Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 31 October 2026
Columbus
A market where Ohio State athletics fill the fall, a sports FM that carries the Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets, and a sprawling metro ringed by I-270. Berk Marketing buys Columbus for advertisers and represents no station in it.
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Short answer. Columbus is an Ohio State market. 97.1 The Fan is the FM flagship of the Ohio State Sports Network and carries the Blue Jackets, and The Fan 2 on 1460 AM shares Ohio State. News Radio 610 WTVN is the news talk leader and 98.9 The Answer is the other talk option. There is no all-news station. On the music side WNCI 97.9, 92.3 WCOL, Sunny 95, QFM96, Mix 107.9 and Power 107.5 are the big signals. The metro sprawls in every direction from downtown. The practical entry point is about five thousand dollars a week.
Station by station
The commercial stations most Columbus plans start from. Formats and owners as of October 2026.
| Station | Dial | Branding | Format | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WTVN-AM | 610 AM | News Radio 610 WTVN | News Talk | iHeartMedia |
| WTOH-FM | 98.9 FM | 98.9 The Answer | Talk | Salem Media |
| WBNS-FM | 97.1 FM | 97.1 The Fan | Sports | Tegna |
| WBNS-AM | 1460 AM | The Fan 2 | Sports | Tegna |
| WNCI-FM | 97.9 FM | WNCI 97.9 | CHR | iHeartMedia |
| WCOL-FM | 92.3 FM | 92.3 WCOL | Country | iHeartMedia |
| WSNY-FM | 94.7 FM | Sunny 95 | AC | Saga Communications |
| WLVQ-FM | 96.3 FM | QFM96 | Classic Rock | Saga Communications |
| WVMX-FM | 107.9 FM | Mix 107.9 | Hot AC | Saga Communications |
| WCKX-FM | 107.5 FM | Power 107.5 | Urban | Urban One |
Stations change formats and owners often, so we confirm every station against the current Nielsen book before a proposal goes out. A plan built for you shows the current audience for each station on it. Our top 100 markets page lists every market we buy.
How Columbus listens
Ohio State fills the fall. 97.1 The Fan and The Fan 2 carry the Ohio State Sports Network, and Buckeyes football dominates local sports listening from August into January. Inventory around those games gets tight, so a fall schedule needs to be placed early.
The Fan also has the Blue Jackets. From the 2026 to 2027 season the Blue Jackets’ radio call is simulcast with the TV broadcast on 97.1 The Fan, which makes the station the sports buy for hockey season too.
A city of license is not a coverage map. Columbus stations are licensed to towns across the region, from Lancaster to Westerville and Delaware, and the metro sprawls well past I-270. A station’s license city does not tell you whether it covers your customers, so we check.
The listener is following a story or a game, so fewer commercials a day do the job. In Columbus that means WTVN for news and talk, and 97.1 The Fan for the Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets.
The listener is half attending, so the message needs repeating, which means weight on one station rather than money spread across four. WNCI, WCOL, Sunny 95 and QFM96 each reach a large habitual audience bought for frequency.
Why format decides frequency, in full, is on the local radio advertising page.
Money
iHeartMedia owns WTVN, WNCI and WCOL, Saga Communications has Sunny 95, QFM96 and Mix 107.9, Tegna holds The Fan, Urban One has Power 107.5, and Salem owns The Answer. Each group prices its stations as 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 Columbus 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 Columbus 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 Columbus 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 considered purchase, WTVN or The Fan bought properly usually does more than a music station. For a broad consumer offer, one music station with enough weight beats several bought lightly.
Ohio State is on 97.1 The Fan and The Fan 2, 1460 AM. The Blue Jackets are on 97.1 The Fan.
Fall, around Ohio State football. Sports inventory sells out early, so a fall plan should be placed well ahead.
Plan on about five thousand dollars a week as the practical entry point for a terrestrial schedule, run long enough to build frequency. The rate on any one Columbus station depends on daypart, season and how much inventory is unsold, and remnant airtime can bring it down considerably. What sets a rate is covered on our radio advertising costs page.
No. Berk Marketing represents advertisers and holds no inventory on any Columbus station. We negotiate with every group on your behalf and are paid to get the schedule right for you, not to fill a station’s airtime.
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Berk Marketing represents advertisers, not radio stations or media companies.
