessed March 2025)."Religious Radio Across America"

The median state in the union has 76 religious radio stations broadcasting from within its borders. Texas has the most of any state, with 433. And North Carolina has the highest concentration of religious radio: 36% of all its AM and FM stations have a religious focus. At the other end of the scale, Connecticut’s 13 religious radio stations make up just 12% of stations in the state.

Nationwide, there are around 1.3 religious radio stations per 100,000 residents. But because there are limits to how far any one radio broadcast can reach, states with small populations distributed over very large geographic areas end up with a much higher ratio of stations to residents. For example, Wyoming has 6.6 religious stations per 100,000 residents, and Alaska has 7.3.

***Related:**** *[*How religious is your state?*](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/09/16/how-religious-is-your-state/)

### Who owns religious radio stations?

The majority of religious radio stations in the U.S. are owned by an organization that operates multiple stations, according to our analysis of the FCC licenses those stations operate under. Around three-in-ten are part of large ownership groups comprised of more than 50 individual stations. The largest of these groups is [Educational Media Foundation](https://www.emfmedia.com/), which operates the Air1 and K-LOVE radio networks and owns hundreds of individual stations across the country, as well as an online streaming platform and a podcast network.[4. Other examples of large ownership groups include Relevant Radio, which operates a network of Catholic stations, and the American Family Association’s American Family Radio network.]

[![A pie chart showing that About 3 in 10 religious radio stations are independently owned](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/pl_2026.03.26_religious-radio_5_03.png?w=310)](https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=294925)

Another 42% of stations are part of small or medium-sized ownership groups, and 28% are independent – meaning they are licensed to an entity that doesn’t own any other radio stations.

While similar shares of religious and nonreligious stations belong to ownership groups, religious stations that belong to the same owner are much more likely to broadcast shared content. Most nonreligious stations that stream their broadcasts online do so from their own distinct broadcast URL, even if their licensee owns multiple stations. But the typical religious radio station that offers a web stream is one of five stations that share that same online feed.

[![A table showing that Some popular religious radio programs are carried by around half of stations](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/pl_2026.03.26_religious-radio_5_04.png?w=310)](https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=294924)

And regardless of who owns them, many religious radio stations carry the same popular syndicated shows. For example, [Unshackled](https://unshackled.org/) and [Turning Point](https://www.davidjeremiah.org/radio) appear on the broadcast schedules of about half of all religious radio stations, and [Focus on the Family](https://www.focusonthefamily.com/shows/broadcast/) appears on 44% of schedules.

Nearly all popular syndicated shows on religious radio can also be heard off the airwaves. Of the 100 most widely carried programs, 99 are available on demand as podcasts or on popular platforms such as YouTube.

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**Next:** [What’s religious radio like in your state?](https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/03/26/whats-religious-radio-like-in-your-state.md)