WHTP-FM began broadcasting December 1, 1994 as WQEZ, an easy listening/adult contemporary station owned by Vega Corporation, which also owned WBQQ. Vega sold the stations to Mariner Broadcasting on June 16, 1997. Mariner sold its stations to Nassau Broadcasting Partners in 2004. That April, Nassau relaunched the station as WHXQ, a classic rock station branded as The Bone and simulcasting with WHXR. During the summer of 2006, WHXQ/WHXR expanded their playlist and shifted to active rock. WHXQ and WHXR had planned to switch to sports talk provided by Boston's WEEI in January 2008, but the deal between Nassau and WEEI owner Entercom ended up collapsing. WHXQ swapped formats and call signs with WBQW on October 6, 2008, and began to carry WBACH's classical music programming. Nassau Broadcasting entered bankruptcy in 2011, which culminated in an auction of its stations. Prior to the conclusion of the auction, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network expressed interest in running the WBACH stations. As part of the bankruptcy proceeding, WBQW was auctioned in May 2012 to local owner Mainestream Media for $150,000, while the other WBACH stations went to Bill Binnie's WBIN Media Company. Mainestream Media dropped WBACH's programming at 5 p.m. on September 13, 2012 and began stunting with Christmas music, making the claim of being the first station to switch to Christmas music in 2012, and promoting the "104 Days Of Christmas", saying they would give Portland special "gifts" through the holidays, with the first to come the following day at 5 PM. At that time, the station adopted its permanent rhythmic top 40 format, branded as "Hot 104.7". The first song on Hot 104.7 was LMFO's "Party Rock Anthem WHTP currently competes with longtime Top 40 station WJBQ, owned by Townsquare Media, which has a more mainstream feel to it as compared to WHTP's Rhythmic approach. On October 1, WBQW's call letters were changed to WHTP, fitting the "Hot" branding. In February 2013, WHTP was added to Mediabase's Rhythmic panel, reflecting its choice of musical direction. WHTP began simulcasting on WJYE in Gardiner and WCYR in Veazie on January 13, 2020; to reflect its expanded reach, the station rebranded as "Hot Radio Maine". The station added the "-FM" suffix to its call sign on March 6, 2020.
