As we reflect on 45 years of community journalism and cultural programming, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who's supported New Hampshire Public Radio over the decades. Every milestone we've reached is because of our incredibly generous listeners and readers. The future is bright with you by our side.

We also want to note that there have been generations of Granite Staters who've left their indelible mark on what is now NHPR.

To every engineer, editor, reporter, fund-raiser, visionary, host, volunteer, sales associate, producer, and office manager who came before — thank you. You have our deepest appreciation.

Emily Quirk
Program Director

1970s and 1980s: The birth of Granite State Public Radio
In 1979, 50 New Hampshire residents came together with a bold goal: to give the state its own public radio station. At the time, New Hampshire was the 48th state to establish its own public radio broadcaster, leaving local listeners reliant on signals floating in from Massachusetts and Vermont. After forming a committee, incorporating as Granite State Public Radio, and securing $61,000 in planning grants, the dream became reality.

On Aug. 4, 1981, WEVO (89.1 FM) signed on from a modest studio on Pleasant Street in Concord.

Though music originally dominated the broadcast schedule, WEVO quickly signaled its commitment to civic journalism. On Feb. 28, 1984, the station aired its first live election coverage during the New Hampshire presidential primary — a harbinger of the news organization it would eventually become.

WEVO’s early success was deeply tied to its listeners. When a $45,000 budget deficit threatened the station’s survival in 1983, over 1,000 listeners stepped up during an emergency fund drive to keep the music playing and the microphones live. That community commitment fueled remarkable growth. Along the way, a lean team of two full-time launched New Hampshire Daily, a 30-minute weeknight program that paved the way for a broader shift toward news.

NHPR Archive

A crane lifts equipment in through a window at the Fowler Building on Pleasant Street in Concord, where WEVO launched in 1981.

NHPR Archives

Under Mark Handley's leadership, NHPR went from a dual-format station playing both news and classical music, to all-news— and helped launch NHPR’s The Exchange.

Between 1985 and 1990, WEVO’s listening audience nearly doubled. Recognizing the need to transform a local Concord broadcast into a true statewide resource, General Manager Mark Handley led a period of ambitious expansion. Under his leadership, the station rebranded as New Hampshire Public Radio, and in 1991 moved to a larger, production-ready studio at 207 North Main St. in Concord.

Handley spearheaded the effort to build out a statewide network of transmitters over the next decade — extending NHPR’s reach to Dover, Hanover, Keene, Gorham, Littleton, and the Mount Washington Valley.

To match this physical footprint with meaningful local content, NHPR launched its first local talk show, Perspectives, hosted by Laura Kiernan from 1993 to 1997.

Handley then recruited Keene native and former NPR newscaster Laura Knoy back to New Hampshire. In October 1995, Knoy launched The Exchange, a flagship call-in show that would define statewide public dialogue in New Hampshire for the next 25 years.

In 1998, host Rosemary Conroy helped launch the long-running environmental segment Something Wild, created in partnership with New Hampshire Audubon and the Forest Society, which continues to this very day.

Allegra Boverman

Laura Knoy served as host of The Exchange for 25 years.

By 2001, NHPR decided to phase out classical music and focus entirely on a news-and-talk format, establishing itself as the Granite State's primary daily news outlet. Kate McNally’s The Folk Show was the only music program that remained in those years, and can still be enjoyed 30 years later.

That same era brought local cultural favorites like The Front Porch, which featured interviews with everyday Granite Staters and icons like poet Donald Hall, as well as Old Man of the Mountain caretakers Dave and Deb Nielsen.

As staff expanded to meet statewide coverage demands, physical space became tight. In 2007, under the leadership of former Gov. Walter Peterson as honorary campaign chair, NHPR launched "The Campaign for 21st Century Radio." Raising $5 million for a modern broadcast facility, the station moved to its current home at 2 Pillsbury St. in Concord in 2008.

The move ushered in a new era of programming. Shows like Word of Mouth, co-created by producer Andrew Walsh and hosted by Virginia Prescott, sparked new creative energy across the content teams. Host Rick Ganley joined in January 2009 as the voice of Morning Edition, becoming a steady morning presence for Granite Staters to this day.

To the delight of many, NHPR acquired WCNH in August 2014, bringing ClassicalNH into its network and securing classical music programming that’s still enjoyed by local audiences.

Producer Logan Shannon built on Word of Mouth’s momentum to conceive Civics 101 in 2017. Hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, the show has since exploded into a national hit downloaded by millions.

Meanwhile, NHPR expanded its environmental footprint in 2016 with Outside/In — created by Sam Evans-Brown and now hosted by Nate Hegyi. Two years later, the 2018 debut of Bear Brook achieved meteoric national success, establishing NHPR as a powerhouse for narrative investigative journalism.

The year 2021 brought a significant transition: NHPR navigated the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic while bidding farewell to Laura Knoy, who retired after 25 years behind the microphone. Under President and CEO Jim Schachter, the station doubled down on its mission as a national content creator.

Building on the early success of Bear Brook, NHPR launched our Document investigative team, producing award-winning accountability series like The 13th Step, The Youth Development Center, Operation Night Cat, Safe to Drink, and many more.

Alongside deep-dive journalism, NHPR renewed its commitment to public engagement through local programming and live events — such as the By Degrees Climate Summit, 'The Middle' Live from NH, and Justice & Journalism — while celebrating milestones like Kate McNally's 30th anniversary hosting The Folk Show in 2025.

Jessica Anne Arnold

Bear Brook, hosted by Jason Moon, is the critically-acclaimed true crime podcast Stephen King called "the best true crime podcasts I've ever heard. Brilliant, involving, hypnotic."

NHPR now stands at a pivotal moment in its history. Following the loss of federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the station is now 100% community-supported.

“Meriting your support is a responsibility that our staff of 70 shoulders with pride,” says Jim Schachter, President and CEO of NHPR. “NHPR’s accountability reporting, empathetic news coverage, entertaining programs and engaging events all are designed with your interest at heart. And they advance a vision of public service that only an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization like NHPR can uphold.”

Through every legislative battle, cultural shift, and expanded community partnership, NHPR remains vibrant because of the listeners, readers and supporters across New Hampshire and the world who make independent journalism possible.

The NHPR team, as of spring 2026.