Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 19 September 2026
Boston
Two full-time sports stations, a heritage all-news AM, and one of the largest public radio audiences in the country that cannot be bought at all. Berk Marketing buys Boston for advertisers and represents no station in it.
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Short answer. Boston is a spoken-word market with a music table on top of it. Magic 106.7, Kiss 108 and WROR lead the ratings, but underneath them 98.5 The Sports Hub, SportsRadio 93.7 WEEI, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 and WRKO together hold close to fifteen percent of listening, and that audience is male, established and responsive to direct offers. Two things shrink the commercial pool: WBUR and WGBH take a share of listening that would put them near the top of the table, and none of it is for sale. The practical entry point is about five thousand dollars a week, and the Boston choice for a considered purchase is usually one of the two sports stations or WBZ, bought properly.
Station by station
Individual station pages for this market are being added to the site. Until then the table below shows every commercial signal that can be bought here, and the full Boston roster lists the rest, including the non-commercial stations that cannot be bought at all.
The market in numbers
Magic and Kiss 108 lead, then the classic hits and hot AC stations, but the two sports signals and the two heritage AMs together reach a larger audience than any single music station.
| Station | Dial | Branding | Format | Owner | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMJX-FM | 106.7 FM | Magic 106.7 | AC | Audacy | 6.5 |
| WXKS-FM | 107.9 FM | Kiss 108 | CHR | iHeartMedia | 6.2 |
| WROR-FM | 105.7 FM | 105.7 WROR | Classic Hits | Beasley | 5.8 |
| WBMX-FM | 104.1 FM | Mix 104.1 | Hot AC | Audacy | 5.6 |
| WZLX-FM | 100.7 FM | 100.7 WZLX | Classic Rock | iHeartMedia | 5.0 |
| WBZ-FM | 98.5 FM | 98.5 The Sports Hub | Sports | Beasley | 4.1 |
| WXRV-FM | 92.5 FM | 92.5 The River | AAA | Northeast Broadcasting | 3.9 |
| WBGB-FM | 103.3 FM | Big 103 | Adult Hits | Audacy | 3.6 |
| WKLB-FM | 102.5 FM | Country 102.5 | Country | Beasley | 3.6 |
| WEEI-FM | 93.7 FM | SportsRadio 93.7 | Sports | Audacy | 3.5 |
Top ten commercial stations by share. Magic 106.7 leads the market at 6.5. The news, talk and sports signals (98.5 The Sports Hub, SportsRadio 93.7, WBZ NewsRadio 1030, WRKO AM 680, Bloomberg 92.9) combine to 14.7, and the Spanish-language stations to 1.1. Source: Nielsen PPM as published on our radio stations by market page, which is updated with each book.
How Boston listens
Two sports stations, and the teams decide which one. The Sports Hub and WEEI split the Patriots, Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox between them, so a Boston sports schedule is chosen by whose season is running and where its games air, not by which station has the higher share on the year. Buying both usually means buying neither properly.
WBZ is the news brand, and it still reaches New England. NewsRadio 1030 is a 50,000 watt signal heard well beyond the metro, with an older, homeowning and loyal audience. For home services, financial, legal, healthcare and insurance offers, it gets more across in fewer spots than any music station, and its reach into New Hampshire and the South Shore is a bonus for a regional advertiser.
Public radio is a large audience you cannot buy. WBUR and WGBH hold a combined share that would put them near the top of the commercial table, and the listeners they take are exactly the educated, affluent ones many advertisers want. The honest Boston plan starts from the commercial share, not the metro population, and reaches that audience through WBZ and the sports stations instead.
The listener is following a story or a conversation, so fewer commercials a day do the job and a spot written to match that delivery carries more information. In Boston that means The Sports Hub or WEEI depending on the season, and WBZ for news.
The listener is half attending, so the message needs repeating, which means weight on one station rather than money spread across four. Magic 106.7, Kiss 108, WROR and Mix 104.1 each reach a large habitual audience that is bought for frequency on one station.
Why format decides frequency, in full, is on the local radio advertising page.
Money
Audacy owns Magic, Mix 104.1 and WEEI, iHeart has Kiss 108, WZLX, WBZ and WRKO, and Beasley holds WROR and The Sports Hub. Each group sells its sports or news audience as part of a package built for its own inventory. We buy the station, negotiate each group against the others, and take remnant inventory where it exists.
The practical entry point for a terrestrial campaign here is about five thousand dollars a week, the same floor as every market we buy, and it needs to run long enough to build frequency rather than a week or two to see what happens. What sets the rate, what moves it and how remnant inventory changes the arithmetic is covered on the radio advertising costs page.
Berk Marketing represents advertisers and holds no Boston inventory. We go to the stations and the groups for availability and price, negotiate each against the others, write and produce the commercial in house, place the schedule and track what it returns by station. Where a station has unsold airtime, we buy it as remnant, typically 40 to 60% below the published rate card, and you are refunded or credited for any spot that does not run.
Fit
Worth knowing first
We work with advertisers who have not already been in contact with a radio station’s sales rep. We are not in the business of taking clients away from stations, and once an advertiser has been quoted directly, our ability to bring remnant pricing on that station is compromised.
The consequence lands on you rather than on us. If Boston is on your list and you have not spoken to anyone yet, that is exactly when this is worth a call.
We will run a competitive monitoring report at no charge and with no obligation. It shows which Boston 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.
Get the ReportQuestions
For a male audience, The Sports Hub or WEEI, chosen by which team season is running. For a considered purchase and an older customer, WBZ NewsRadio 1030. For a broad consumer offer, Magic, Kiss 108 or WROR bought for frequency. We would not name one before hearing what you sell.
The practical minimum for a terrestrial campaign is about five thousand dollars a week, here as elsewhere. Beyond that, the rate depends on the station, the daypart, how long you commit and whether the airtime is bought at rate card or as remnant inventory. How the rate is set and negotiated is covered on the radio advertising costs page.
Usually not. They split the teams, and the audience follows the games. Pick the station carrying the season that matters to your customer and buy it for frequency. Splitting the same money across both is how a campaign ends up heard properly on neither.
The big signals, WBZ especially, are heard across southern New Hampshire and the market is measured to include part of it. If New Hampshire is your customer, say so in the creative and lean on the stations that reach it best.
No. We represent advertisers only and hold no station inventory, so there is no Boston signal we are obliged to recommend.
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