WAOT-TV

WAOT-TV, virtual channel 34 (VHF digital channel 15), is a -affiliated television station serving, United States that is licensed to. The station is owned by, as part of a duopoly with Manchester-licensed independent station WAMN-TV (channel 53); the two stations are sister outlets to radio stations WAOT and WAOT-FM. The two TV stations share studios on Iron Horse Drive in and transmission facilities on  mountain in ; WAOT and WAOT-FM share separate studio facilities in the Brady Sullivan Tower in Manchester. WAOT also operates a secondary studio on Ocean Boulevard in Hampton Beach.

History
WAOT-TV started operations on September 17, 1960, after WAOT radio's owner Joseph Bonhomme won the rights to use the VHF channel 34 license assigned to on the third try, having previously applied for it twice in 1957 and 1959 respectively.

In 1980, WAOT-TV-AM-FM were seized by US government officials amid securities fraud complaints regarding Bonhomme Broadcasting. The court-appointed station manager, Dan Armellini, and the -designated receiver, Domingo Carvajal, both had zero experience running a TV station, and thus arguments between the manager, receiver and station employees arose due to alleged mismanagement on parts of Armellini and Caravajal. Station employees took the SEC, Armellini and Carvajal to court in 1982. Receiver Caravajal sold WAOT-TV-AM-FM to the most interested buyer, (owners of the Toledo Blade newspaper in ), as part of the lawsuit settlement.

In 1995, Block signed-on WAMN-TV as a charter affiliate of UPN and a sister station to WAOT-TV, and Block introduced a on-air graphical upgrade to WAOT-TV in 1999, including a new logo (a similar logo would be adopted by former sister station in  upon it's switch to NBC in 2005).

In 2007, Block Communications sold WAOT-TV-AM-FM and WAMN-TV to -based for $1.5 million.

Syndicated programming
Syndicated programming seen on WAOT includes Judge Judy, Dr. Phil, and The Doctors, among others.

Local programming
WAOT currently broadcasts 46½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week, with 8½ hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays and one hour on Sundays. The station's newscasts primarily focus on Manchester and much of lower New Hampshire. The 5:30 and 10:30 p.m. newscasts on weeknights focus primarily on news stories in Upper New Hampshire (including and  counties) as well as stories in,  and ; they are branded as WAOT 34 Upper NH News. WAOT has been nominated for five for "Best Newscast" since 2003.

In 2003, WAOT began airing Spanish-language newscasts at 11:00 a.m. weekdays. 2014, WAOT formed a partnership with News United LLC to produce a French-language newscast airing nightly at 11:00 p.m. The anchor of the French-language newscasts is Fabrice Johannes, broadcasting from News United's Canadian studio in, , , and airing segments from French-speaking reporters at WAOT.

In 2008, WAOT formed a broadcast partnership with 's Fox station (channel 25) that allowed the two stations to cooperate in news gathering for local stories.

Newscast themes

 * News 4 New York - Jim McAllister (1982-1986)
 * Total Coverage - 615 Music (1999-2009)

Notable current on-air staff

 * Nathan West - anchor
 * Janine G. Bastock - anchor
 * Francisco Aarón Cebrián - anchor of NH News Edición en Español