WBHM (90.3
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
) is a
non-commercial
A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
FM radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
. The station is licensed to the
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...
, where it maintains its
radio studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...
s on 11th Street South. WBHM features programming from
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
,
American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...
and
Public Radio Exchange
The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...
. On weekdays, it carries news and information programming, with
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
heard late nights, seven days a week. Weekend programming includes public radio shows such as ''
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me'', ''
On The Media'', ''
The Moth Radio Hour'' and ''
Travel with Rick Steves'', as well as
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...
and
New Age music
New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather than tra ...
.
WBHM has an
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...
(ERP) of 32,000
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is in
Vulcan Park, amid
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
s for other Birmingham-area FM and TV stations. It broadcasts using
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
technology. On a
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
, it operates the Alabama Radio Reading Service for blind and visually impaired listeners. Articles from the ''
Birmingham News'' and popular magazines are read on the service. WBHM programming is also heard on 99 watt
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
W291DC at 106.1 MHz in Birmingham.
History
Early years
Even though
Huntsville beat Birmingham, the state's largest city in 1976 (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 full-time
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
station since the demise of a commercial FM outlet, WSFM, which gave way to the present
WDJC-FM in
1967
Events January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
.
By the 1990s, WBHM discontinued local classical hosts. It switched to
syndicated programming from the ''Classical Public Radio Network'', a joint production of
KUSC-FM
KUSC (91.5 FM; "Classical California™ KUSC") is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which a ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
Colorado Public Radio
Colorado Public Radio (CPR) is a public radio state network based in Denver, Colorado that broadcasts three services: news, classical music and Indie 102.3, which plays adult album alternative music. CPR airs its programming on 15 full-power ...
, to provide programming in the middays, evenings, and overnight. Weekday mornings and afternoons were dedicated to news and information programming, largely from
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
.
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. Classical music is now heard on WBHM after 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Midnight on Sundays. Also on Sunday nights, two long-running atmospheric music programs, ''
Echoes'' and ''
Hearts of Space,'' air on WBHM.
WSGN
WSGN 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 by several Alabama radio stations and by 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
WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios atop R ...
-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 cooperative arrangement was struck with WBHM to provide programming.
The call letters of WSGN (for founder ''Birmingham News'', the "South's Greatest Newspaper"
) 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 1950s 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
Brandon is a New England town, town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 4,129.
History
On October 20, 1761, the town of Neshobe was chartered to Capt. Josiah Powers. In ...
.
On September 30, 2018, WSGN ceased broadcasting programming from WBHM as Gadsden State Community College sold the license to a non-profit religious broadcaster. The sale, to
Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...
, was consummated on January 31, 2019. GSCC had discontinued its broadcasting curriculum some years earlier, leaving the school no further use for the station.
Gulf States Newsroom
In 2020, WBHM spearheaded the creation of the Gulf States Newsroom, a regional news collaboration with
Mississippi Public Broadcasting,
WWNO
WWNO (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a public radio, public, non-commercial radio, commercial radio station in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. It is owned by the University of New Orleans, offering a news and information radio format with so ...
(
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
), and
WRKF (
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...
). This initiative, supported by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...
(CPB) and
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, aimed to strengthen regional news coverage. CPB provided a $1.27 million grant over 44 months, facilitating the establishment of six new reporting positions and two editing roles.
The Gulf States Newsroom was initially headquartered at WBHM, where a managing editor coordinated content collaboration among regional partners and national platforms. It became a part of the regional network alongside newsrooms in Texas and California, which initially received support from CPB and have since grown into regional hubs for NPR.
[
]
Financial Difficulties
The station reported operating losses exceeding $300,000 in the fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Executive Director William Dahlberg stated on March 2023, that WBHM needed to downsize its team to maintain financial sustainability. Although Dahlberg did not disclose the number of positions eliminated, former employees stated that four people had been laid off from the station. Among them were Program Director Michael Krall and reporter Cody D. Short.
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, hosted by Greg Bass. From July 2009 to 2013, the program was reduced in frequency to a 60-minute monthly broadcast. Arts-related segments on WBHM are now a part of regular news and feature shows, but ''Tapestry'' is no longer broadcast over the air. ''Tapestry'' archival programs and segments are still available on the WBHM website.
The WBHM news department has local updates inserted in ''Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
'' (weekdays from 5-9 a.m.) and ''All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' (weekdays from 3-7 p.m.).
References
External links
WBHM official website
Alabama Radio Reading Service
*
*
*
{{University of Alabama at Birmingham
BHM
NPR member stations
News and talk radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1976
1976 establishments in Alabama