[2][3] In addition to carrying ABC programming (the station having been affiliated with the network since its sign-on), WMUR aired daily newscasts, local game shows and movies.

However, Storer came under fire when it announced plans to move the station's transmitter to just outside Haverhill, Massachusetts—only 20 miles (32 km) north of Boston.

It soon became apparent that Storer intended to move all of channel 9's operations across the border to Massachusetts and reorient it as the Boston market's third VHF station.

For the next 22 years, United ran channel 9 on a shoestring budget, devoting most of its efforts to managing Manchester's cable franchise.

[3] Throughout the 1970s, Eaton's entire chain of radio and television stations, including WMUR, were under constant scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

[7][8] (An administrative law judge recommended the licenses of two other radio stations, WJMO (1490 AM) and WCUY (92.3 FM) in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, be revoked as well, but this was not acted upon by the commission due to Eaton's death in June 1981.

Imes made WMUR a significant influence in New Hampshire by giving it a badly-needed technical overhaul, as well as upgrading its news department.

[3] In September 1987, the station moved from its original Elm Street studios to facilities in the historic Millyard area of the city.

[12] It was the first television station to hire a full-time employee dedicated to streaming its newscast live and archived online for later viewing.

It was also the first television station to use the Internet to supplement its broadcast news by posting additional information online like the Megan's Law list.

This included 24-hour original news segments, weather coverage by a professional meteorologist and sales executive dedicated to TV and online advertising.

[3] On September 24, 2005, WMUR became available on satellite via DirecTV in Coös, Carroll, Grafton, and Sullivan counties in northern and west-central New Hampshire.

This slogan often promoted its local news, weather, its photo-sharing site, "uLocal", and other ideas of interest that would lead to its website.

[16][17] In July 2012, during a retransmission consent dispute, Hallmark Movie Channel was a substitute for Hearst Television's ABC affiliates, WMUR-TV and WMTW on Time Warner Cable.

However, CBS's ownership of WBZ-TV (channel 4) makes this unlikely as it would result in the dilution of that station's advertising revenue, along with viewer upheaval at the loss of newscasts from the Boston area.

Prior to 1988, the sub-market was served by WMUR and PBS member station WENH-TV (which was part of the New Hampshire Public Television state network).

On February 1, 1988, WNHT (channel 21, now occupied by WPXG-TV), an independent station based in Concord, became southern New Hampshire's first CBS affiliate and began to produce local newscasts.

WNNE broadcast NBC programming into parts of western New Hampshire from then until 2018, when it moved to Montpelier, Vermont, and became the CW affiliate for the Burlington–Plattsburgh market.

WMUR has always promoted the fact that it is the only local television news source in the state; the station's slogan since 2002—"No One Covers New Hampshire Like We Do"—reflects this.

At various points, channel 50 (as WNDS, WZMY-TV, and WBIN-TV) and WGOT (channel 60, now WNEU), as well as the aforementioned WNHT, have offered New Hampshire-focused local newscasts in competition with WMUR; the most recent of these operations, on WBIN-TV, was canceled in 2017 after that station sold its spectrum in an FCC auction, leaving WMUR once again as the only television news source in New Hampshire.

Unlike Boston's astronaut Major Mudd or the widely franchised Bozo, host Uncle Gus Bernier wore no costume except an angler's hat.

In addition, WMUR produces New Hampshire Chronicle, a regional version of the Chronicle newsmagazine series that originated on Boston sister station WCVB-TV, which airs weeknights at 7 p.m.; and the political talk program Close Up, which airs on Sundays at 10 a.m. During election seasons, WMUR is well known for organizing and producing candidate debates for ABC News, as well as CNN, before the first United States presidential primary; the debates have been held at Saint Anselm College.

On August 2, 2011, WMUR began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition and introduced a new set and graphics package, which are styled differently from those of WCVB to avert any confusion between the two stations (along with its news music).

The two Fox stations started simulcasting WMUR when WMTW (at that time separately owned) relocated its transmitter away from Mount Washington.