This is a review of low-power television stations (LPTV) in the United States, transmitting on VHF channel 6, which also operate as radio stations capable of being picked up by many standard FM receivers. These stations are colloquially known as "Franken FMs", a reference to Frankenstein's monster, because TV stations functioning as radio stations had not been envisioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[1] The FCC commonly refers to these stations as "FM6" operations. All of these FM transmissions are authorized for operation on a center frequency of 87.75 MHz.
First devised in 2002, until July 14, 2021 most of these stations employed the original NTSC-M analog TV transmission standard. However, as of that date the FCC required that all TV stations that had not received a waiver had to cease analog transmissions, which meant that only the stations using a modified version of the ATSC 3.0 "NextGen TV" digital standard could still be received by standard FM radios.
On July 20, 2023, an FCC "Report and Order" restricted these operations to only the 13 stations holding Special Temporary Authority (STA) grants as of that date, with no additional authorizations permitted other than WVOA-LD in Westvale, New York,[2] which began FM6 transmissions on December 15, 2023.