WTPL


WTPL is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/sports format. Licensed to Hillsborough, New Hampshire, United States, it serves the Manchester, New Hampshire market. The station is owned by Bill Binnie's Binnie Media, through licensee WBIN, Inc. It airs a news/talk radio format in the daytime and carries the CBS Sports Radio Network at night.

History

The original construction permit for the station was granted on August 4, 1987, under the call sign of WRCI; a license to cover was granted on September 7, 1990. However, the station's original owners, Empire Radio Partners, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992, and the station was sold to Radioworks in 1993. By 1994, WRCI was serving as a simulcast of its then-sister station WJYY, an adult contemporary station. The station had changed simulcast partners to WNHI, a classic rock station, by 1996.
Radioworks sold its stations to Vox Media in 1999, and on December 27 the station was converted to the current news/talk format by way of a simulcast with another Vox station, WKXL, as part of a format shuffle that resulted in WKXL's original FM station, on 102.3, becoming the country music station WOTX-FM. The WKXL-FM call sign moved to 107.7 the following February.
Vox sold WKXL to Embro Communications in 2002. The sale did not include WKXL-FM or its programming; as a result, WKXL launched a separate news/talk format, with its prior programming remaining on 107.7 under the new call letters of WTPL. Embro took over WTPL as well under a local marketing agreement the next year, and reintroduced some shared programming, including a talk show hosted by Arnie Arnesen. Vox then sold WTPL to Great Eastern Radio, in 2004, and soon afterward the station again became independent of WKXL, relocating to studios in Bow, New Hampshire, and a transmitter atop Pats Peak, both originally constructed for WNNH.
Effective August 1, 2017, Great Eastern Radio sold WTPL, WLKZ, and WZEI to Dirk Nadon's Lakes Media, LLC for $2.6 million. Lakes Media immediately agreed to sell WTPL to Binnie Media for $1.3 million and turned over the station's operations to Binnie under a local marketing agreement; the sale was completed on November 16, 2017.

Programming

Weekday programming includes a local morning news and talk program, The NH Wake Up Show, hosted by Peter St. James and Jim Fronk, from 6:00 to 9:00 am; followed by the nationally syndicated talk program The Laura Ingraham Show from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. Another local show, Cail & Company hosted by Ken Cail and Jay Dawg, airs from 12:00 to 3:00 pm; Boston-based Howie Carr from 3:00 to 7:00 pm and a simulcast of Channel 9 WMUR-TV's first hour of News 9 Daybreak at 5:00 am. Most hours begin with CBS News Radio.
Weekend shows include Northeast Delta Dental Radio, Half Hour to Health, and nationally syndicated programs Real Estate Today, InfoTrak and The Clark Howard Show.
Sports programming includes Westwood One Sports programs NFL Insider and NFL Preview, which is aired during the NFL's regular season until the Super Bowl, as well as live coverage of Boston Red Sox baseball, Boston Bruins hockey, New England Patriots football, and selected college football games.
The station is also a network affiliate of CBS Sports Radio, broadcasting the network's programming Mondays to Thursdays from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am the following day, Fridays from 7:00 pm to 8:00 am the following day, Saturdays from 12:00 noon to 7:00 am the following day, and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 5:00 am the following day.