WBFO, broadcast on 88.7 FM, is the largest NPR member station for
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. It is broadcast from the South campus (AKA Main Street Campus) of the
University at BuffaloUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
.
The station runs a hybrid of NPR programming and locally operated
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and
contemporaryAdult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
music. It has repeater stations on 88.1 in
Jamestown, New YorkJamestown is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the United States. The population was 31,146 at the 2010 census.The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake...
as WUBJ and 91.3 in
Olean, New YorkOlean is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County, and serves as the financial, business, transportation and entertainment center of the county. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern Tier region of New York.The city is...
as WOLN.
WBFO has acknowledged that it is considering consolidation of services with, and possibly entering into a
local marketing agreementIn U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
with, crosstown rival
WNED-AMWNED is an American radio station broadcasting in Buffalo, New York at a frequency of 970 kHz. It offers an all-news format.WNED is one of two National Public Radio affiliates in Buffalo. The other is WBFO, operated by the University of Buffalo...
, which carries some of the same programming as WBFO. WNED's parent company agreed to purchase WBFO in July 2011 subject to FCC and New York State approval.
Programming
WBFO presents a mix of news and music programming. WBFO's local news department has been highly recognized by the New York State
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Broadcasters Association. WBFO is all-news during the day and features
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
during the evenings and overnights.
Weekends air a mix of syndicated talk programs (such as
Car Talk,
Only A Game and
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!) in mornings, and music programs (
The Thistle & Shamrock,
Bebop and Beyond, and
Piano Jazz) in the evenings. Locally originated blues programming fills out most of the Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Prior to 2010, WBFO aired a four-hour block of jazz programming during the midday shift between
Morning Edition and
Talk of the Nation. This 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.
- Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
, 5-10 AM
- On Point
On Point is a two-hour call-in radio show hosted by Tom Ashbrook, a former The Boston Globe foreign editor and reporter, author and Internet entrepreneur. It is produced by WBUR in Boston and syndicated by National Public Radio...
, 10-11 AM and 8-9 PM
- The Capitol Pressroom, 1 PM-2 PM
- Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
, 2-4 PM
- All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
, weekdays 4-7 PM, weekends 5-6 PM
- Jazz (The Sunset Lounge) with Debbie Sims, 10 PM-12 M
- Blues with Jim Santella, Anita West, and Debbie Sims weekends 11 AM-5 PM
- Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
, weekdays 7-8 PM, Sundays 7-8 AM
- Only a Game, Saturdays 7-8 AM
- Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
, 8-10 AM
- Car Talk
Car Talk is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are automobiles and repair, and it often takes humorous turns...
, Saturdays 6-7 AM, repeated 10-11 AM
- Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member...
Sundays 6-7 AM, repeated 10-11 AM
- This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
, weekends 6-8 PM
- Science Friday, Friday 2-4 PM (part of Talk of the Nation)
- The Thistle & Shamrock
The Thistle & Shamrock is a weekly American syndicated radio program, named after the national emblems of Scotland and Ireland, specializing in Celtic music. It is heard on 380 National Public Radio stations, and is available internationally on WorldSpace via NPR Worldwide; according to NPR...
, Saturdays 8-10 PM
- Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
's Piano JazzPiano Jazz is a weekly one hour radio show produced and distributed by National Public Radio. It began on June 4, 1978 and has always been hosted by jazz pianist Marian McPartland. It is the longest running cultural program on NPR. The show features a single guest, and usually consists of about an...
, Saturdays 10 PM-12 M
- Bebop and Beyond, Sundays 8-9 PM
- Jazz Favorites Hour, Sundays 9-10 PM
WBFO also runs an
HD2HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
channel called "On the Border," with an
adult album alternativeAdult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....
format. WBFO On the Border is a reflection of the Buffalo music culture, offering an eclectic blend of
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
worldWorld music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
,
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
,
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
performed by emerging and heritage musicians.
Staff
Full Time Staff
Mark Vogelzang, Interim General Manager
David Benders, Assistant General Manager and Program Director
Doug Blakely, producer, midday jazz host, and
Talk of the NationTalk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
host
Kelli Bocock Natale, Producer
Eileen Buckley, Assistant News Director and News Reporter/Producer
Damian Dolce, Resource Manager
Bert Gambini, Music Director and
Morning EditionMorning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
host
Joyce Kryszak, News and Cultural Affairs Producer
Mike McKay, Underwriting Sales Consultant
Mark Scott, News Director
Joan Wilson, Director of Communications and Marketing and Assistant General Manager
Mark Wozniak,
All Things ConsideredAll Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
host and Traffic Director
Donald R. Ingalls, Jr., Advisory Board Chair
WBFO's Part Time Staff
David Chandler, Audio Engineer
Tim Nabzdyk, Director of Digital Media
Michael Kirwan, Sunday control board operator, Jazz and Blues host
Christopher Jamele,
Weekend EditionWeekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
host
Howard Riedel, Alternate
Morning EditionMorning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
host
Jim Santella, Blues host and co-host of Theatre Talk
Debbie Sims, Saturday Blues host from 10PM until midnight, fill-in jazz host, and audio producer
Anita West, Sunday Blues host
Sharon Osorio, News Reporter
Michael Mroziak, News Reporter
WBFO's On-Air/ Production Volunteers
Anthony Chase, co-host of Theatre Talk
Macy Favor, host of the Jazz Favorites Hour
Nakisha Henry
Barbara Herrick, production volunteer
Dick Judelsohn, host of BeBop and Beyond
Andrew Polina