NHPR's original station,
WEVO, signed on from Concord on August 4, 1981. It was originally known as "
Granite State Public Radio", after New Hampshire's
state nickname. Prior to its sign-on, New Hampshire was one of the few states in New England without a clear signal from an NPR station. WEVO had 500 members at its start. Over several years the station grew in size. In 1991, the newly renamed NHPR began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Between 1992 and 2011, six other stations joined the network. In 1995 NHPR launched
The Exchange, hosted by former NPR reporter Laura Knoy. Until 2000, NHPR broadcast a mix of NPR news and
classical music. However, in 2000 it switched its weekday schedule to all news and talk. In spring 2007 NHPR had a weekly audience of 161,100 listeners and about 16,000 contributing members. It had an annual budget of $4.5 million, with contributions from listeners, local businesses, grants and funding from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Contributions from listeners and businesses in New Hampshire make up more than 90 percent of NHPR's revenue. NHPR does not receive funding from the state of New Hampshire. In 2014, NHPR bought
WCNH, a classical music station. Since WCNH operates at only 190 watts, it is simulcast on WEVO's second HD channel. In 2017, NHPR reported over 190,000 weekly listeners and 200,000 monthly unique website viewers. ==Stations==