WNED-FM (94.5

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 ...

radio station

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

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 ...

. WNED-FM offers a

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 ...

format. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (formerly the Western New York Educational TV Association),

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Buffalo Toronto Public Media. The organization also operates Buffalo's

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

station,

WNED-TV WNED-TV (channel 17), branded BTPM PBS, is a PBS member television station in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (doing business as Buffalo Toronto Public Media) alongside NPR m ...

(channel 17), as well as a second radio station,

WBFO WBFO (88.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "BTPM NPR") is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio, public radio station in Buffalo, New York. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Associati ...

(which offers a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format and programming from

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 ...

). While WNED-FM airs no commercials, it does conduct periodic

pledge drive A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term " pledge" originates from the promise that a contributor makes to send in funding at regular interva ...

s on the air to seek donations for the station. WNED-FM has local hosts in most day-parts, including weekends. Programming on WNED-FM is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on WNJA (89.7 FM) in

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamesto ...

, for listeners in Southwestern New York and some parts of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. WNED-FM's studios and offices are at Horizons Plaza on Lower Terrace in Buffalo, and 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 off Zimmerman Road in

Boston, New York Boston is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 7,948 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is an interior town of the county and one of t ...

. WNED-FM and TV also maintain an office in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

for listeners and contributors in Canada.

Superpower status

WNED-FM is a grandfathered "Superpower" Class B FM radio station, operating at 94,000 watts. WNED-FM is one of four Buffalo superpower FM stations, along with 92.9

WBUF WBUF (92.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Buffalo, New York. Its studios are located at the Rand Building in downtown Buffalo, with its transmitter on Elmwood Avenue in North Buffalo. WBUF is owned by Townsquare Media and bro ...

, 99.5

WDCX-FM WDCX-FM (99.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Buffalo, New York. The station airs a brokered religious radio format. WDCX-FM is owned by Kimtron, Inc., a division of Crawford Broadcasting. Its studios are located in the Allento ...

and 102.5

WBKV WBKV (102.5 FM) is a radio station in Buffalo, New York. It is owned by Educational Media Foundation and is a part of its K-Love network. The license currently on 102.5 has been operating since 1946, with predecessors dating to 1932; it is ...

. Under current U.S. Federal Communications Commission rules, Class B FM stations are not allowed to exceed 50,000 watts ERP. WNED-FM at one time broadcast at 105,000 watts; however in 2012, it increased its antenna height due to "structural modifications" to the tower, at which time it also reduced its power. WNED-FM's signal extends into Canada; as such, the station has listeners in Toronto and around the

Niagara Peninsula The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. However, WNED-FM may be difficult to tune in the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

area, due to

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

CHKX-FM CHKX-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 94.7 FM from Hamilton, Ontario and licensed to Hamilton/ Burlington. The station airs a country format branded as ''KX 94.7''. CHKX's studios are located on Upper Wellington Street in Hamilto ...

94.7.

History

WNED-FM first signed on as a commercial radio station on June 6, 1960, with the

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

WEBR-FM. It was a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WEBR WEBR (1440 kHz) is an AM commercial radio station licensed to Niagara Falls, New York. It serves the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area from studios on Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo. The station is currently owned by William Yuhnke, wit ...

(which at the time was at AM 970, a frequency now occupied by

WDCZ WDCZ (970 AM) is an American radio station in Buffalo, New York. WDCZ has not originated any programming of its own since 2012. The station operated as a commercial station from its launch in 1924 until 1975, then operated as a public radio st ...

). On September 24, 1971, WEBR-FM was renamed WBCE; on May 21, 1973, it became WREZ, before returning to the WEBR-FM call sign on April 21, 1975. In 1975, the Western New York Educational TV Association bought it and AM 970 WEBR, turning both stations into non-commercial operations. On August 14, 1976, 94.5 was renamed WNED-FM, and the following year began offering a classical music format with Peter Goldsmith becoming music director there until his retirement in October 2009 (he died the following year). WNED-FM, along with sister stations WBFO and WNED-TV, began collectively referring to themselves as Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM) on February 4, 2020; concurrently, WNED-FM amended its own branding from "Classical WNED 94.5" to "WNED Classical". While the rebranding in part reflected WNED-TV's significant Canadian viewership and financial support, WNED officials told ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...

'' that the organization's radio stations have minimal listenership in Canada. In April 2025, it further amended its branding to "BTPM Classical" to include the BTPM name.

Local programming

WNED-FM has an extensive music library, which allows the station to produce local programming for most of its broadcast day. It collaborates with the

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York led by Music Director JoAnn Falletta. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Each season it ...

(conducted by

JoAnn Falletta JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954, in Queens, New York) is an American conductor. Biography Falletta was raised in the borough of Queens in an Italian-American household. She was educated at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard Sch ...

, who has her own weekday morning feature ''JoAnn's Classical Corner'') and other local ensembles as well as local school music departments.

HD Radio

WNED-FM operates in

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 ...

. Its HD2

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 compressi ...

, which prior to November 2021 had carried a simulcast of WBFO, carries the JazzWorks network feed. JazzWorks had previously been heard on WBFO's subchannel before it launched an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

feed in its place in 2021. As of 2024, The Bridge is duplicated on both WNED-HD2 and WBFO-HD2, eliminating the last vestiges of jazz programming in Buffalo.Radio Coverage Maps
(section: HD Radio). ''WNED.org''. Retrieved June 25, 2024.

Repeater

References

External links

* * *
List of "grandfathered" FM radio stations in the U.S.
{{Classical Radio Stations in New York NED-FM Classical music radio stations in the United States NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in New York (state)