WYKR-FM (101.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve

Haverhill, New Hampshire Haverhill is a town and the seat of Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,585 at the 2020 census. Haverhill includes the villages of Woodsville, Pike, and North Haverhill, the historic town center at Haverhill Corn ...

. It airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format. WYKR-FM's programming is also heard on daytime-only station WTWN (1100 AM) and

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W286DE (105.1) in Wells River, Vermont. Both WYKR-FM and WTWN are owned by Joshua Smith's Yankee Kingdom Media Corp. WYKR began broadcasting in 1976 over the AM station in Wells River, which operated at 1490 kHz until 1987. WYKR-FM was added in 1990. WYKR AM became WTWN in 1999, and aired

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

programming during the 2000s before returning to the WYKR-FM

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 Puffer family owned the stations from 1976 until 2023, when they were acquired by Yankee Kingdom Media Corp.

History

WYKR went on the air October 3, 1976, under the ownership of Eugene and Harold Puffer,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

the Puffer Brothers. The station's studios were located in the former Wells River Graded School. Harold Puffer left the station in 1981 to return to the insurance business; the following year, Eugene Puffer—who had previously worked at

WCVR WCVR (1320 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a hybrid country music format to Randolph, Vermont, United States. Established in 1968, the station is owned by Robert and John Landry, through licensee Sugar River Media. History WCVR went on th ...

in Randolph—transferred WYKR's license to a new company, Puffer Broadcasting. WYKR was a 1,000-watt station at 1490 kHz until 1987, when it moved to 1100 kHz and boosted power to 5,000 watts. In the late 1980s, Puffer Broadcasting obtained a

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 ...

for an FM station at 101.3 MHz, with the intent of simulcasting WYKR's country music programming. The new station was assigned the WYKR-FM

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 ...

by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on November 10, 1988, and went on the air February 19, 1990. The AM station changed its call sign from WYKR to WTWN, for "Twin State", on April 16, 1999; by June 2000, WTWN was a

station. Puffer Broadcasting sold WYKR-FM and WTWN to Joshua Smith, through his Yankee Kingdom Media Corp., for $125,000 in 2023; the stations' towers, which the Puffers had separately held through Mill Street Enterprises, were also concurrently acquired by Smith.

Translator

References

External links

* YKR-FM Country radio stations in the United States Haverhill, New Hampshire Radio stations established in 1990 1990 establishments in New Hampshire {{NewHampshire-radio-station-stub