Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 26 September 2026
Washington DC
The most news-driven radio market in America, with one station holding a tenth of all listening and an audience that reads, votes and earns above the national average. Berk Marketing buys Washington for advertisers and represents no station in it.
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Short answer. Washington is WTOP and then everyone else. The all-news station holds more than ten percent of listening, nearly double the next signal, and is regularly reported as one of the highest billing radio stations in the country for a reason: its audience is affluent, engrossed, commuting and reachable with fewer spots than any music schedule needs. Below it the market is spread across iHeart’s music cluster, the urban formats and a sports station. The practical entry point is about five thousand dollars a week, and for any considered purchase the first question in Washington is whether you can get onto WTOP at a price that makes sense, and what to do if you cannot.
Station by station
These pages cover what each one costs to buy, who is actually listening, and how the schedule should be built for that format.
The market in numbers
WTOP leads at over ten percent. WHUR, WASH-FM and DC101 follow in a cluster around five and a half, and the rest of the top ten are within two points of each other.
| Station | Dial | Branding | Format | Owner | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WTOP-FM | 103.5 FM | WTOP Radio | News | Hubbard | 10.3 |
| WHUR-FM | 96.3 FM | 96.3 WHUR | Adult R&B | Howard University | 5.6 |
| WASH-FM | 97.1 FM | 97.1 WASH-FM | AC | iHeartMedia | 5.5 |
| WWDC-FM | 101.1 FM | DC101 | Alternative | iHeartMedia | 5.5 |
| WBIG-FM | 100.3 FM | Big 100 | Classic Rock | iHeartMedia | 4.1 |
| WIHT-FM | 99.5 FM | Hot 99.5 | CHR | iHeartMedia | 3.8 |
| WIAD-FM | 94.7 FM | 94.7 The Drive | Classic Hits | Audacy | 2.8 |
| WMMJ-FM | 102.3 and 92.7 FM | Majic | Adult R&B | Urban One | 2.5 |
| WPGC-FM | 95.5 FM | WPGC 95.5 | Hip Hop and R&B | Audacy | 2.5 |
| WMZQ-FM | 98.7 FM | 98.7 WMZQ | Country | iHeartMedia | 2.4 |
Top ten commercial stations by share. WTOP Radio leads the market at 10.3. The news, talk and sports signals (WTOP Radio, 106-7 The Fan, Bloomberg 99.1, The Team) combine to 12.8, and the Spanish-language stations to 4.3. Source: Nielsen PPM as published on our radio stations by market page, which is updated with each book.
How Washington listens
WTOP is a mass medium here, not a niche. In most markets the news station is a specialist buy. In Washington it is the market leader by a wide margin, with a federal, professional and contracting workforce that listens through long commutes on the Beltway, I-66 and I-95. For an advertiser whose customer needs information before buying, that audience is the whole reason to buy the market.
The audience is unusually affluent and unusually skeptical. Washington listeners have high household incomes and a professional habit of checking claims. Creative that overpromises, or that leans on a discount rather than a reason, does worse here than in almost any other market. Spots that state a fact, name a credential and make a clear offer do well.
Sports is one station and it is seasonal. 106.7 The Fan carries the male audience, and its value moves with the Commanders, the Nationals and the Capitals. Outside a team season, the same budget usually does more on WTOP or one of the big music stations.
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 Washington that means WTOP first, and 106.7 The Fan for a male audience in season.
The listener is half attending, so the message needs repeating, which means weight on one station rather than money spread across four. WASH-FM, DC101, Big 100 and Hot 99.5 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
Hubbard owns WTOP and prices it accordingly. iHeartMedia holds most of the music (WASH-FM, DC101, Big 100, Hot 99.5 and WMZQ), Audacy has The Drive, WPGC, El Zol and The Fan, and Urban One and Howard University hold the urban formats. The groups sell packages; WTOP largely does not need to. We buy the station, negotiate each group against the others, and are candid about when the inventory you want is not available at a price that works.
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 Washington DC 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 Washington DC 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 Washington DC 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, WTOP, and by a wide margin, because no other station reaches an engrossed, affluent audience of that size here. For a broad consumer offer, one of the iHeart music stations or the urban formats bought for frequency. For a male audience in season, 106.7 The Fan. 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. WTOP is one of the most expensive stations in the country at rate card and rarely short of demand, so negotiation and timing matter. How the rate is set is covered on the radio advertising costs page.
Yes. The Washington market includes the District, Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland, and every major signal covers all of it. You pay for all of it too, which is why the creative should name the area you serve.
Professional services, legal, financial, healthcare, home services and anything where the customer wants a reason rather than a discount. The audience is affluent and skeptical, and spots that state a fact and make a clear offer outperform hype.
No. We represent advertisers only and hold no station inventory, so there is no Washington signal we are obliged to recommend.
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