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Your source for important information provided by WTOP partners.
The 1975 disappearance of two young sisters from a suburban Maryland shopping mall traumatized the nation’s capital, upending a family and the community’s sense of security. More than 40 years later, the Lyon sisters bodies have never been found, but a man is set to stand trial for their murders.
Tangier Island, Virginia – Population 460 (and shrinking). It’s a quirky, isolated place located smack dab in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Residents drive golf carts and speak their own dialect, while visitors must travel by boat or plane to get there. But the island is vanishing. The reason why depends who you ask. But the fact is it could become uninhabitable in as little as 25 years, wiping an entire community and way of life off the planet. Should the island be saved… and at what cost? It’s a question that has received attention from the highest rungs of power – including The White House.
DMV Download is a weekly news podcast created for Washingtonians. Every Wednesday, host Luke Garrett takes listeners up close and personal to the biggest stories, ideas and names impacting the D.C. region.
Colors is the 2025 winner of the Belva Davis Award, presented by the SAG-AFTRA American Scene Awards. Colors is a frank discussion about race. Join JJ Green, who is black and guests of different racial backgrounds as they discuss the challenges the nation faces as it struggles to heal and make meaningful changes for racial equality. It’s a safe, non-judgmental, apolitical space to discuss race. Join us.
Whether its terrorists, anarchists, cyber criminals or nation states, America has a target on its back. WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green investigates the threats facing the U.S., the people behind them, the agencies fighting them and their impact on Americans.
Host Jason Fraley picks the brains of the most influential filmmakers, musicians and artists of our time in the new podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley!” Based in the nation’s capital, Jason has interviewed just about every famous figure you can imagine: Aretha Franklin, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart, Barry Jenkins, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the list is endless! Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. (Royalty-Free Theme Music: Scott Buckley’s “Clarion”)
What do you get when you take two Washington D.C. natives with 40 years of combined broadcast experience, add a passion for sports and fans, mix in personal relationships with some of the biggest names in sports, season with unique perspectives, and garnish liberally with a sense of humor? The Federal Football Report – prepared with love and ready for you the day after the game!
Living with Multiple Sclerosis is not always easy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live a happy, productive, awesome life with the disease. Join Mike Murillo (who has MS) and Nick Irons (whose dad has MS) for the first podcast for those living with MS AND their families. This is the podcast for you if you have MS or if you love someone with MS and want to stay up to date on the state of the multiple sclerosis world.
Co-Parenting! Sobriety! Divorce! Body image! Self-worth- anything you’d work through in traditional therapy – without the bill!
Erin Washington is an author (From Pain to Purpose: Finding Meaning in the Mess), body image advocate, media personality, former D1 athlete and single mom of two, balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. Erin shares her body image and personal growth journey so other people will feel seen and less alone.
Each week, Erin works through her relationship, parenting and anxiety concerns with a coach or mental health professional so you can get the answers you’re looking for without having to be vulnerable yourself.
Subscribe for your weekly dose of thERINpy!
The top news of the day impacting people living in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Top News from WTOP is produced Monday – Friday and released by 6 a.m. each day. Get the latest news in the DMV from the neighborhood source you trust.
Every headline hides a deeper story. American Nightmares pulls you into the most unsettling true crime cases—one season, one case at a time. These are the crimes that kept detectives awake, shattered families, and left entire communities on edge.Told through raw interviews, gripping investigative detail, and cinematic storytelling, each season reveals how these nightmares unfolded—and the long road to uncovering the truth. You may think you know the story. You don’t.
Season 6 – The Canal Murders
In the early 1990s, a serial killer stalked the canals of Phoenix, Arizona — a violent psychopath whose grisly methods chillingly echoed the macabre signature of Jack the Ripper. Two brutal homicides. A city gripped by fear. And a killer who hid in plain sight for decades while Arizona’s most infamous cold case went unsolved. Now, host Brian Peter Falk is determined to get to the bottom of this twisted tale, digging deep into the evidence, the victims, and the secrets buried beneath the surface. Solving two murders is just the beginning — because the deeper you go, the darker it gets.
Season 5 – Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult
It looked like a quiet small-town neighborhood, defined by manicured lawns and flower gardens. But behind the façade, more than a hundred residents were part of the Zion Society, a secretive cult that hoarded weapons and groomed children for sexual abuse under the control of an unassuming, soft-spoken leader. When a young woman escaped and went to authorities, the truth finally began to unravel.
Season 4 – 22 Hours: A Second Look
Host Megan Cloherty returns for a new season of American Nightmares. In the upcoming season, we revisit the story that launched the series: a D.C. power couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper—held hostage for nearly 24 hours before being murdered inside their own home. Now, 10 years after the crime and 6 years since we first told the story, Season 1 returns with all-new content, fresh interviews, and exclusive updates that shed new light on a case that still resonates today.
Season 3 – Unknown Subject
For nearly a decade, he crept in the shadows, attacking women in the middle of the night — and then vanished. The 1998 murder of a brilliant scientist near Georgetown University marked a terrifying escalation. Investigators had DNA linking him to multiple crimes, but for years, he had no name — only the label “Unknown Subject.” This season uncovers the chilling case of the Potomac River Rapist, and the patrol cop who finally cracked it.
Season 2 – Murder in a Safe Place
In a quiet hospital just outside Washington, D.C., a 50-year-old nurse named Sherry Crandell was raped and murdered inside her workplace — a place that was supposed to be safe. With DNA, fingerprints, and even a witness to the crime, police had evidence — but no suspect. This season revisits the cold case that continues to baffle investigators and devastate a family, more than two decades later.
Season 1 – 22 Hours: An American Nightmare
One of the most shocking crimes in modern American history: a prominent couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper taken hostage and brutally murdered in their Washington, D.C. home. Over the course of 22 horrifying hours, they endured torture and terror before their killers tried to burn the evidence. This award-winning debut season revisits the infamous Mansion Murders, exposing new details and the twisted logic behind a senseless act of violence.
DC sports fans, stay up to date on the Washington Commanders, Nationals, Capitals, Wizards, United and beyond. In the DC Sports Huddle, The WTOP sports staff recaps the week in Washington DC sports and looks ahead to the most important storylines and matchups that sports fans need to know.
Get inside the brains (and hearts) of local founders of some of the most successful business ventures in and around the nation’s capital. What didn’t happen? What did? What would they like a do-over on? What failures and flops led to something better than imagined? What’s their next move? These candid conversations — led by entrepreneur and restaurateur Dan Simons — reveal the highs, lows and in-betweens that come with nurturing an idea and building it into a thriving enterprise. Our mission is to pay it forward to current and aspiring entrepreneurs by spotlighting the unique paths forged by founders who came before them.
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