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WMUR-TV
Manchester, New Hampshire
Branding	WMUR 9 News 9
Slogan	No One Covers New Hampshire Like We Do
Channels	Analog: 9 (VHF) Digital: 59 (UHF), 9 (post 2009)
Translators	27 W27BL Berlin 29 WMUR-LP Littleton 38 W38CB Littleton
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Hearst-Argyle Television (Hearst-Argyle Properties, INC)
Founded	March 1, 1954
Call letters meaning	Gov. Francis P. Murphy, founder
Sister station(s)	WPTZ WNNE WCVB-TV
Former affiliations	FOX (WMUR-LP and W27BL only, 1990s-late 2001)
Transmitter Power	282 kW (analog) 537 kW (digital)
Height	314 m (analog) 305 m (digital)
Facility ID	73292
Transmitter Coordinates	42°58′59″N, 71°35′19″W
Website	wmur.com

WMUR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of New Hampshire. Licensed to Manchester, the station broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 9 and a digital signal on UHF channel 59. WMUR's transmitter is located on Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. Owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, the station has studios that are located on South Commercial Street in Downtown Manchester.

Several parts of WMUR's programming lineup are similar to that of sister station WCVB-TV, Boston's ABC affiliate, as both stations share some syndicated programs. WMUR airs a localized version of Chronicle, WCVB's longtime signature program.

Along with WMUR and WCVB, Hearst-Argyle also owns NBC affiliate WNNE. That station is based in White River Junction (VT) and serves as a semi-satellite of WPTZ (another NBC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle). As a result of WNNE sharing its coverage area in New Hampshire with WMUR, WNNE's website features news stories and video from WMUR.

During election seasons, WMUR is well-known for organizing and producing candidate debates for ABC News, as well as CNN, before the first United States presidential primary.

Contents 1 History 2 New Hampshire Network Affiliates 3 Outlying Transmitters 4 News Operation 5 News Team 6 Logos 7 External links

WMUR-TV was established by former New Hampshire governor Francis P. Murphy on March 1, 1954. It was the first television station in the state and broadcasted daily newscasts, local game shows, and movies. The station was sold to Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting in 1959 following Murphy's death a year earlier. In the 1970s, one of its local programs was the children's weekday strip known as The Uncle Gus Show. Unlike Boston's astronaut "Major Mudd" or the widely franchised "Bozo", host "Uncle Gus" wore no costume except an angler's hat.

In July of 1981 (following Richard Eaton's death) WMUR was sold to Birney Imes Jr., a Columbus, Mississippi businessman who also owned that city's WCBI-TV as well as WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Under the ownership of Imes, he made WMUR a major influence in New Hampshire by upgrading its facilities and news department. In September of 1987, the station moved from its original studios on Elm Street in Manchester to 50 Phillippe Cote Street in the historic Millyard area of the city. Then, in 1995, WMUR purchased land and a building at their current location of 100 South Commercial Street. This building was rebuilt as a state-of-the-art broadcast center with 80,000 square feet available. The station went on the air from this new location in January of 1996. WMUR subleased their old building to CNN for their coverage of the New Hampshire Primary.

In November of 1998, WMUR's digital signal began broadcasting on UHF channel 59. In December of 2000, Imes Communications sold the station to Emmis Communications. Three months later, Emmis traded WMUR to Hearst-Argyle Television for that company's three radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona: KTAR-AM, KMVP and KKLT. In 2004, the station celebrated 50 years of broadcasting. On September 23, 2005, WMUR became available on satellite via DirecTV in the North Country region of New Hampshire (Coos, Carroll, Grafton, and Sullivan Counties).

Manchester is about 45 miles north from Boston while Concord is about 60 miles. Boston's VHF stations have grade A signals in Manchester and Grade B signals in Concord while the UHF stations have grade B signals in Manchester but spotty signals in Concord. It was once thought that Southern New Hampshire could break away from Boston and become its own market. If the sub-market were to break away from Boston, it would rank in the top 100 of all U.S. television markets. However, CBS' ownership of WBZ-TV makes this unlikely as it could dilute that station's ad revenue.

At the start of 1988, the sub-market had WMUR and PBS affiliate WENH. On February 1, 1988, an independent station based in Concord, WNHT, became Southern New Hampshire's first CBS affiliate and began to produce local newscasts. WNHT lost the affiliation and stopped broadcasting on March 31, 1989 as a result of low viewership and ratings. There has not been a CBS affiliate based in the state since then. In the early-1990s, WBZ-TV (which is now the CBS affiliate for parts of Southern New Hampshire within the Boston market) operated a news bureau in Manchester, which was re-established on Elm Street in November 2006. When WNHT signed off, WMUR and WENH remained the only network affiliated stations again until the creation of MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006. On that date, another independent station, WZMY-TV (formerly WNDS) based in Derry, became the Southern New Hampshire and Boston affiliate for MyNetworkTV.

There has never been an NBC affiliate based in the state. However, WNNE has (since 1978), broadcasted NBC programming into parts of western New Hampshire from just across the state line in Vermont. Much of this area is considered part of the Burlington / Plattsburgh market although WMUR is still available. The rest of the state gets its NBC affiliates from either Boston or Portland. While The WB and UPN were broadcasting, there were no affiliates either. With the new CW network, that did not change. WMUR has always promoted the fact that it is the only major network affiliate and consistent local news source in the state. The station's current slogan reflects this.

Since 1994, WMUR has operated three rebroadcasters in the northern part of New Hampshire. Until 2001, two of the stations aired programming from FOX and simulcasted WMUR's newscasts (the third one simulcasted WMUR itself). The two FOX stations switched to simulcasting WMUR when WMTW-TV, the ABC affiliate for Portland, moved its transmitter off of Mount Washington.

Call Letters	Channel	Licensed To / Transmitter Location	Notes
W27BL	27	Berlin	*part of the Portland market, first on air in 1994
WMUR-LP	29	Littleton / Cannon Mt.	*is a low-powered station *tower shared with W38CB *formerly W16BC and (briefly) W29CM
W38CB	38	Littleton / Cannon Mt.	*tower shared with WMUR-LP *always aired ABC programming

WMUR broadcasts over 85 hours of local news each week.

In addition to their main studios, the station operates two news bureaus in the state. The "Lakes Region Bureau" is located at The Inn at Bay Point in Meredith while the "Seacoast Bureau" is located at Harbour Place in Downtown Portsmouth. WMUR's daily 6 PM news is simulcasted on two area radio stations: WTPL-FM 107.7 and WTSN-AM 1270.

WMUR broadcasts national news from a "Washington D.C. Bureau" that is operated by Hearst-Argyle.

Although WMUR does not own or operate a weather radar of its own, the station uses live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from several regional sites. During newscasts, this data is presented in a forecasting system called "Storm Watch 9 Storm Tracker". A live feed of this system is offered on WMUR's website.

Anchors

• Sean McDonald - weekday mornings
• Erin Fehlau - weekday mornings and Noon
• Scott Spradling - weeknights at 5 and 5:30 PM
  • political reporter
  • host of Close Up New Hampshire
• Jean Mackin - weeknights at 5 and 5:30 PM
  • weeknight 11 PM reporter
• Jennifer Vaughn - weeknights at 6 PM
  • medical reporter
• Tom Griffith - weeknights at 6 and 11 PM
  • New Hampshire Chronicle co-host
• Tiffany Eddy - weeknights at 11 PM
  • New Hampshire Chronicle co-host
• Amy Coveno - weekend mornings
  • weekday reporter
• Kria Sakakeeny - weekend evenings
  • weeknight reporter

Storm Watch 9 Meteorologists

• Mike Haddad - Chief seen weeknights
  • hear on WMLL-FM 96.5
• Kevin Skarupa (CBM certified) - weekday mornings and Noon
• Josh Judge (CBM certified) - weekends
  • weekday fill-in meteorologist

Sports

• Jamie Staton - Director seen weeknights
• Jason King - weekend evenings
  • weekday sports reporter
• Naoko Funayama - sports reporter
  • fill-in sports anchor
  • sports producer
  • "Hometown Hero" segment producer

Reporters

• Andy Hershberger - crime
• Kris Neilsen - "Lakes Region Bureau"
• Sally Kidd - National Correspondent
• Laurie Kinney - National Correspondent
• Traci Mitchell - National Correspondent seen weekday mornings
• Ray Brewer
• Josh Davis
• Heather Hamel
• Sean McDonald

Former Personalities

• Bill Gile - weekend meteorologist
• Chris Thomas - weekday morning and Noon meteorologist
• Kimberly Bookman - reporter

Administration

• Mary Reo Neill - Local Sales Manager

WMUR's previous logo.

Logos of WMUR and the outlying transmitters in 2000.

WMUR's current logo.

• WMUR-TV
• WMUR Wireless
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMUR
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W27BL
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMUR-LP
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W38CB

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Boston / Manchester market (Nielsen DMA #7)

Local television stations WGBH 2 (PBS) - WBZ 4 (CBS) - WCVB 5 (ABC) - WHDH 7 (NBC, WX+ on DT2) - WFXZ 24 (AZA) - WFXT 25 (FOX) - WUNI 27 (UNI) - WTMU 32 / WNEU 60 (TEL) WSBK 38 (Ind) - WGBX 44 (PBS) - WWDP 46 (Shop NBC) - WYDN 48 (DS) - WZMY 50 (MNTV) - WLVI 56 (The CW) - WMFP 62 (Gems TV) WUTF 66 (TFU) - WBPX 68 (ION) Local digital television channels WHDN 26 (DW) Concord / Keene / Manchester / Portsmouth (Southern New Hampshire) television stations WMUR 9 (ABC) - WENH 11 / WEKW 52 (PBS / NHPTV) - WYCN-LP 13 (Ind) - WPXG 21 (ION) Defunct television stations WJZB 14 (Ind / NBC) - WNHT 21 (Ind / CBS) - WXPO 50 (Ind) - WCVX 58 (Ind) Local cable television channels WCTR-TV (Worcester) - butv10 - CN8 - NECN - NESN - CSN New England - CatholicTV - CKSH (SRC, Sherbrooke)

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Portland, Maine market  (Nielsen DMA #76)
Local television channels WCSH 6 (NBC) (WX+ on DT2) - WMTW 8 (ABC) (AccuWX TV on DT2) - WCBB 10 / WMEA 26 (PBS / MPBN) - WGME 13 (CBS) - WLLB-LP 15 (Daystar) - W18BO 18 (PBS / NHPTV) - WPFO 23 (FOX) - W27BL 27 (ABC) - WPME 35 (MNTV) - WPXT 51 (The CW) Cable television channels NECN - NESN - CSN New England - WENH (PBS, Durham) - TW9

v • d • e ABC Network Affiliates in the state of New Hampshire
WMUR 9 (Manchester) - W26CQ 26 (Colebrook) - W27BL 27 (Berlin) - W27CP 27 (White River Junction)
See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetwork TV and NBC stations in New Hampshire

v • d • e Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
Corporate Staff: David J. Barrett (President & CEO) · Victor F. Ganzi (COB) · Harry T. Hawks · Terry Mackin · Steven A. Hobbs · Philip M. Stolz · Frederick I. Young · Candy Altman · Brian Bracco · Emerson Coleman · Marv Danielski · Martin Faubell · Kathleen Keefe · Alvin Lustgarten · Ellen McClain · Jonathan Mintzer · David J. Barrett · Frank A. Bennack, Jr. · John G. Conomikes · Ken J. Elkins · George R. Hearst, Jr. · William Randolph Hearst III · Bob Marbut · Gilbert C. Maurer · Michael E. Pulitzer · David Pulver · Caroline L. Williams Radio Stations: WBAL1 · WIYY1 ABC Network Affiliates: KETV · KHBS / KHOG · KITV · KMBC · KOAT · KOCO · WAPT · WCVB · WISN · WMUR · WMTW · WPBF1 · WTAE CBS Network Affiliates: KCCI · WLKY NBC Network Affiliates: KCRA · KSBW · WBAL · WDSU · WESH · WGAL · WLWT · WPTZ / WNNE · WXII · WYFF The CW Network Affiliates: KCWE1 · WKCF MyNetwork TV Affiliate: KQCA Independent Television Station: WMOR1 1Hearst-Argyle operates these stations owned by Hearst Corporation.
Annual Revenue: $785.4 million USD (2006) · Employees: Approx. 3,000 (full-time) · Stock Symbol: NYSE: HTV · Website: www.hearstargyle.com

Concord High school closed 12/3