Early years
The station signed on the air on March 28, 1954, as the first television station in New Hampshire. It was founded by former governor Francis P. Murphy, owner of WMUR radio (610 AM; now WGIR) through a company known as the Radio Voice of New Hampshire, Inc. Murphy beat out several challengers, including William Loeb III, publisher of the Manchester Union-Leader. It broadcast from a Victorian-style house on Elm Street in Manchester, alongside its sister radio station.[1][2] In addition to carrying ABC programming (the station having been affiliated with the network since its sign-on), WMUR aired daily newscasts, local game shows and movies. The station's name, WMUR, is in reference to the first three letters of Murphy's last name.[3]
In 1955, channel 9 boosted its signal significantly, providing a strong signal extending into portions of the Boston area. Murphy was well aware of this and began airing programming that had previously not been available in Boston. The following year, however, Murphy decided to retire. While a buyer was found immediately for WMUR radio, there were few takers for channel 9. Finally, in early 1957, he agreed in principle to sell WMUR-TV to Storer Broadcasting. However, Storer came under fire when it announced plans to move the station's transmitter to just outside Haverhill, Massachusetts—only 20 mi north of Boston. It soon became apparent that Storer intended to move all of channel 9's operations across the border to Massachusetts and reorient it as the Boston market's third VHF station. The outcry led regulators to reject Storer's request to build a new tower near Haverhill. Storer then backed out of the deal, and the station remained in Murphy's hands until his death in December 1958. His estate finally sold the station a few months later to Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting.[2][4] Storer eventually fulfilled their Boston ambitions in 1966 with the purchase of the channel 38 license as WSBK-TV.
Soon after taking over, United laid off all but nine of WMUR's employees and reduced local programming to its two daily newscasts. For the next 22 years, United ran channel 9 on a shoestring budget, devoting most of its efforts to managing Manchester's cable franchise. It paid almost no attention to the station even as equipment broke down. The studio's upkeep also suffered; the floor was so slanted that cameras rolled on their own. WMUR continued to broadcast in black-and-white until 1973, long after the Boston stations had all upgraded to color capability. Two of the few things the station had going for it during this period were The Uncle Gus Show, hosted by Gus Bernier for more than 20 years, and an increasingly active news department led by Tom Bonnar and Fred Kocher.[2]
Throughout the 1970s, Eaton's entire chain of radio and television stations, including WMUR, were under constant scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In the cases involving two other television stations (WOOK-TV in Washington, D.C., and WMET-TV in Baltimore),[5] as well as two other radio stations (WOOK (AM) in Washington and WFAB in Miami), their licenses were revoked entirely, each for different reasons.[6][7] (An administrative law judge recommended the licenses of two other radio stations, WJMO (1490 AM) and WCUY (92.3 FM) in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, be revoked as well, but this was not acted upon by the commission due to Eaton's death in June 1981.[8]) WMUR, KECC-TV in El Centro, California, and WMET-TV were investigated over allegations of bribery by Eaton of ABC-TV employees so WMUR and KECC would get more favorable terms in their ABC affiliations contracts.[9]
The station continued to be run very cheaply into the early 1980s, but a change in ownership marked the beginning of a new era for WMUR.
1980s and 1990s
In July 1981, following Richard Eaton's death, WMUR was sold to Columbus, Mississippi, businessman Birney Imes Jr. and his company, Imes Communications, which also owned that city's WCBI-TV, as well as WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Years later, several veterans, including Bonnar, said they only stayed at the station in hopes a wealthier owner would see its potential. Imes made WMUR a significant influence in New Hampshire by giving it a badly needed technical overhaul, as well as upgrading its news department.[2] In September 1987, the station moved from its original Elm Street studios to facilities in the historic Millyard area of the city.[2]
In 1994, WMUR became both a primary and secondary affiliate of Fox. They also launched three low-powered repeaters in the northern portion of New Hampshire, one of them (W38CB in Littleton) carried WMUR's full ABC schedule, while the other two (W27BL in Berlin and W16BC, later WMUR-LP, in Littleton) were full-time primary affiliates of Fox. All of them, including its main channel, carried WMUR's newscasts as well as Fox Sports telecasts. While WMUR and W38CB continued to carry the full ABC schedule, W27BL and W16BC offered a different lineup that, while including WMUR's newscasts and some of its syndicated fare, replaced ABC programs with additional syndicated programming, as well as Fox's
Since 2000
In September 2000, Imes Communications reached an agreement to sell the station to Emmis Communications, who then traded WMUR to Hearst-Argyle Television, now Hearst Television, in exchange for that company's three radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona—KTAR, KMVP, and KKLT.[12] In 2004, WMUR-TV celebrated fifty years of broadcasting.[2]
On September 24, 2005, WMUR became available on satellite via DirecTV in Coös, Carroll, Grafton, and Sullivan counties in northern and west-central New Hampshire.[13] Coös and Carroll counties are part of the Portland, Maine, market and thus had WMTW as their ABC affiliate, while Grafton and Sullivan counties are part of the Burlington–Plattsburgh market and hence received ABC programming from WVNY; these areas had no source of in-state news until WMUR's uplinking.
