A marriage made in NPR heaven

By Megan Wagner

Ah marriage. The courtship, the engagement and then the joining of two people is always such a happy and momentous occasion. After months (or even years) of courtship, a couple makes the decision to take the next step.  Friday at WNED, we celebrated an exciting betrothing of our own – the engagement of WNED AM 970 to WBFO 88.7 FM.

WBFO, an NPR station with over 90,000 weekly listeners, is an extremely reputable radio organization and we’re thrilled to welcome them into the WNED media family.  WNED 970 AM boasts award-winning journalism and is also a member station of the Innovation Trail.  The specifics of the acquisition can be found in the wned.org pressroom.

Many WNY citizens may ask the question – why?  The answer – it’s all about the community.  The purchase will strengthen public radio in the region, allowing a more vibrant programming mix and enhanced local news reporting.  It will also help make more efficient use of the resources provided by donors and taxpayers.  So needless to say, this will allow two good operations to become one great operation and provide better and deeper journalism for the region.

It’s important to remind the community that the NPR and public radio services that we all enjoy will continue to be available after this change in ownership. We will build the best radio station we can.  That means we need time to explore all options and no final decisions have been made at this time.

As soon as WNED receives federal and state approvals, the wedding date announcement will be made.