FM broadcasting
radio broadcasting using frequency modulation
FM broadcasting is a radio broadcasting method that uses frequency modulation (FM) transmissions. In November 1919, Hans Idzerda began broadcasts, using narrow-band FM, over station PCGG, located at The Hague in the Netherlands. However, most early broadcasting stations instead employed Amplitude Modulation (AM) transmissions.
In 1933, American engineer Edwin Armstrong began development of wide-band FM. This offered higher fidelity—more accurate reproduction of the original program sound—than other analog broadcasting techniques, such as AM broadcasting. It is also less susceptible to common forms of interference, having less static and popping sounds than are often heard on AM broadcasts.
FM radio stations are usually assigned to transmit on very high frequency (VHF) radio frequencies.
Broadcast bands
Throughout the world, the FM broadcast band falls within the VHF part of the radio spectrum. Usually 87.0 to 108.0 MHz is used, or some portion of it, with few exceptions:
87.0 to 87.5 is not available in ITU region 1 (Africa, Europe and Russia).
In the former Soviet republics, and some former Eastern Bloc countries, the older 65.8–74 MHz band is also used. Assigned frequencies are at intervals of 30 kHz.
The public source identifies “FM broadcasting” as radio broadcasting using frequency modulation. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around broadcasting, radio and using.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1368380. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1919 and 1933.
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This entry incorporates text from “FM broadcasting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.