WBHM

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WBHM
Broadcast areaBirmingham area
Frequency90.3 MHz
Programming
FormatNews Talk Information
AffiliationsAmerican Public Media, National Public Radio, Public Radio International
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
December 5, 1976
Call sign meaning
BirmingHaM[1]
Technical information
Facility ID4240
ClassC1
ERP32,000 watts
HAAT370.0 meters
Transmitter coordinates
33°29′19.00″N 86°47′58.00″W / 33.4886111°N 86.7994444°W / 33.4886111; -86.7994444
Repeater(s)WSGN 91.5 MHz (Gadsden)
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitehttp://uab.wbhm.org

WBHM (90.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format during the daytime and mostly classical music overnight. Licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, USA, the station serves the Birmingham area and through repeater WSGN also serves the Gadsden area. The station is licensed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where it maintains its studios. WBHM features programing from American Public Media, National Public Radio and Public Radio International.[2]

On a sub-carrier channel, WBHM operates the Alabama Radio Reading Service, which broadcasts readings from the Birmingham News and popular magazines for blind and visually impaired residents of the Birmingham area. The other public radio stations in Alabama also offer the service, provided through a grant by the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.

History

Even though Huntsville beat Birmingham, the state's largest city (in population), in getting Alabama's first public radio station in October 1976 (the present WLRH), WBHM did not follow far behind, beginning operations on December 5. WBHM became Birmingham's first full-time classical station since the demise of a commercial FM outlet, WSFM, which gave way to the present WDJC-FM in 1967.

WBHM no longer has local hosts for classical music; for most of the 2000s, it exclusively relied on the Classical Public Radio Network (a joint production of KUSC-FM in Los Angeles and Colorado Public Radio) to provide programming in the middle of the day, evenings, and overnight.

When CPRN shut down operations in 2008, WBHM switched to an all-news/discussion format in the daytime hours with programming from PRI and NPR, a move that several other previously classical-formatted NPR affiliates elsewhere have made in recent times in response to listener demand. Classical music is now heard on WBHM only overnights after 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays (Midnight on Saturdays and Sundays).

Perhaps the station's most accomplished alumnus is John Lemley, who hosted Afternoon Music and All Things Considered on WBHM from 1992 to 1997. He now serves as the All Things Considered host each weekday afternoon on Atlanta's WABE-FM, that city's main NPR outlet. Lemley was further known as an accomplished actor while residing in Birmingham.

WSGN

WSGN-FM began operation as WEXP (for experiment) on February 11, 1975, primarily as a training facility for Gadsden State Community College's broadcasting department. The station was assembled using equipment donated from several Alabama radio stations and from Rick Maze of Birmingham, plus purchases from the State of Alabama Surplus Property warehouse. Construction was performed by broadcast instructors Don Smith and Bob Mayben with assistance from WBRC-TV personnel in Birmingham.

The station was operated by students and faculty for many years. When both Smith and Mayben left the school for other interests, new instructor Neil Mullen took over the station operation and a programming deal was struck with WBHM to provide classical music programming.

The call letters of WSGN (for founder Birmingham News, the "South's Greatest Newspaper"[1]) date back to the beginning of radio broadcasting in the state, and were formerly located in Birmingham at 610 on the AM dial. In fact, there was a WSGN-FM in the 50's which today is known as WDJC in Birmingham. The call letters were changed under Mullens' leadership when WSGN 610 AM was sold to a company that did not want to use the call letters, but did not want another station in Birmingham to be able to use them, so another deal was struck to rename WEXP as WSGN. As of 2013, the WEXP call letters are located in Brandon, Vermont.[3]

Local programs

Tapestry--Originally a weekly 30-minute program, the show spotlights aspects of Birmingham's local artistic and musical scene, as well as features interviews with artists coming through the Birmingham region. As of July 2009, the program changed to an 60-minute monthly program heard on the first Friday of the month at noon and rebroadcast the following Saturday at 11 a.m. Greg Bass is the host. The program is also available as a podcast.

References

  1. ^ a b Nelson, Bob (2008-10-18). "Call Letter Origins". The Broadcast Archive. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  2. ^ "WBHM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ^ ‹The template FMQ is being considered for deletion.› WEXP in the FCC FM station database. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.

External links


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