A personal listening system uses the FM broadcast band for transmission and reception. The system includes a base unit and physically separate right- and left-ear listening units. The base unit includes an FM stereo transmitter. Each listening unit demodulates and amplifies the received signal, but the right-ear unit only amplifies the right channel and the left-ear unit only amplifies the left channel. The base unit may be a digital music player, book reader, video player, smart cellular telephone, or any other portable device. The base unit may include a display for displaying the selected FM frequency. The base unit may be a self-contained or integrated unit, or a device that couples to a digital music player, smart cellular telephone or other device to receive the audio signal therefrom. The right- and left-ear listening units may be any type of on-ear, in-ear or around-ear sound delivery devices including earbuds.