WBFO: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox radio station | {{Infobox radio station | ||
| name | | name = WBFO | ||
| logo | | logo = | ||
| logo_size | | logo_size = 270px | ||
| city | | city = [[Buffalo, New York]] | ||
| area | | country = US | ||
| branding | | area = [[Buffalo metropolitan area]] | ||
| frequency | | branding = BTPM NPR | ||
| repeater | | frequency = 88.7 [[MHz]] {{HD Radio}} | ||
| airdate | | repeater = {{ubl|{{Radio Relay|88.1|WUBJ|[[Jamestown, New York|Jamestown]]}}|{{Radio Relay|91.3|WOLN|[[Olean, New York|Olean]]}}}} | ||
| format | | airdate = {{Start date|1959|1|6}} | ||
| subchannels | | format = {{hlist|[[Public radio]]|[[talk radio|news-talk]]}} | ||
| erp | | subchannels = {{ubl|HD2: BTPM The Bridge ([[Adult album alternative|AAA]])|HD3: Radio Bilingue (Spanish public radio)}} | ||
| haat | | erp = 50,000 watts | ||
| class | | haat = {{convert|117|m|ft|sp=us}} | ||
| facility_id | | class = B | ||
| coordinates | | facility_id = 63113 | ||
| callsign_meaning | | coordinates = {{coord|43.003|N|78.765|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY_source:FCC|display=title,layout}} | ||
| former_callsigns | | callsign_meaning = Buffalo | ||
| affiliations | | former_callsigns = | ||
| owner | | affiliations = {{ubl|[[National Public Radio]]|[[Public Radio Exchange]]|[[American Public Media]]|[[BBC World Service]]}} | ||
| licensee | | owner = Buffalo Toronto Public Media | ||
| sister_stations | | licensee = Western New York Public Broadcasting Association | ||
| webcast | | sister_stations = {{hlist|[[WNED-TV]]|[[WNED-FM]]}} | ||
| website | | webcast = {{ubl|{{listen live|https://wbfo.org}}|HD3: {{listen live|https://radiobilingue.org/en}} (HD3)}} | ||
| website = {{ubl|{{URL|https://wbfo.org/}}|HD3: {{URL|https://radiobilingue.org/en}}}} | |||
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] | | licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''WBFO''' (88.7 [[FM broadcasting|FM]], "BTPM NPR") is a [[non-commercial educational station|non-commercial]], listener-supported, [[public radio | '''WBFO''' (88.7 [[FM broadcasting|FM]], "BTPM NPR") is a [[non-commercial educational station|non-commercial]], listener-supported, [[public radio]] station in [[Buffalo, New York]]. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, [[doing business as]] Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM). Along with [[sister station]]s 94.5 [[WNED-FM]] and channel 17 [[WNED-TV]], it broadcasts from studios in the Lower Terrace section of downtown Buffalo.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact WBFO |url=http://www.wbfo.org/content/pages/contact |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210083455/http://www.wbfo.org/content/pages/contact |archive-date=February 10, 2012 }}</ref> | ||
WBFO is a [[list of broadcast station classes|Class B]] station. It has an [[effective radiated power]] (ERP) of 50,000 | WBFO is a [[list of broadcast station classes|Class B]] station. It has an [[effective radiated power]] (ERP) of 50,000 watts. The [[transmitter]] is off Millersport Highway ([[New York State Route 263]]) in [[Getzville, New York|Getzville]].<ref>[https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=WBFO&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C Radio-Locator.com/WBFO]</ref> Programming is also heard on two [[satellite station]]s: '''WUBJ''' (88.1 FM) in [[Jamestown, New York|Jamestown]], and '''WOLN''' (91.3 FM) in [[Olean, New York|Olean]]. WBFO broadcasts using [[HD Radio]] technology. It plays [[adult album alternative]] on its HD2 [[digital subchannel|subchannel]] and Spanish-language public radio on its HD3 subchannel. | ||
==Programming== | ==Programming== | ||
WBFO is a [[network affiliate|member station]] of [[National Public Radio]] (NPR). The station airs a [[talk radio|news, talk and information]] [[radio format|format]] with music programs in the evening. Weekdays begin with NPR's ''[[Morning Edition]]''. Also heard on weekdays are ''[[All Things Considered]], [[Here and Now (Boston)|Here and Now]], Capitol Pressroom, [[Fresh Air]]'' and ''[[Marketplace (radio program)|Marketplace]]''. The WBFO staff provides local news updates during the day. Monday through Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m., ''What's Next?'' is heard, a Buffalo-centered interview and call-in show produced by WBFO. In the evening, WBFO presents ''The Bridge'', an [[adult album alternative]] music service that also airs fulltime on WBFO-HD2. | WBFO is a [[network affiliate|member station]] of [[National Public Radio]] (NPR). The station airs a [[talk radio|news, talk and information]] [[radio format|format]] with music programs in the evening. Weekdays begin with NPR's ''[[Morning Edition]]''. Also heard on weekdays are ''[[All Things Considered]], [[Here and Now (Boston)|Here and Now]], Capitol Pressroom, [[Fresh Air]]'' and ''[[Marketplace (radio program)|Marketplace]]''. The WBFO staff provides local news updates during the day. Monday through Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m., ''What's Next?'' is heard, a Buffalo-centered interview and call-in show produced by WBFO. In the evening, WBFO presents ''The Bridge'', an [[adult album alternative]] music service that also airs fulltime on WBFO-HD2. | ||
Weekends feature one-hour public radio shows on a variety of topics: ''[[The Splendid Table]], [[On The Media]], [[TED Radio Hour|The TED Radio Hour]], [[Planet Money]], [[Radiolab]], [[A Way with Words]], [[Science Friday]], [[Rick Steves|Travel with Rick Steves]], [[Freakonomics Radio]]'' and ''[[Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me]]''. Overnight, the [[BBC World Service]] is heard. | Weekends feature one-hour public radio shows on a variety of topics: ''[[The Splendid Table]], [[On The Media]], [[TED Radio Hour|The TED Radio Hour]], [[Planet Money]], [[Radiolab]], [[A Way with Words]], [[Science Friday]], [[This Old House]] Radio Hour, [[Rick Steves|Travel with Rick Steves]], [[Freakonomics Radio]]'' and ''[[Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me]]''. Overnight, the [[BBC World Service]] is heard. | ||
WBFO carries a package of [[high school football]] and other interscholastic sports on Friday nights, with coverage simulcast on WNED-DT2.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friday Night Lights |url=https://www.btpm.org/show/friday-night-lights |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Buffalo Toronto Public Media |language=en}}</ref> | WBFO carries a package of [[high school football]] and other interscholastic sports on Friday nights, with coverage simulcast on WNED-DT2.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friday Night Lights |url=https://www.btpm.org/show/friday-night-lights |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Buffalo Toronto Public Media |language=en}}</ref> | ||
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===Jazz and Blues=== | ===Jazz and Blues=== | ||
WBFO [[sign-on|signed on]] the air on | WBFO [[sign-on|signed on]] the air on January 6, 1959.<ref>{{cite news |title=WBFO Broadcasts To Begin Tuesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-wbfo-broadcasts-to-begi/187089827/ |access-date=December 19, 2025 |newspaper=Buffalo Evening News |date=January 2, 1959 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=24 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> It was owned and operated by the [[State University of New York at Buffalo]] (UB). At first, the station was only powered at 190 watts. For many years, the university operated it as a [[jazz]] station most of the day, with a news bureau. WBFO reporter [[Ira Flatow]], a UB graduate, left the station to become part of the inaugural staff of [[NPR]] upon its launch in 1971;<ref name="npr">{{cite web |title=Ira Flatow |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/scifri/flatow.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609120313/https://www.npr.org/programs/scifri/flatow.html |archive-date=June 9, 2013 |access-date=January 19, 2013 |publisher=NPR}}</ref> WBFO carried NPR's initial program ''[[All Things Considered]]'' and later added ''[[Morning Edition]]'' in 1979. The rest of the schedule featured local jazz shows in middays, evenings and late nights plus [[blues music]] and specialty programming on weekends. | ||
UB was one of two public broadcasting organizations active in [[Western New York]] at the time, the other being the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, whose AM, FM and TV stations all carried the [[call sign]] WNED. WNED's AM station, AM 970, had a news and information format that also carried ''Morning Edition'' and ''All Things Considered'', along with other public radio shows shared with WBFO. By 2010, UB had eliminated the daytime and much of the evening music programming on 88.7 FM for news shows. At the same time, it discussed a merger with WNED. | UB was one of two public broadcasting organizations active in [[Western New York]] at the time, the other being the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, whose AM, FM and TV stations all carried the [[call sign]] WNED. WNED's AM station, AM 970, had a news and information format that also carried ''Morning Edition'' and ''All Things Considered'', along with other public radio shows shared with WBFO. By 2010, UB had eliminated the daytime and much of the evening music programming on 88.7 FM for news shows. At the same time, it discussed a merger with WNED. | ||
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===HD Radio programming=== | ===HD Radio programming=== | ||
[[File:Ellicott Creek Trailway - 20230404 - 31 - Trailway and WBFO transmitter tower.jpg|thumb|The WBFO transmitter tower in Amherst, New York]] | [[File:Ellicott Creek Trailway - 20230404 - 31 - Trailway and WBFO transmitter tower.jpg|thumb|The WBFO transmitter tower in Amherst, New York]] | ||
A musical satellite feed called "Exponential" had been carried on the | A musical satellite feed called "Exponential" had been carried on the HD2 [[digital subchannel]]. That was replaced by a satellite-fed jazz service called "JazzWorks". In November 2021, JazzWorks was moved to 94.5 WNED-FM-HD2 to make way for "The Bridge", an [[adult album alternative]] format.<ref>[https://radioinsight.com/headlines/215447/aaa-the-bridge-built-in-buffalo/ Adult Alternative Bridge Built In Buffalo] Radioinsight - November 23, 2021</ref> | ||
A third subchannel, | A third subchannel, HD3, carried NPR news and information programs at different times than they were heard on the main channel. This was eliminated when "JazzWorks" was added to HD3.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdradio.com/stations |title=Find Stations |publisher=HD Radio |access-date=2016-02-21}}</ref> On June 23, 2024, WBFO launched a Spanish language [[public radio]] format on its HD3 subchannel, branded as "Radio Bilingüe".<ref>[https://radioinsight.com/headlines/273025/radio-bilingue-launches-on-wbfo-hd3/ Radio Bilingue Launches on WBFO-HD3] Radioinisight - June 23, 2024</ref> | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Latest revision as of 13:47, 19 December 2025
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WBFO (88.7 FM, "BTPM NPR") is a non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio station in Buffalo, New York. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, doing business as Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM). Along with sister stations 94.5 WNED-FM and channel 17 WNED-TV, it broadcasts from studios in the Lower Terrace section of downtown Buffalo.[1]
WBFO is a Class B station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 watts. The transmitter is off Millersport Highway (New York State Route 263) in Getzville.[2] Programming is also heard on two satellite stations: WUBJ (88.1 FM) in Jamestown, and WOLN (91.3 FM) in Olean. WBFO broadcasts using HD Radio technology. It plays adult album alternative on its HD2 subchannel and Spanish-language public radio on its HD3 subchannel.
Programming
WBFO is a member station of National Public Radio (NPR). The station airs a news, talk and information format with music programs in the evening. Weekdays begin with NPR's Morning Edition. Also heard on weekdays are All Things Considered, Here and Now, Capitol Pressroom, Fresh Air and Marketplace. The WBFO staff provides local news updates during the day. Monday through Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m., What's Next? is heard, a Buffalo-centered interview and call-in show produced by WBFO. In the evening, WBFO presents The Bridge, an adult album alternative music service that also airs fulltime on WBFO-HD2.
Weekends feature one-hour public radio shows on a variety of topics: The Splendid Table, On The Media, The TED Radio Hour, Planet Money, Radiolab, A Way with Words, Science Friday, This Old House Radio Hour, Travel with Rick Steves, Freakonomics Radio and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Overnight, the BBC World Service is heard.
WBFO carries a package of high school football and other interscholastic sports on Friday nights, with coverage simulcast on WNED-DT2.[3]
History
Jazz and Blues
WBFO signed on the air on January 6, 1959.[4] It was owned and operated by the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB). At first, the station was only powered at 190 watts. For many years, the university operated it as a jazz station most of the day, with a news bureau. WBFO reporter Ira Flatow, a UB graduate, left the station to become part of the inaugural staff of NPR upon its launch in 1971;[5] WBFO carried NPR's initial program All Things Considered and later added Morning Edition in 1979. The rest of the schedule featured local jazz shows in middays, evenings and late nights plus blues music and specialty programming on weekends.
UB was one of two public broadcasting organizations active in Western New York at the time, the other being the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, whose AM, FM and TV stations all carried the call sign WNED. WNED's AM station, AM 970, had a news and information format that also carried Morning Edition and All Things Considered, along with other public radio shows shared with WBFO. By 2010, UB had eliminated the daytime and much of the evening music programming on 88.7 FM for news shows. At the same time, it discussed a merger with WNED.
Switch to News and Information
WNED purchased WBFO in July 2011. The new owner incorporated some of the channel's news features and staff into a combined lineup which debuted on March 1, 2012. Once listeners began tuning in WBFO for news and information, Western New York Public Broadcasting could sell 970 AM. On November 30, 2012, 970 WNED was sold to Christian radio owner Crawford Broadcasting. The call letters on 970 changed to WDCZ.
All of the network music programming WBFO had carried on weekends was dropped. WBFO became exclusively a news and information station.[6]). Among the programs eliminated from the old WBFO were the last jazz programs originating from a Buffalo area radio station at that time.[7][8]
Buffalo Toronto Public Media
WBFO, along with WNED-FM-TV, began collectively referring to themselves as "Buffalo Toronto Public Media" (BTPM) on February 4, 2020.[9][10] The rebranding was in part to better identify WBFO and the WNED stations as part of a single organization. It also reflects WNED-TV's significant Canadian viewership and financial support, though cable and satellite carriage. WNED officials told The Buffalo News that the organization's radio stations have minimal listenership in Canada.[9]
WBFO leases an as-yet unutilized satellite studio in Toronto, Canada.[11] Previously, WBFO broadcast from the South campus (a.k.a. Main Street Campus) of the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
In April 2025, as part of a move to unify the on-air branding of the organization's stations, WBFO rebranded as BTPM NPR, erasing any reference to the stations' call signs from public branding.[12]
Past programming
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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 and information during the day and featured jazz at night. On weekends there had been a mix of nationally syndicated talk programs (such as Car Talk and Only a Game) on weekend mornings. Weekend music programs included The Thistle & Shamrock, Bebop and Beyond, and Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland 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. (The latter show ended in 2016 with Garrison Keillor's retirement; neither WBFO nor WNED carried the successor program Live from Here, which ran until 2020.)
HD Radio programming
A musical satellite feed called "Exponential" had been carried on the HD2 digital subchannel. That was replaced by a satellite-fed jazz service called "JazzWorks". In November 2021, JazzWorks was moved to 94.5 WNED-FM-HD2 to make way for "The Bridge", an adult album alternative format.[13]
A third subchannel, HD3, carried NPR news and information programs at different times than they were heard on the main channel. This was eliminated when "JazzWorks" was added to HD3.[14] On June 23, 2024, WBFO launched a Spanish language public radio format on its HD3 subchannel, branded as "Radio Bilingüe".[15]
See also
References
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- ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WBFO
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- ↑ Adult Alternative Bridge Built In Buffalo Radioinsight - November 23, 2021
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- ↑ Radio Bilingue Launches on WBFO-HD3 Radioinisight - June 23, 2024
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External links
- WBFO official website
- Template:FCC Licensing and Management System facility
- Template:Show by date&band=fm&callLetter=WBFO WBFO in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
- Template:FCC Licensing and Management System facility
- Template:Show by date&band=fm&callLetter=WUBJ WUBJ in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
- Template:FCC Licensing and Management System facility
- Template:Show by date&band=fm&callLetter=WOLN WOLN in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
- WNED, WBFO's parent organization
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