Less and less AM radio
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Since the early 1990s, AM radio stations have been leaving the airways. By 2009, there remained 151 AM commercial stations (where advertising accounts for more than half of total revenue) across Canada, a drop from 180 stations in 2005.
Many AM stations have been transferred to FM, which is more popular and more profitable. There were 512 FM stations in 2009, an increase from 394 in 2005. FM radio generated 79% of the industry's advertising revenues in 2008, compared with 65% in 1998.
Both AM and FM stations were affected by the 2008–2009 recession, but AM stations were hardest hit. In 2009, AM stations' profits before interest and taxes totalled $21.2 million, down 20% from 2008. Only 51% of AM stations showed a profit in 2009, compared with 58% in 2008. By contrast, the profits of FM stations grew to reach $250.1 million and the proportion of profitable FM stations held steady at 68%.
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