For real $α\in [0,1)$ and a hypergraph $G$, the $α$-spectral radius of $G$ is the largest eigenvalue of the matrix $A_α(G)=αD(G)+(1-α)A(G)$, where $A(G)$ is the adjacency matrix of $G$, which is a symmetric matrix with zero diagonal such that for distinct vertices $u,v$ of $G$, the $(u,v)$-entry of $A(G)$ is exactly the number of edges containing both $u$ and $v$, and $D(G)$ is the diagonal matrix of row sums of $A(G)$. We study the $α$-spectral radius of a hypergraph that is uniform or not necessarily uniform. We propose some local grafting operations that increase or decrease the $α$-spectral radius of a hypergraph. We determine the unique hypergraphs with maximum $α$-spectral radius among $k$-uniform hypertrees, among $k$-uniform unicyclic hypergraphs, and among $k$-uniform hypergraphs with fixed number of pendant edges. We also determine the unique hypertrees with maximum $α$-spectral radius among hypertrees with given number of vertices and edges, the unique hypertrees with the first three largest (two smallest, respectively) $α$-spectral radii among hypertrees with given number of vertices, the unique hypertrees with minimum $α$-spectral radius among the hypertrees that are not $2$-uniform, the unique hypergraphs with the first two largest (smallest, respectively) $α$-spectral radii among unicyclic hypergraphs with given number of vertices, and the unique hypergraphs with maximum $α$-spectral radius among hypergraphs with fixed number of pendant edges.