WFRD

WFRD
City Hanover, New Hampshire
Broadcast area Lebanon-
Branding 99Rock WFRD
Slogan "The Rock Station"
Frequency 99.3 MHz
First air date February 19, 1976
Format Mainstream rock
ERP 6,000 watts
HAAT 100 meters
Class A
Facility ID 68281
Transmitter coordinates 43°39′14.00″N 72°17′44.20″W / 43.6538889°N 72.2956111°W / 43.6538889; -72.2956111
Callsign meaning "World Famous Radio Dartmouth"
Affiliations Compass Media Networks
iHeartRadio
Premiere Networks
United Stations Radio Networks
Owner Dartmouth Broadcasting
(Trustees of Dartmouth College)
Sister stations WDCR (defunct)
Webcast Listen Live
Website wfrd.com

WFRD (99.3 FM) – branded 99Rock WFRD – is a commercial mainstream rock radio station licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire. Owned and operated by Dartmouth Broadcasting, the WFRD studios are located on the Hanover campus of Dartmouth College, while the station transmitter resides in Lebanon. In addition to a standard analog transmission WFRD is available online via iHeartRadio.

Programming

WFRD broadcasts a mainstream rock/modern rock/alternative format to the Lebanon-Hanover-White River Junction market area.

Weekdays

The station's playlist on weekdays is a mix of modern rock alternative and Mainstream rock, with a few classic rock tracks. Weekday mornings feature Chris Garrett and the "Rock N Go Morning Show" and weekday afternoons are hosted by Heath Cole. The station's middays, weekends, and overnights feature announcers who are students at Dartmouth College. The station also provides hourly news and sports reports in morning drive.

In addition special on air features include "The Happy Hour", heard weekdays from 5-6 pm, features all listener requests. On weeknights, WFRD features alternative rock, modern rock, and classic rock plus the "99 Minute Nightmare," which features programming geared more towards heavy metal. Monday through Friday, 99Rock airs "Loudwire Nights" hosted by Toni Gonzalez.

Weekends

WFRD features specialty programs on weekends, some focused on specific genres of rock music or its roots, and others on public affairs or sports. "Valley Voices" is a 30-minute public affairs show that showcases various local events and news stories that airs Sunday mornings. "The Big Green Scene," airs Sunday mornings and concentrates on Dartmouth Sports, with highlights, recaps, interviews with coaches, and more. WFRD is the flagship station for the "Dartmouth Sports Network", which covers some Dartmouth Sports.

WFRD features regular syndicated and WFRD is the Lebanon-Hanover-White River Junction, NH-VT affiliate for Loudwire Nights, Harddrive with Lou Brutus, Rock Countdown with LA Lloyd, Skratch 'N Sniff, House of Hair with Dee Snider, Out of Order with Stryker, Racing Rocks with Riki Rachtman, and Full Metal Jackie.

WFRD also features a weekly 2-hour local rock show on Sunday nights called "Homebrew", featuring local artists from around the region, including such names as Brooks Hubbard, The Pilgrims, Albino Rhino, Tuck Stocking, and more. Local artists are encouraged to submit their material for airplay. The show also features weekly in-studio interviews with local bands.

Organization

WFRD is a commercial radio station, operated and managed by Dartmouth Broadcasting, which is in turn owned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College. WFRD receives no funding from the college: it supports itself by selling advertising. Student staff members are, for the most part, unpaid. (Some are paid a stipend to help operate the station during the summer and other times when Dartmouth classes are not in session.) The station is managed by a board composed of current students and former Dartmouth Broadcasting alumni. It acts as a training ground for students interested in broadcasting, as well as a serious commercial competitor in the Lebanon-Hanover-White River Junction radio market.[1]

WFRD is involved in the Hanover and Upper Valley community. The station features a "Community Calendar" segment, where non-profit organizations can send bulletins of their events to be read over the air. WFRD also does remote broadcasts from a variety of locations in the area, and from local businesses around the Upper Valley, and it sponsors or helps to sponsor local charitable and cultural events.

History

WFRD's history goes back to 1976. The FCC-licensed FM station first went on the air in November 1976, originally broadcasting a wide variety of music, from classical to jazz, folk and progressive rock as well as punk rock and new wave music. The call letters originally stood for "FM Radio Dartmouth", referring to Dartmouth College, after a lengthy debate over whether to choose WDCR-FM to link the FM station with its AM big brother or to give the new FM station an independent identity. Among the arguments for an independent identity was the possibility of selling the AM station once FM became the more popular broadcast band.

Since 2001, WFRD has been playing a modern rock format, specializing in artists such as Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Bush, Linkin Park, Sublime, Blink-182, The Offspring, Incubus, Foo Fighters, Papa Roach, and Metallica.

In 2011, WFRD celebrated its 35th Anniversary by playing "35 Years of Rock," spotlighting songs from 1976 to the present, twice per hour, temporarily giving the station more of an "AOR" feel.

As of 2014, the station left the Nielsen BDS alternative rock indicator panel and was added to the Nielsen BDS mainstream rock indicator panel.

In 2016, WFRD celebrated its 40th Anniversary with the slogan "40 Years of Rock," in addition to Dartmouth Broadcasting's "75 Years of Radio at Dartmouth College".

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ Albright, Charlotte (June 13, 2017). "More Than Rock: College Radio Offers ‘Something for Everyone’". Dartmouth News. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
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