“Life is nothing but change. We are young. We are older. We’re awakened by new love and stricken by its end. We are naïve. We are wizened. We plan. Then we meander. And all of it shapes us.”
That’s how the afternoon co-anchor at the top-billing radio station in the U.S. began her goodbye letter to colleagues and friends, as Hillary Howard will be leaving Hubbard Broadcasting‘s WTOP News in Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 2.
Howard can be heard on WTOP, which uses a network of stations across the National Capital Region including WTOP-FM 103.5, from 2pm-7pm.
“After 18 years at WTOP, I’m remodeling my life,” Howard explained. “It’s a work in-progress born of hunger for new experiences and learning. I can’t wait to see where it leads.”
But, Howard added, her decision is “also born of timing,” as WTOP “is making a change that allows me the rare opportunity to pursue unexplored avenues.”
On Twitter, she noted that it was “management’s decision” for Howard to depart WTOP News; RBR+TVBR has reached out to WTOP News for comment. It is believed Howard’s co-anchor, Shawn Anderson, will remain in the 2-7pm slot.
Howard is also the host of It’s Academic, the longest-running high school quiz show in the U.S. It shifted from WRC-4 in Washington, D.C., to PBS Member station WETA with the 2022-2023 season. She’s been at the helm of that program since fall 2011.
Howard began her career in radio, serving as a production assistant for the RKO Radio Network between 1982 and 1984 while attending New York University. From 1983-1986, she was a production assistant at WINS-AM in New York.
After that role, she shifted to reporting while handling weather coverage for the former WTZA-62 in Kingston, N.Y., and then took a job as a report and weekend weathercaster at WAVY-10 in Norfolk. In 1989, she would become a reporter and weekend anchor for WTTG-5 in Washington, D.C.
At WTTG, her career would flourish, and she spent a decade at the FOX station. In 2000, she jumped to Gannett (now TEGNA)-owned WUSA9 as a reporter and weathercaster, spending four years at the CBS affiliate. In November 2004, Howard returned to radio — a move that was widely covered, as it helped bring renewed energy to WTOP ahead of its 2006 shift of its primary signal from 1500 kHz to 103.5 MHz.
Howard’s post-2011 career achievements would have not been possible had it not been for successful brain surgery, after a November 2010 fall and subsequent head injury led to a brain scan which revealed a meningioma tumor in her brain. “Thankfully it was noncancerous and not massive,” she tells RBR+TVBR.
Howard, who is married to retired WUSA9 reporter Dave Statter, shared in her letter, “Wherever those roads lead, each of you has played a role in taking me there. I have deeply enjoyed sharing your joys, journeys, successes, sadnesses, and ridiculously irreverent humor. I’ve loved our universal adrenaline rush during big stories, the eye-rolling over impossibly bizarre and unfathomable events and the collective grief over things we hoped never to report. The world is changing. As is our industry. And each brings its own challenge. But, working with a team that laughs as easily as it offers shoulders and open arms makes it easier.”
On Twitter, she added, “Thanks to all you @WTOP listeners who’ve anonymously been a part of my life. While I don’t know your names, your presence was a meaningful part of my day. I’ll miss talking to you.”
Howard’s departure from WTOP follows the November 2022 announcement that eight station staff members agreed to Voluntary Separation Program offers as part of a cost-cutting initiative at WTOP News.
Those departure came even as WTOP was once again the top billing radio station in 2021. BIA estimated that WTOP News pulled $70 million in revenues in 2021, up 12.9% from $62 million in 2020. It is a No. 1 billing streak that dates to 2014. According to BIA it billed $69 million in 2022.
Editor’s Note: The original version of this story contained erroneous archival information pertaining to Howard’s early career. RBR+TVBR has confirmed that Howard’s early career included a role as a weathercaster and reporter for Howard French-owned independent WTZA-62 in Kingston, N.Y., in the 1980s. However, she did not use the surname “Van Benschoten” as erroneously noted in previous versions of this story and in other archived articles, which have now been corrected.
