WBFO
 | |
| City of license | Buffalo, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Buffalo, New York |
| Frequency |
88.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) Simulcast on WNED-FM hd2 94.5 Mhz |
| Repeaters |
WUBJ Jamestown, New York 88.1 MHz WOLN Olean, New York 91.3 MHz |
| First air date | January 6, 1959 |
| Format | Public Radio |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 117 meters |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | BuFfalO |
| Affiliations | NPR |
| Owner | Western New York Public Broadcasting Association |
| Webcast |
WBFO-FM PLS M3U |
| Website | WBFO.org |
WBFO is the NPR member station for Buffalo, New York, carrying an almost entirely public news/talk format. It broadcasts from studios in the Lower Terrace section of downtown Buffalo which it shares with WNED-TV and WNED-FM.[1] Previously, it broadcast from the South campus (AKA Main Street Campus) of the University at Buffalo. It currently leases an as-yet unutilized satellite studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[2] Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, which at the time owned an AM station which had the call letters WNED-AM and had been carrying some of the same programming as WBFO, purchased WBFO in July 2011, and incorporated some of the channel's news features and staff into a combined lineup on March 1, 2012, through November 30, 2012 (when the sale of WNED-AM to Crawford Broadcasting was finalized and the call letters changed to WDCZ) which it broadcast on both stations. Most of the programming lost in the merger formerly aired on WNED-AM (although much of that was restored after Talk of the Nation, previously a WBFO exclusive, ended its run). Among the programs eliminated from the old WBFO were the last jazz programs originating from a Buffalo area radio station at that time.[3][4] In June 2013, jazz programming returned to the Buffalo area with the weekly "Off We Go", a local one hour program broadcast by local trumpeter Lew Custode at 3 pm Wednesdays on Niagara Falls station, WJJL, while blues has also been added to the format at WGWE.
Programming
Prior to March 2012, WBFO presented a full-service mix of news and music programming that incorporated blues and jazz. WBFO's local news department had been highly recognized by the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association. WBFO was all-news during the day and featured jazz overnight. On weekends there had been a mix of syndicated talk programs (such as Car Talk, Only A Game and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!) mornings, and music programs (The Thistle & Shamrock, Bebop and Beyond, and Piano Jazz) in the evenings. Locally originated blues programming was broadcast on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
A four-hour block of jazz programming during the midday shift was eliminated in 2010, with Fresh Air moving to an earlier time slot and additional talk programming (all network or syndicated) added. The program changes also eliminated an additional two hours of jazz and local music in the evening time slot, pushing the start of jazz programming from 8 p.m. back to 10 p.m., being replaced by replays of programming that had already aired on WBFO earlier in the day.
All remaining local and syndicated music programming on WBFO, with the exception of the weekend afternoon blues blocks which were moved to evenings were eliminated on March 1, 2012, after WNED took over WBFO's operations; the only music programming on either WNED or WBFO were the blues blocks and A Prairie Home Companion, which had previously aired on WNED.
A musical satellite feed called Exponential which had been carried on the hd2 channel was replaced by a satellite jazz feed called JazzWorks. A third hd channel consisting of NPR news and information which allowed the listening of programs at times they were not on the main channel was eliminated.
Current on-air personalities
Anita West, Blues host
Anthony Chase, co-host of Theatre Talk
Brian Meyer, WBFO News contributor and Buffalo News Reporter
Chris Caya, Reporter
Chris Jamele, Weekend program host
Daniel Robison, Reporter, Innovation Trail
Eileen Buckley, Assistant News Director
Howard Riedel, Program host (PT)
Jay Moran, Morning Edition host
Jim Ranney, Station Manager/News Director
Jim Santella, co-host, Theatre Talk
Karen DeWitt, Albany Correspondent for New York Public Radio
Mark Leitner, Reporter
Mark Phillips, Weekend program host
Mark Scott, Program host
Mark Wozniak, All Things Considered Host
Mike Desmond, Reporter
Omar Fetouh, Program host
Pat Feldballe, blues host
Ray Marks, WBFO News Contributor
Rich Kellman, WBFO News Contributor[5]
Former staff
Former Full Time Staff
David Benders, Assistant General Manager and Program Director
Doug Blakely, producer, midday jazz host, and Talk of the Nation host
Kelli Bocock Natale, Associate Director of Community Relations & Member Services Coordinator
Damian Dolce, Resource Manager
Bert Gambini, Music Director and Morning Edition host
Mike McKay, Underwriting Sales Consultant
Donald R. Ingalls, Jr., Advisory Board Chair
WBFO's former Part Time Staff
David Chandler, Audio Engineer
Tim Nabzdyk, Director of Digital Media
Michael Kirwan, Sunday control board operator, Jazz and Blues host
Debbie Sims, Saturday Blues host from 10PM until midnight, fill-in jazz host, and audio producer
WBFO's former On-Air/ Production Volunteers
Macy Favor, host of the Jazz Favorites Hour
Dick Judelsohn, host of BeBop and Beyond
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.wbfo.org/content/pages/contact
- ↑ http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/article674904.ece
- ↑ buffalonews.com {link rot}
- ↑ Jane Kwiatkowski WNED-AM sale to Crawford Broadcasting finalized buffalonews.com Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ↑ http://news.wbfo.org/people
External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WBFO
- Radio-Locator information on WBFO
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WBFO
- WNED, WBFO's parent organization
| |||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 43°00′11″N 78°45′54″W / 43.003°N 78.765°W