Why are FM radio stations organized the way they are?
I believe the spectrum was allocated this way because the lower the frequency comes on the spectrum, the less power it takes to generate the broadcast. Since FM signals correspond with the number of cycles that station generates on the broadcast spectrum, the lower you go on the radio dial, fewer frequency modulations are required to generate that signal. Picture a sine wave with 92 cycles vs. a sine wave with 106 cycles. Since it takes less power to generate fewer cycles, the FCC reserved the lower frequencies in the FM band for non-profit use; in theory, non-profits will have less money to pay their power bills. Or, they really liked jazz and contemporary Christian music and wanted to make sure both would always have a home. When it comes to the FCC, you never can tell…
