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| Broadcast area | Manchester-Nashua-Concord, New Hampshire |
| Frequency | 101.1MHz |
| Branding | Rock 101 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Mainstream rock |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WGIR | |
| History | |
First air date | June 5, 1963; 62 years ago (1963-06-05)[1] |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Girolimon family (former owner of itssister AM station) |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 35240 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 11,500 watts |
| HAAT | 313 meters (1,027 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°58′55″N71°35′20″W / 42.982°N 71.589°W /42.982; -71.589 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | rock101fm |
WGIR-FM (101.1MHz) is acommercial radio station inManchester, New Hampshire, airing amainstream rockradio format, branded asRock 101. The station serves theMerrimack Valley area (includingConcord andNashua) and is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc., America's largest owner of radio stations. Weekdays begin with the comedy radio showGreg and the Morning Buzz, hosted by Greg Kretschmar. It is shared with co-ownedWHEB inPortsmouth, and also heard onWLKZ inWolfeboro. The rest of the day, local DJs are heard. On Sunday nights, WGIR-FM carries thesyndicated radio showThe House of Hair with Dee Snider.
WGIR-FM's studios and offices are on Foundry Street in Manchester.[3] Thetransmitter is onMount Uncanoonuc, off Perimeter Road inGoffstown, near other towers serving Southern New Hampshire TV and FM stations.[4]
On June 5, 1963, WGIR-FM firstsigned on, under the ownership of Knight Quality Stations, Inc.[5] At first, itsimulcast co-ownedWGIR (610 AM) with a mix ofmiddle of the road music, talk and information, includingNBC Radio News. It was powered at 5,000 watts, less than half its current output.
The 1970s saw WGIR-FM adopt asoft rock format including artists such asFleetwood Mac,Linda Ronstadt,James Taylor, andCarole King. In 1979, the station began calling itself "Rock 101". WGIR-FM's sound evolved into a more mainstreamalbum-oriented rock format.[6] The power was increased to 9,600 watts.
Knight Quality Stations announced the sale of its eight New England radio stations, including WGIR-FM, to Capstar Broadcasting Partners in April 1997;[7][8] upon assuming control in January 1998, the stations were operated by Capstar's Atlantic Star Communications subsidiary.[9] Capstar and Chancellor Media announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies);[10] upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc.[11][12] AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999,[13][14] and completed in August 2000.[15][16]
From the 1990s to the early 2000s, WGIR-FM played mostlyclassic rock. Saturdays and Sundays featured "Block Party Weekends" where three songs were played in a row from the same rock artist. In the early 2000s, the station moved to a harder-edged rock format featuring current and past rock acts. By 2005, the station had moved to a more contemporary rock format, After a few years, theplaylist once again included a good number of rock artists from past years, includingLed Zeppelin,Van Halen,Aerosmith, andOzzy Osbourne. WGIR-FM was part of theMotor Racing Network (MRN) and would broadcastNASCAR races; the station dropped MRN after the 2017 season.