Radio Stations by Market

Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 6 September 2026

These are the commercial radio stations you can actually buy in the ten largest United States radio markets, listed strongest first by audience share. Use them to sanity check a proposal: if a station is being sold to you as a market leader, this is where you look first.

Every share below comes from one book, so the markets are comparable with each other. Berk Marketing represents advertisers, not radio stations or media companies, which is why the non-commercial stations are separated out. Several of them beat every buyable station in their market, and a seller quoting a market rank rarely mentions that.

How to read these lists

• AQH share is the percentage of all listening in the market that goes to that station. It is a share of attention, not a headcount, and it is the number the industry ranks on.
• Order is by share, not by reach or by price. The top station in a market is not automatically the right buy. A station ranked twelfth with the right audience composition and a workable rate will usually beat a token presence at the top.
• Non-commercial stations are listed separately because you cannot buy spots on them. Public radio, K-Love and Air1 carry real share in several of these markets and they will not appear on any rate card.
• Shares move every book. A single month is a snapshot. Judge a station on a run of books, not on the one a seller happens to be quoting.

Market rank order follows the Nielsen Audio market ranks used on our top 100 radio markets page. Jump to a market: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Galveston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston.

1. New York

Not buyable in this market: WNYC-FM 93.9 (4.2), WQXR-FM 105.9 (2.9), WPLJ-FM 95.5 K-Love (1.7), WFUV-FM 90.7 (0.8), WAWZ-FM 99.1 Star (0.6), WBGO Jazz 88 (0.5), WNVU-FM 93.5 (0.4) and WARW-FM 96.7 Air1 (0.3).

2. Los Angeles

Not buyable in this market: KPCC-FM 89.3 LAist (3.7), KUSC-FM 91.5 (2.9), KKJZ-FM 88.1 (2.0), KCRW-FM 89.9 (1.9), KKLQ-FM 100.3 K-Love (1.4) and KAIA-FM 95.9 Air1 (0.8).

3. Chicago

Not buyable in this market: WBEZ-FM 91.5 (3.3), WFMT-FM 98.7 (2.5), WCKL-FM 97.9 K-Love (2.3) and WAWE-FM 94.3 Air1 (0.4).

4. Dallas-Fort Worth

Not buyable in this market: KLTY-FM 94.9 K-Love (3.7), KYDA-FM 101.7 Air1 (3.6), KERA-FM 90.1 (2.8), KCBI-FM 90.9 (1.8), KKXT-FM 91.7 (1.5), WRR-FM 101.1 (1.4), KNTU-FM 88.1 (1.0), KAWA-FM 89.7 (0.9) and KFZN-FM 94.5 (0.7). Note that K-Love and Air1 both rank inside what would otherwise be this market’s top five, so the commercial order above looks different from a raw ratings table.

5. Houston-Galveston

Not buyable in this market: KSBJ-FM 89.3 (5.2), KUHF-FM 88.7 (4.1), KTSU-FM 90.9 (1.9), KPFT-FM 90.1 (0.9), KHVU Vida Unida (0.8), KHCB-FM 105.7 (0.6), KLVH-FM 97.1 K-Love (0.5) and KHJK-FM 103.7 Air1 (0.4).

6. San Francisco

Not buyable in this market: KQED-FM 88.5 (10.3, the highest share in the market), KDFC-FM 90.3 (3.5), KUSC-FM 91.5 (1.4), KLVS-FM 107.3 K-Love (1.2), KALW-FM 91.7 (1.0), KCSM Jazz 91 (1.0) and KEXC KEXP Bay Area (0.7). KQED outranks every buyable station here, which is worth knowing before anyone quotes a market leader.

7. Atlanta

Not buyable in this market: WABE-FM 90.1 (5.3), WAKL-FM 106.7 K-Love (2.5), WAIA-FM 104.7 Air1 (2.1), WCLK-FM 91.9 (1.1), WVFJ The Joy FM (0.9) and WRAS-FM 88.5 (0.6).

8. Washington DC

Not buyable in this market: WAMU-FM 88.5 (11.3, the highest share in the market), WGTS-FM 91.9 (5.7), WETA-FM 90.9 (3.1), WAIW-FM 92.5 Air1 (1.0), WLVW-FM 107.3 K-Love (0.9), WPFW-FM 89.3 (0.9) and WCSP C-SPAN Radio (0.2). WAMU outranks every buyable station in the market.

9. Philadelphia

Not buyable in this market: WHYY-FM 90.9 (4.1), WKVP-FM 106.9 K-Love (3.8), WXPN-FM 88.5 (3.2), WRTI-FM 90.1 (1.2) and WYPA-FM 89.5 Air1 (0.2).

10. Boston

Not buyable in this market: WBUR-FM 90.9 (6.8, the highest share in the market and a station high), WCRB-FM 99.5 (4.3), WGBH-FM 89.7 (3.0), WERS-FM 88.9 (1.4), WKVB-FM 107.3 K-Love (0.9) and WNKC-FM 104.9 K-Love (0.2). WBUR outranks every buyable station in the market.

What these numbers do not tell you

Share tells you how much of a market’s listening a station holds. It does not tell you whether the people doing that listening are your customers, what the station will charge you, or whether the schedule you are being offered carries enough weekly frequency to be heard at all. Those three things decide whether a buy works, and none of them appears in a ratings table.

A common pattern in proposals we review: the top two or three stations in a market are quoted, the rate is high because the share is high, and the budget then buys so few spots that nobody hears the campaign more than once. A station ranked lower, bought with real frequency, would have reached the same customer several times for the same money. See what radio advertising costs and local radio advertising for how that arithmetic works.

Source

All shares: Nielsen Audio PPM, July 2026 book (survey period 25 June to 22 July 2026), Persons 6+ AQH share, Monday to Sunday 6am to midnight, as reported by RadioInsight. Nielsen Audio publishes the underlying data. Station formats and branding are the publisher’s descriptors. Where a dial position could not be confirmed against a second source it is marked as not confirmed.

Ratings are re-published monthly, so this page is refreshed on each new book rather than annually.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the highest-rated station in some of these markets not on the buyable list?

Because it is public radio or a listener-supported Christian network, and it does not sell spot advertising. WAMU in Washington, KQED in San Francisco and WBUR in Boston all out-rate every commercial station in their market. That matters when someone tells you their station is number one.

Does a higher share mean a better buy?

No. It means a larger audience and, almost always, a higher rate. Whether it is a better buy depends on whether that audience contains your customers and whether the budget can pay for enough weight on it.

How often do these rankings change?

Every month in the metered markets. Individual stations move a few tenths of a share book to book without anything real having changed. Look at a run of books before drawing a conclusion.

Can I buy any of these stations through Berk Marketing?

Yes. We buy nationally and market by market, and we represent the advertiser, so the recommendation is not shaped by which station is paying us. Send an existing proposal in and it will be read against the points that actually decide it, at no charge.