WBF - Who?

Chris Taillie thinks UB students are missing out on a chance for some intellectual excitement - major intellectual excitement.

The senior history and sociology major is on a mission to raise student awareness of UB's public radio station, WBFO (88.7 FM).

"For the liberal, idealistic-minded college student, WBFO is a wet dream," he said. "There's a lot of programming on WBFO and National Public Radio that would interest younger people."

It is not as though the radio station is tiny, new, or obscure. It began operations in 1959 as UB's student station and now has a full-time staff of 17. Programs are broadcast 24 hours a day and, according to Taillie, WBFO is the area's 10th-rated station, pulling in over 100,000 listeners a week.

It's signal extends north past Niagara Falls into Canada, east to Batavia, and can be heard as far away as Olean and Jamestown. It also can be heard on the Internet through www.wbfo.org.

The problem, Taillie said, is that students are unaware of WBFO.

"I'd be hard pressed to find 50 people walking down the halls who would actually say 'Yeah, I know that's a UB station, I know it's run by UB,'" said Taillie.

He was correct.

"I've never listened to WBFO or seen any advertising for it," said Heather LeMar, a senior communication major.

"I think one of my friends is a DJ for WBFO, but he never talks about it much," said Colleen Burton, a freshman English major.

David Benders, WBFO's assistant general manager and program director, agreed, but said publicity is needed before the station can be successful.

"The students don't know about us, and we want to do more reaching out to the university," said Bender.

But WBFO is no tiny, fledgling radio station. Although its history in Western New York is strong, the station is devoid of a strategic marketing plan alerting students of its presence on campus, said Taillie.

According to Taillie, lack of exposure plays a major part in why students do not know much about the station.

"It's not promoted or broadcast anywhere on campus," Taillie said.

Taillie thinks students would be interested in the NPR news programs broadcast by the station, such as "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered."

In his opinion, they offer an in-depth and balance view of current affairs and politics that can't be found anywhere else.

Gabriel DiMaio, a WBFO producer/reporter and UB Law School graduate who focuses on university news and affairs, also believes NPR can be a great resource for students who want to know more about topics in the headlines.

"What NPR does especially well is connect the dots," he said. "For somebody who is not an expert, it paints a picture as to what's going on and why it's important."

DiMaio, who also teaches at communication law and radio course at Buffalo State College, found students to be intellectually curious but often at a loss to find a resource to satisfy that curiosity.

Another NPR program called "Talk of the Nation," a live interview and phone-in show, is a great information resource because it covers all the sides of an issue, he said.

"I think the perception that NPR is for eggheads is unfair," said DiMaio referring to the popular perception that NPR programming is geared toward the politicos and media buffs.

Many of the UB listeners who tune into WBFO spawn from friendly support for a buddy or roommate.

When Alison Reis, a junior communications major, listens to WBFO, she completes the void that DiMaio yearns to fill.

"I have a couple of friends that have spots on the radio, so I'll listen when they on," Reis said.

On the arts and music front, students might enjoy "Fresh Air," Taillie said. Hosted by UB alumnus Terry Gross, the show explores musicians and artists' work.

For listeners looking for programming with an "edge" to it, Bender recommends

"This American Life," which airs Fridays at 7 p.m. The program proved somewhat difficult for the interviewees to define, with the consensus revolving around "off-beat," "unique," and "unlike anything else on the radio."

What has been WBFO's mainstay for years, though, is jazz music. The station broadcasts 13 hours of jazz a day between on weekdays, and has a jazz CD library of approximately 12,000 titles. Over the years, WBFO has become the main broadcast source in Western New York for a wide variety of jazz music.

On the weekend, the music switches mainly to blues, another area in which the station would appeal to students, Bender said. The station's growing blues CD collection has reached over 2,000.

But Bender has other problems to deal with.

"I really don't know what I'm going to do with all of these," Bender said as he opened the door to one of several file cabinets containing the 15,000 vinyl albums still in the stations library. "We only have one turntable left in the station."