WBFO

WBFO
City Buffalo, New York
Broadcast area Buffalo, New York
Frequency 88.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Simulcast on WNED-FM HD2 94.5 Mhz
Repeater(s) 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 WBFO: BuFfalO
WOLN: OLeaN
WUBJ: University at Buffalo (Jamestown or Jazz)
Affiliations NPR
Owner Western New York Public Broadcasting Association
Sister stations WNED-TV, WNED-FM
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 (a.k.a. Main Street Campus) of the University at Buffalo. It currently leases an as-yet unutilized satellite studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[2] WBFO runs two permanent satellite stations: WUBJ (FM 88.1) in Jamestown, New York, and WOLN (FM 91.3) in Olean, New York.

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.

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.

HD Programming

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 channel, HD3 consisting of NPR news and information which allowed the listening of programs at times they were not on the main channel was eliminated.[5]

See also

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20120210083455/http://www.wbfo.org/content/pages/contact. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "Gusto- Ultimate guide to everything Buffalo". Buffalonews.com. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  3. "WNED-AM sale to Crawford Broadcasting finalized - Life & Arts". The Buffalo News. 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  4. "Find Stations". HD Radio. Retrieved 2016-02-21.

Coordinates: 43°00′11″N 78°45′54″W / 43.003°N 78.765°W / 43.003; -78.765

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