In my experience the “Clear Channel” radio stations(With huge money backing) always have from like 101.1-107.9 and the “niche religious stations” are always in the 89.1-92.1 area.
Is there a reason for this as far as bandwith goes or price to broadcast?
In: Economics
It was explained to me, when I worked at a radio station, that (and this is going back a long time, memory may be fuzzy) around about the time the US/FCC was deciding to reserve parts of FM this way (non-profit vs profit) that the for-profit broadcasters lobbied for it to be this way, and not the reverse (or something else). It meant that their stations (clustering in the middle) would be more likely to be hit and stopped upon by someone turning the dial while driving, looking for a good station. If your station is at the far end, there’s a good chance a listener will settle for something more mid-band before they get to you (or your station) from the other end. And, I guess, if average listeners know (explicitly or subconsciously) that below 92 is usually boring, they might not scroll the whole dial while they’re driving/listening. More money means more lobbyists and they got what they wanted. It’s the radio equivalent of your product being at eye-level in the store instead of at the very top or bottom, and businesses will pay for that.
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