WBHM
WBHM (FM 90.3) is a public radio station licensed to UAB and Birmingham's NPR affiliate. The station primarily broadcasts classical music from Los Angeles' Classical Public Radio Network, with NPR news and entertainment programming in the mornings, afternoons and weekends. Gadsden's WSGN operated primarily as a re-broadcaster of WBHM's signal.
WBHM supplements national news from NPR with locally-produced news reports featuring Steve Chiotakis, the local host for "Morning Edition" and Rosemary Pennington, local host for "All Things Considered". The news department is headed by Tanya Ott.
WBHM's only full-length local program is Tapestry, produced by Ott and program director Michael Krall and hosted by Greg Bass. The station's general manager is Mike Morgan.
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 through a grant from the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.
History
Huntsville pioneered public radio in Alabama in October 1976, with WBHM following just two months later.
In June 2004, WBHM made significant changes to its programming, dropping 7 hours per week of classical music programs, including the live Saturday afternoon broadcast of the New York Metropolitan Opera. The airtime was filled with syndicated news, information and quiz-show programs.
In September, 2006, ratings and listenership data from Arbitron and Audience Research Analysis were reviewed and a decision was made to increase classical music programming from 100 to 108.5 hours per week by dropping some of the less-popular information and quiz shows, as well as a Celtic music show.
Programs
Personalities
- John Lemley, who announced on WBHM in the mid 1990s.
References
- Huebner, Michael (September 8, 2006) "WBHM to add classical music, drop some shows". Birmingham News
External links
- WBHM website
- Alabama Radio Reading Service
- WBHM information at FCC.gov