Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 16 September 2026
Philadelphia · 97.5 The Fanatic
97.5 The Fanatic is a sports station in Philadelphia, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. Berk Marketing buys it for advertisers and represents no station in this market.
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Short answer. 97.5 The Fanatic is WPEN on 97.5 FM, a sports station serving Philadelphia. Because of that format it takes fewer commercials a day to reach a listener than a music station in the same market does. The practical entry point for a schedule in a market this size is around five thousand dollars a week, and most advertisers should be buying it on remnant, which is typically 40 to 60% off the published rate card. What decides whether the buy works is not how many spots you run, it is whether the schedule was built for the way people actually listen to this station.
The argument, made literally
Most people who tell you sports radio works differently are repeating something they read. This is the version where the person saying it spent years selling airtime across nine formats before he ever bought a spot for an advertiser, so he knows exactly what a station seller can and cannot do.
That matters on a station like WPEN for one specific reason. This format sells a very different listening state from music radio, and the schedule that suits one will waste money on the other. Knowing which is which is not a theory here, it is a job he did.
The full career, nine formats and a dozen stations, on air and in sales, before ever representing an advertiser.
The idea that changes a schedule
A sports listener is among the most engaged audiences in radio. They are following an argument about their team, and they come back to the same shows at the same times. Attention is high and habit is strong, which is a rare combination. Fewer commercials a day will do the job than a music station needs, and a read that sounds like it belongs in the conversation outperforms a produced spot.
The listener is tuned in but only half attending. It means considerably more frequency is needed before a message penetrates. A schedule built for 97.5 The Fanatic will look thin on a music station, and a schedule built for a music station will overspend here.
This is the single most common way a Philadelphia buy goes wrong. An advertiser is sold the same weight across a talk or sports station and three music stations, because the plan was built from a budget rather than from how each station is actually heard.
Before you sign anything
WPEN’s rate card is an opening position, not a price. What actually decides what you pay:
Morning and afternoon drive are the most contested inventory in any market. What sits either side of your spot matters more on a sports station than on music, because the listener is paying attention to what is around it.
Demand moves week to week. The same schedule quoted in two different weeks is not the same negotiation, and a rate that was unavailable in one month can be available in the next.
Sixty seconds often outperforms thirty on this format, because it supports a longer conversational read. That is a creative decision that changes the media cost, so it belongs in the conversation before the buy rather than after.
This one is not about price at all, and it is the one advertisers do not see coming. See below.
The rule that costs advertisers the most
If you contact WPEN directly and a seller quotes you a rate, that quote follows you. Once a station has your name against a number, an agency coming in behind you has very little room to negotiate on your behalf, and in many cases we will not be able to represent you on that station at all.
There is nothing improper about it, it is simply how station credit and account assignment work. It is also completely avoidable, and it costs nothing to avoid. One call before you make any other call is the whole of it.
Berk Marketing represents advertisers. It owns no stations, sells no inventory and is paid by the advertiser, not by Beasley Broadcast Group. The station list on any plan starts from who reaches your customer, not from who is paying us.
We will run a competitive monitoring report at no charge and with no obligation. It shows which stations your competitors are on, at what times of day, how many spots, and it includes the actual audio of their commercials.
In many cases nothing shows up at all, and that is worth knowing too. You have to start by knowing what others are doing.
Get the ReportThe way most advertisers should buy this station
A commercial break with an unsold unit in it earns the station nothing. Stations would far rather sell that unit quietly and cheaply than let it run empty, and that unsold inventory is what remnant buying is. It is not a lesser class of airtime. It is the same station and the same dayparts that full-rate advertisers buy, priced differently because you are flexible about exactly when your spot lands. In practice that is typically 40 to 60% off the published rate card.
The budget is placed before anything airs. That is what buys the access to the discounted inventory in the first place.
We aim at Monday to Friday, 6am to 7pm, which is the part of the day worth having on a station like this. Weekends and evenings are available too. Then we track what actually clears.
The station reports back. If a spot was preempted, you do not pay for it. It is refunded or carried into the next flight, your choice.
That last point is the part advertisers usually miss. The exposure on remnant is uncertain, the money is not. You are never billed for a spot that did not run.
You cannot know your exact airtimes in advance. Remnant is placed on the fly, and if the station sells that unit at full rate at the last minute, yours is the one that moves. You get a post log afterwards showing exactly when everything aired, so nothing about it is hidden. What you are trading is certainty of placement, and in return you buy considerably more weight for the same money.
You need fixed dates and times, your offer expires on a specific day, or you are tied to an event. Anything genuinely time-dependent should be bought at rate rather than on remnant, and we will tell you that rather than sell you a schedule that cannot deliver what you need.
Fit
You sell to men who make household decisions, and your offer benefits from repetition against a habitual audience. Automotive, home services, legal, financial, sports betting adjacent categories and direct response all tend to work on a sports station, and a host read that sounds like part of the show outperforms a polished spot.
Your audience skews heavily female, your offer needs a visual, or your business cannot serve the whole coverage area. Sports inventory also spikes in price around a winning season, so a schedule built in a quiet month is not the same buy as one built in a playoff run. If the reach is wider than your business can serve, a smaller station in this market will do more for the same money and we will say so.
Questions
There is no single answer and anyone who gives you one without asking questions is guessing. The rate depends on daypart, length, how many weeks you run and what inventory is unsold when you buy. The practical entry point in a market this size is around five thousand dollars a week. Below that the frequency is usually too thin to be heard. Bought on remnant, the same weight typically costs 40 to 60% less than the published rate card.
On a rate card buy, yes, within what is available. On a remnant buy, no. Remnant spots are placed on the fly and you receive a post log afterwards showing when everything aired. That flexibility is precisely what you are being paid for in the rate, so if fixed times matter to your offer, say so early and we will price it the other way.
You do not pay for it. Remnant inventory is preemptible by definition, so if the station sells that unit at full rate your spot moves. The station reports back, and anything that did not run is refunded or credited into the next flight. The uncertainty is about exposure, never about money.
It depends far more on your message than your budget. If your offer needs explaining, this format gives you a listener who will actually hear the explanation, and it takes fewer spots to do it. If your offer is simple and visual and aimed at a younger audience, a music station with a much heavier schedule will serve you better. The mistake is buying both with the same weight.
No. Berk Marketing represents advertisers only and holds no station or network representation anywhere. That is the reason a plan can recommend against this station when another one suits you better, and the reason it is worth calling before a station quotes you.
Tell us before anything else. Depending on how far it went we may still be able to work with you, but a direct quote already on record narrows what any agency can negotiate. It is the single most expensive thing an advertiser does without realizing it.
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