Adoption of FM Broadcasting Worldwide
Despite FM having been patented in 1933, commercial FM broadcasting did not begin until 1939, when it was initiated by WRVE, the FM station of General Electric's main factory in Schenectady, NY. In countries outside of Europe it took many years for FM to be adopted by the majority of radio listeners.
The first commercial FM broadcasting stations were in the United States, but initially they were primarily used to broadcast classical music to an upmarket listenership in urban areas, and for educational programming. By the late 1960s FM had been adopted by fans of "Alternative Rock" music ("A.O.R. - 'Album Oriented Rock' Format"), but it wasn't until 1978 that listenership to FM stations exceeded that of AM stations in North America. During the 1980s and 1990s, Top 40 music stations and later even country music stations largely abandoned AM for FM. Today AM is mainly the preserve of talk radio, news, sports, religious programming, ethnic (minority language) broadcasting and some types of minority interest music. This shift has transformed AM into the "alternative band" that FM once was. (Some AM stations have begun to simulcast on, or switch to, FM signals to attract younger listeners and aid reception problems in buildings, during thunderstorms, and near high tension wires. Some of these stations now emphasize their presence on the FM dial.)
Read more about this topic: FM Broadcasting
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