WMAL Reviews

by TJKiii

Remarkable that this station, the flagship for Chris Plante, seems clueless that its app is crap. The only thing you can count on -- assuming it turns on at all - are the commercials that play when it launches. After that, it's anybody's guess. It frequently shuts off of its own accord. The "play" toggle is useless. I access the shows by opening the website tab and then "listen live"... But even with that workaround, it often shuts off by itself. Frustrating and infuriating. I'd use the radio but I live in Baltimore, just beyond the DC signal, so I have to rely on this thoroughly unreliable piece of junk.

by Cer123123

The updated application runs even hotter than previous version. The application then crashes and/or crashes the system.

by Darnesha7733

On top of the forced opening commercial NOW about every 15 minutes a Samsung Galaxy 9 commercial overtakes WMAL and programming while locking the control button (usually when one of the hosts is on the cusp of something that I am waiting to hear). Often, after this interference is done WMAL has stopped and when I tap the control button to restart I have to listen to Larry’s Zerorez commercial again. Then the cycle starts all over sometimes immediately! Come on this app. I love you guys and listen while I am walking but the frustration level with this issue is becoming untenable.

by Jgijvfyjcdt

WMAL works fine for me however it’s disappointing that we must listen to a commercial every time before WMAL is loaded. This is in addition to the many commercials played during the regular programming. I understand the regular commercials, but feel the extra commercial is totally annoying to the listener. It’s taking advantage since the user has no way to avoid listening to the initial commercial. Also, it’s the same commercial that is very long. Zero Rez will not be a company I ever use! At least make the commercial short.

by Otto Van Varenburg

I use WMAL because I’m outside of WMALs FM range. It used to be pretty decent until they started putting Larry’s hour long Zerorez commercial. Thank God for the mute button in the car until that passes. Not sure why there are any commercials before the player starts since we hear a direct relay of the station. Other times the player just stops because it looses the network connection but the phone didn’t lose its signal. Sometimes the commercials play but afterwards the player doesn’t start up. Please clean up WMAL or just make a basic player for people who want to listen to the streaming audio. No Twitter crap, no minute long commercials, etc... Thank you.

by Karen S D

I LOVE this app....but WMAL is just terrible, so it makes listening a frustrating experience. It drops constantly, and when you restart it a second later, you are forced to listen again to an ad (love you Larry, but don’t need to hear the carpet cleaning ad multiple times an hour as I reboot WMAL ). Listening to Podcasts is even worse...drops constantly, forcing restart. And there is no ability to pause the podcast and come back where you left off. As soon as you even touch the screen, it shuts down and does back to the beginning. Please fix these issues! I want to recommend this station to my out of town relatives, but won’t if this is the only way for to access the shows.

by Zconservative

This application is terrible. this app recently stopped allowing Tuned In Radio and now requires their own app. this app should be ashamed of themselves for stopping a good application so they can use their own worthless app. What is missing: 1) Pause when you get a phone call, 2) backup a few seconds/minutes if you want to hear again something important, 3) the ability to save a session without being there (need to take a meeting during your favorite show) for playback later, 4) screen is horizontal only (really), and 5) all is this so they can give even MORE adds on the screen in addition to what you also hear.
For those who rated it high, they have obviously never used a real network radio app like TUNED IN.
this app, PLEASE open the link back to TUNED IN and get rid of your worthless app. Thank you,

by Rajseattlewa

Started to use WMAL as my other radio app could not find or connect with this app on the internet. Right off the bat WMAL started to have problems remaining connected to the live stream broadcast. App will open up, forcing you to watch their stupid, outdated commercials, then the whole screen goes black making it impossible to control WMAL except to shut it down by deleting it. Crappy piece of software. Usually I want to listen to mornings on the mall but guess I’ll have to get a real radio.

I’m updating my comments. You would think this app would have taken the time to improve their app but no. It’s still flaky, unstable and doesn’t play well with other apps like Facebook. My one star rating still stands.

by The Scrape

WMAL is annoying garbage from a company that clearly does not understand its users. First, now they require you to make an account and login. Never needed it before, shouldn’t need to now. Second, they made the terrible decision to include an auto play ad before WMAL starts. Some stupid game that opens WMAL Store when you try to click to close. This would nit be so bad if WMAL operated consistently and didn’t need to be restarted often, forcing you to tolerate the same annoying and irrelevant ad over and over. Annoying when you are trying to listen to a talk radio station and you end up missing much of the conversation. They just don’t get it. Already looking for another solution and erase this thing. Every time they try to improve it, they just make it worse.

by Kgerh72

App used to be really great. Now commercials every time you start it (even if accidentally closed for just a second). Ad closure button doesn’t always work, which requires cycling closed, and you guessed it, another ad when reopened.

The worst change though is the podcast feature. My drives have a few dead zones, so I liked to download before any longer drives. A couple months ago the download button stopped working. It will flash when you push it, but won’t initiate a download cycle, and no programs appear in the downloads folder. I figured it was some version conflict bug that would get worked out. But here two months later I still can’t download.

Sorry this app - I really liked your station, but since I am out of range for FM transmitter, you discontinued AM, and now your app is cr*p, I guess I will have to find different alternatives. Uninstalling.

by DJ Rizzo

There was a time when this radio station was the powerhouse in Washington DC. Home of the Redskins, the great morning team of Harden and Weaver, the controversial but always entertaining Ken Beatrice, and the incredible music brain of Felix Grant. But FM took over music and the morning zoos came with them. The final blow was when they lost the Redskins. this app had to do something. So (it is my assumption) they looked at what worked in AM radio around the country and saw the right-wing blow hards like Rush were gaining ratings. They jumped on the bandwagon. Now the station is like a poor-man's Fox & Friends: full of bias, misleading opinion presented as information, thinly veiled racism, and now... a crappy app with unimaginative design and poor controls.

If you're a ditto-head who likes this kind of clap-trap talk: get WunderRadio - you can listen to this app and so many more Fox wannabes! Just don't take up the space on your iPhone screen with this junk.

by ViolinMom85

Randomly stops playing any time but the worst is RIGHT iN THE middle of a news or traffic update, and when you try to turn it back on it goes back to that STUPID Larry O’Conner Zero Res commercial that plays EVERY SINGLE TIME I TURN ON WMAL !! Enough already. Seriously WOULD NEVER use Zero Res JUST because of the advertising on this app!!!! Come on. Make your app just PLAY and don’t have it constantly spool or randomly quit. And when it restarts it should just go immediately back to the real- time broadcast. This is enough to make me stop listening to WMAL on my phone, which I normally do every morning. I’ll need to find my news elsewhere because I’ve had enough of Zero ReS!!!! Who cares about Larry’s stupid wine spill ???????

by Anaid43

I used to love WMAL and would have given it at least four stars. But recently it started using hard breaks for commercials. Now the DJs get cut off mid-sentence all the time just so we can hear a commercial. It’s so annoying!!! It’s bad enough we get less than ten minutes in between commercials as it is. Now we have to miss part of the discussion due to hard breaks. And as I write this I’m listening to WMAL ...and they just said “this app is all about the conversation.” Obviously it’s not if you can’t even hear it all. Additionally, what’s with playing old clips out of the blue? Why am I getting a hard break in January to hear tips on Christmas drinking? Or a clip of Larry O’Connell during Mornings on the Mall? Get it together or WMAL is history for me!

by A Critical Yet Satisfied User

iPhone 6 Plus
iOS 11.4.1

Same feedback as most other reviewers: Love the station, but WMAL is very sub-par.

zconservative’s review is spot on, and what’s disappointing is that all the issues people mention from 5 years ago are still there.

- REALLY repetitive ads (Larry talks about zerorez ALL THE TIME). Ads are fine—radio stations need money to operate—but don’t make us wait through the same ad twice if we’ve already seen it within the last half-hour.
- Buttons aren’t active until a few seconds after loading or switching to WMAL
- Touch areas seem badly calibrated/defined
- Audio randomly stops (see note about audio services below)
- When hooked up to car Bluetooth and starting WMAL , the Music app automatically starts playing too. So I’m listening to both at the same time. Can’t get them to separate from one another, which seems to indicate lazy coding piggybacking on the same audio service that Music is using.

App needs an overhaul.

by David Scott Pearce

• TUES, MAY 25, 2021 • HARDWARE: iPhone 11 Max. • SOFTWARE: iOS 14.5.1 • At least this time I can open WMAL , and not have it immediately scram. • Still, WMAL seems incredibly dated, and tragically out of step. • You have a logo that relies on the italic-LCD look of a 1980s-90s clock-radio? COME ON! • The whole app looks bad: Pictures stretched, pop-up ads covering content. • Is it that clunky, old app memes are supposed to appeal to those MAGAs who don’t know how to disengage CAPS LOCK? . • May 23, 2021 • HARDWARE: iPhone 11 Max. • SOFTWARE: iOS 14.4. • Can’t open WMAL at all. Pop up box says something about not being able to connect to internet, then whole app just crashes & scrams. WMAL must need a whole digital refresh—especially the ridiculous logo, which looks like it came airmailed from the 1990s!

by Nickname Choices

WMAL fails to load, fails to buffer, and fails to play when it decides it wants to do so. You send a message to tech support using their in-app contact with your device, OS, streaming strength (up & down), and a plethora of additional info - only to receive a message in 1-2 weeks asking you for all the info you already provided them.

Specifically, WMAL refuses to work on most Saturdays & Sundays, and after 1800 EST on many weekdays. It just spins and spins. In short, it gets stuck on stupid leaving you the listener to just say F-it and toss your phone across the shop.

HOWEVER, there is no other way I am aware of to listen to this app so I must endure an outright sh1tty app because I am not aware of any other.

UPDATE - Dec 2018, you now have to join FakeBook, which I will never do, or sign up for a this app account (so they can jump on the spam my email with junk train) in order to use their app. I have deleted their app now and will see if I heart radio still has this app.

by Erik From DC

I only have a AM/FM tuner in my car so online streaming is my only option for radio listenIng. Iheart radio is the standard for apps like this. WMAL worked ok up until a week ago. Ok being defined as requiring a force close/crash to bring it up after closing it to work on something else.....it doesn't run in the background. A week ago being defined as it hasn't worked for over a week.

Hopefully airkast gets their act together and builds a better functioning and more stable app.

by Bgordon72

WMAL is great! I can listen to my favorite hosts wherever I go. Love being able to tune in to Bongino and Chris Plante whenever and wherever. It even has all the podcasts!

by DLBowers63

I have been looking around WMAL store for sometime for a free radio app where I can listen to some of my favorite stations.
This one happens to be my #1 radio station.
YES, I am Conservative.
But that does not sway me to rate this as good or bad. This is one of the first media apps I can truly say that REALLY works...the 1st time, with very clear audio quality!!!

And as some of you have said, if you don't like what this particular station broadcasts, then don't listen to it, that is why we STILL live in a FREE Nation...you DO have a choice. It does make me scratch my head in wonder as to WHY anybody would get WMAL in the first place if they don't like Conservative talk radio.
Just my 2 cents question.
No answers needed. I already know.

by VFB2END

I downloaded WMAL and rating WMAL and how it performs is really the only issue. I rate WMAL very highly. Easy to use and the sound quality is very good. Better then listening to the same station streamed on my mac. So from an app standpoint it is very good. Like the previous user if you don't like the content then don't listen, but don't negatively rate WMAL itself, as it works just fine.

by 😄🐬

Constantly quitting, buffering, even with 4 bars on my phone.

by Ruredred

Only the commercials play and nothing else, don't waste your time!

by Hhggeerrdd

Play button to listen to live shows no longer works. Don’t waste your time

by Waterdogannie

Don’t bother. Had WMAL for years and loved that I could listen to all the shows. Now, all I get is one commercial after another. No shows at all. Just commercials.

by VAhorsevet

Too many commercials, too many dead air interruptions. Do not downliad until it has a major upgrade.😩

by Terrainguy

Your app used to work fine in environments outside of WiFi coverage. That’s no longer the case. The play button remains frozen till your are in a WiFi zone, then WMAL works. I can no longer listen to this app radio on my walks.