WFNQ


WFNQ is a radio station in Nashua, New Hampshire, serving the Manchester, New Hampshire area with a classic hits radio format. It is owned by Binnie Media. The station's studios are located on Dow Street in Manchester, and its transmitter is located in Merrimack, just west of the Merrimack Premium Outlets.
WFNQ can also be received in the northern portion of the Boston media market. The station has FM co-channel interference with Providence-market WWKX past this area.
WFNQ is the flagship station of a four-station classic hits network under the Frank FM branding. The station is simulcast on 99.1 WNNH, licensed to Henniker, which serves areas north and west of Manchester, including Concord. Additionally, 98.3 WLNH-FM in Laconia and 98.7 WBYY in Somersworth share WFNQ's playlist, on-air staff, and branding, but have separate commercials.

History

WFNQ signed on October 19, 1987 as WHOB, under the ownership of Mario DiCarlo. Although WHOB was a new license, it inherited the allocation previously assigned to WOTW-FM, which operated from 1947 until 1985. At one time a CHR station, the station began mixing in modern rock in 1996, and had shifted to hot adult contemporary by 1999, when DiCarlo retired and sold WHOB to Tele-Media.
Tele-Media sold WHOB, along with WNNH in Henniker and WLKZ in Wolfeboro, to Nassau Broadcasting Partners in 2004. Nassau dropped the hot AC format in favor of the "Frank FM" classic hits format and the WFNQ callsign on March 17, 2005. The station, along with 16 other Nassau stations in northern New England, was purchased at bankruptcy auction by WBIN Media Company, a company controlled by Bill Binnie, on May 22, 2012. Binnie already owned WBIN-TV in Derry and WYCN-LP in Nashua. The deal was completed on November 30, 2012.
On June 1, 2015, WFNQ shifted its format to classic rock. It switched back to classic hits in 2018.
On April 1, 2019, WNNH in Henniker began simulcasting WFNQ, bringing the station's programming to Concord and the northern part of the Manchester market. On May 24, 2019, WLNH-FM in Laconia and WBYY in Somersworth began carrying WFNQ's programming, but with separate advertising, forming a regional network.