Channel 6 radio stations in the United States

This is a list of low-power television stations in the United States that operate on VHF channel 6 as radio stations. This is because the audio on NTSC-M channel 6 can be picked up on 87.75 FM on the radio dial; as the FM radio bandplan is separated by odd-numbered 0.2 MHz intervals, these stations, also colloquially known as "Franken-FMs" (in analogy with Frankenstein's monster)^[1] usually market their radio frequency as "87.7". These stations are still required to play some sort of video signal to comply with FCC regulations; it does not specify what kind of signal it must be, and thus the video usually consists of still frames, test patterns or unrelated silent films. As low-power stations, they are excluded from educational and informational programming mandates and are thus (unlike full-power stations, Class A stations and their digital subchannels) not required to interrupt their program schedules for three hours of educational children's programming per week.

Until the 2009 digital television transition in the United States, full-power stations on channel 6 could also be heard on the same frequency. Digital television's format, in contrast, is incompatible with both U.S. analog radio and the U.S. digital standard (the in-band on-channel HD Radio). Low-power broadcasters face a deadline in July 2021 to convert to digital, which will end the stations' operations on radio.^[1]

List of stations

See also

• FM broadcasting in the United States
• 87.7 FM
• 87.8 FM
• Pulse 87

References