R.I.P.: Evan Haning, Longtime Broadcaster, WTOP Reporter

Evan Haning ('50-'24)

Evan Haning, whose 50-year radio career included almost a decade as an anchor and reporter at WTOP, has died at the age of 74 after a long battle with cancer.

“He loved working in radio,” said Haning’s daughter Amber. “WTOP was his favorite job he ever had — he talked about it all the time.”

According to a posting on the station website, Haning’s career began well before his stint as a news anchor and reporter at WTOP, from the early 2000s through 2011, and showed his flexibility as a broadcaster.

Born in 1950 in Sydney, Iowa, Haning’s radio career began in 1970, shortly after graduating from Simi Valley High School, in California.

Haning was in Los Angeles for the Boss Radio boom. In 1973, Haning joined KRLA Radio as a disc jockey.

“He came to Washington when he joined WJOK in 1983,” his daughter said. Long before Comedy Central, WJOK was the first all-comedy radio format in the country.

By the mid-1980s, Haning became the production director at WWRC, the talk radio station featuring hosts like Joel A. Spivak, Bob Kwesell, and the morning duo of Bruce Alan and Ed Walker.

Alan, an anchor fixture at WTOP from 1990 through 2022, was saddened to hear of Haning’s passing.

As a general assignment reporter, Haning covered the news of the day in the field. In addition, he anchored newscasts in the studio.