WBWA (89.9 FM) is a

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 ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, broadcasting

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...

from the

Air 1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry. It primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History On July 15, ...

network without local deviation outside of

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper (broadcasting), bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand na ...

. It is owned by the

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 ...

. Unlike most Buffalo stations, its signal is mostly audible only in the

Southtowns The Southtowns (also known as the Buffalo Southtowns, the South Towns, or Southtown) is a region of Western New York, United States, that lies within the snowbelt or ski country. It includes the southern suburbs of Buffalo, New York. This is t ...

, and has no over-the-air availability across

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

into the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

; a weak signal and

adjacent-channel interference Adjacent-channel interference (ACI) is interference caused by extraneous power from a signal in an adjacent channel. ACI may be caused by inadequate filtering (such as incomplete filtering of unwanted modulation products in FM systems), improp ...

from public radio stations WNJA and WPSX make the station inaudible in most of the western

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...

History

The station signed on in 1989 as WFBF under the ownership of Family Stations, carrying its

Family Radio Family Radio is a non-profit Christian radio network based in Franklin, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1959, Family Radio airs Calvinist teaching and Christian music. The network is most widely known for its false Family Radio#Failed ...

network. In September 2019, Family Stations came to terms with the Educational Media Foundation to sell four stations, including WFBF, to that organization. Upon the sale's closing on November 22, 2019, the station became the Buffalo market's

K-Love K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

affiliate, and the station changed its call sign to WBKV. In June 2023, EMF filed to move the WBKV call sign to

WTSS WTSS (96.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, calling itself ''The New 96.1''. WTSS has an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. It is owned by Townsquare Media an ...

(102.5 FM), which it was in the process of acquiring from

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

; the 89.9 facility was repurposed as

Air1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry. It primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History On July 15, ...

station WBWA on June 16.

References

External links

* BWA (FM) Air1 radio stations Radio stations established in 1989 1989 establishments in New York (state) Educational Media Foundation radio stations BWA (FM) {{NewYork-radio-station-stub