WBFO

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

See also

• WNED-FM
• WDCZ

External links

• WBFO Official Web site
• 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