The FM Revolution

When static gave way to stereo and mainstreamed the underground.

I’m fascinated by the way technological advances have changed the way art is produced and delivered throughout history. It is one of the reason’s I got involved with LOOR.TV early on. Art connects people. But tech dev has always been hanging around as the handmaiden in the process. The story of FM radio is one of those stories where advancements in technology gave art to people in new ways.

The advent of FM radio in the United States marked a pivotal shift in the way Americans experienced music. While AM radio had long dominated the airwaves with its broad reach and mass appeal, FM ushered in a new era of high-fidelity sound, diverse programming, and cultural transformation. What began as a technical innovation soon became a cultural revolution, changing not just how music was heard, but what music defined America.

Invented in 1933 by Edwin Howard Armstrong, FM radio offered a cleaner, clearer signal than AM radio, free from static and interference. But corporations with deep pockets had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. As a result, FM remained a fringe technology through the 1940s and 1950s, relegated primarily to classical music and audiophiles. AM was where the hits lived.

But in the 1960s, post war wealth meant high-fidelity audio systems in the average American home. FM radio met the new demand for better audio in a way AM would never be able to. In 1967, the FCC mandated that FM stations could no longer merely simulcast AM content. Stations were forced to develop original programming and forced to find more adventurous audiences.

In 1967 Tom Donahue declared that AM radio was dead and aired the entirety of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on KMPX 106.9 FM in San Francisco. He did more than break a programming rule—he sparked a cultural revolution in radio. Broadcasting from the heart of the counterculture, Donahue defied the Top 40 single-driven model and championed a new kind of listening: immersive, album-oriented, and artist-driven. Playing Sgt. Pepper from start to finish signaled that music was no longer just a product to be sold—it was an art form to be experienced.

The counterculture suddenly found a voice. FM radio became the place for their album-oriented rock. FM stations would play full-length LPs and longer and experimental tracks that AM radio wouldn’t touch. DJs on FM stations had freedom to play whatever they wanted, often spinning entire album sides, deep cuts, underground music, and emerging genres that were ignored by commercial AM stations.

FM radio became a space for niche music. The expanded bandwidth of FM allowed for more stations and, consequently, more specialized formats. Niche genres like jazz, folk, funk, blues, and psychedelic rock found FM homes. College radio stations, broadcasting on FM frequencies, introduced new and independent artists, laying the groundwork for punk, indie rock, and alternative music that would dominate the decades to come.

Beyond sound quality and genre expansion, FM radio changed the cultural relationship between audiences and music. It encouraged listeners to engage with music more deeply—not just as background entertainment, but as art to be explored and discussed. It became a tool for identity, rebellion, and connection, particularly for young Americans navigating the social upheavals of the 1960s and ’70s.

By the mid-1970s, FM radio had surpassed AM in music listenership. It didn’t just deliver music more clearly—it reshaped the idea of radio. Like Cable in the 80s and 90s, you didn’t have to serve the large middle, you could serve a niche audience and build an influential station taking risks on new artists. FM radio transmitted a revolution in music by giving young artists locked out of the system a platform.