WGIR (610

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

"News Radio 610") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

station in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

, with a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WGIR's studios and offices are on Foundry Street in Manchester. Much of the programming and news, but not the commercials, can be heard on co-owned WQSO 96.7 MHz in Rochester, serving the New Hampshire Seacoast. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on Stark Lane in Manchester, near Interstate 293 Exit 7.Radio-Locator.com/WGIR-AM
/ref> WGIR is powered at 5,000 watts by day; to avoid interfering with other stations on

AM 610 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 610 kHz: The Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by ...

, it reduces power at night to 1,000 watts. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

at all times.

Programming

Weekdays begin with a local news and interview show, "New Hampshire Today", hosted by Chris Ryan, also heard on several other stations in the state. The rest of the schedule consists of nationally syndicated shows, including ''

The Glenn Beck Program ''Glenn'' (previously titled ''The Glenn Beck Program'') is a news talk and political opinion show on TheBlaze hosted by Glenn Beck. It is produced and recorded at TheBlaze studios in Dallas, TX. The show originally ran on CNN Headline News ...

'', '' The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show'', ''

The Sean Hannity Show ''The Sean Hannity Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity. The program is broadcast live every weekday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The show is produced in the New York City studios of radio station WOR and is transmitt ...

'', '' The Dave Ramsey Show'', ''Ground Zero Radio with

Clyde Lewis Clyde Lewis (born 25 September 1997) is an Australian competitive swimmer. Lewis won the gold medal in the 400 metre individual medley at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He also won the gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley at the 2015 ...

'', ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...

with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...

'' and '' This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal''. Weekend feature programs on money, health, law, technology and the ''Paul Parent Garden Club'', as well as best-of editions of weekday programming. Some weekend shows are paid

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

. Syndicated weekend shows include ''The Tech Guy with

Leo Laporte Leo Laporte (; born November 29, 1956) is the former host of ''The Tech Guy'' weekly radio show and founder of TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology a ...

'', ''Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham'' and ''Somewhere in Time with

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program '' Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds ...

''. Most hours begin with world and national news from

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

, followed by New Hampshire news from local reporters. WGIR is the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team. Additionally, WGIR is co-flagship of the Wildcat Sports Network along with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s 930 WPKX and 96.7 WQSO. The network airs

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

and basketball from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

History

Early years

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on October 2, 1941, as WMUR, owned by former New Hampshire Governor Francis P. Murphy. WMUR was an

NBC Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Co ...

affiliate. WMUR carried the Blue Network line up of dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

". The Blue Network later became ABC Radio. An FM sister station on 95.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

was added on December 21, 1947, which largely

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

the AM station. Plans for an FM station had been in place for seven years. However, few people owned FM radios at the time and management doubted the FM station would ever be profitable. WMUR-FM was shut down December 27, 1950. The frequency is now occupied by

WZID WZID (95.7 FM) is a commercial radio station with an adult contemporary format. WZID is owned by Saga Communications with studios on Commercial Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. In the evening, it carries the nationally syndicated call-in ...

WMUR-TV

A few years later, Murphy decided to apply for a television station on Channel 9. Murphy had to compete against applications from

WFEA WFEA (1370 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Manchester, New Hampshire, airing a talk radio format. It is owned and operated by Saga Communications of New England LLC, which also owns 95.7 WZID and 96.5 WMLL. WFEA's studios and office ...

, WKBR (now WGAM), and the '' Manchester Union-Leader'', the local daily newspaper headed by William Loeb III. Murphy won the

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

, and

WMUR-TV WMUR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate to most of New Hampshire. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on ...

signed on March 28, 1954. Because WMUR radio was an ABC affiliate, WMUR-TV picked up programming from the ABC Television Network. WMUR and WMUR-TV broadcast from a Victorian-style house on Elm Street in Manchester.

Change in ownership

Murphy decided to sell the WMUR stations in the mid-1950s, with Madeleine M. Girolimon acquiring WMUR radio for $150,000 in 1956 and changing the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

to the current WGIR. (The WMUR call letters remain on channel 9, which stayed under Murphy's ownership until a few months after his death in 1958.) Girolimon dropped the ABC affiliation soon after taking over. WGIR picked up CBS Radio programming in 1957. Girolimon sold WGIR to Knight Quality Stations in 1961. Around the same time, the station switched its network affiliation to

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

. Under Knight, the station decided to reenter FM broadcasting, and WGIR-FM at 101.1 MHz signed on June 5, 1963. It largely simulcast the AM station in its early years. In 1977, the simulcast ended as WGIR-FM switched to a

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

format.

Evolving to talk

Through the 1960s and 1970s, WGIR had a full service, middle of the road (MOR) format, mixed with some talk and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

programming. By the early 1980s, the station evolved its music programming to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

, while adding more talk shows. On December 31, 1984, WGIR ended all remaining music programming to become a full-time news/talk station. In 1990, the station swapped affiliations with WFEA and returned to ABC News Radio. Knight Quality Stations announced the sale of its eight New England radio stations, including WGIR, to Capstar Broadcasting Partners in April 1997; upon assuming control in January 1998, the stations were operated by Capstar's Atlantic Star Communications subsidiary. That September, Capstar rebranded the station as the "Action News Network". In addition to broadcasting on AM 610, WGIR supplied programming to Seacoast radio stations 930 WZNN (renamed WGIN) and 1540 WMYF (renamed WGIP). WGIR switched networks again, this time dropping ABC and returning to NBC Radio. NBC radio news was subsequently phased out by

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

in favor of

CNN Radio Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news ...

iHeart ownership

Capstar and Chancellor Media announced in August 1998 that they would merge ( Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies); upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc. AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999, and completed in August 2000. For a time, Clear Channel added WGIR programming to a fourth station,

WTSL WTSL (1400 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. It airs an adult hits radio format and serves the Lebanon-Hanover- White River Junction area. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio, LLC. ...

1400 AM in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. WGIR picked up Fox News Radio for its news network in the mid-2000s after Clear Channel signed a larger agreement with the service. WGIP left the network in 2009, after it was placed in the Aloha Station Trust and sold off due to the privatization of Clear Channel; it became classic hits-formatted WXEX, and is now

K-Love K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

station WPKC. WGIN also stopped carrying WGIR programming in April 2011, switching to sports programming. It became WPKX in February 2012. Most of WGIR's programming and news remains available on the Seacoast through sister station WQSO (96.7 FM).

References

External links

* {{Authority control GIR News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1941 Manchester, New Hampshire IHeartMedia radio stations 1941 establishments in New Hampshire