WBEN (930 kHz) is a commercial news/talk radio station, licensed to serve Buffalo, New York, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are on Corporate Parkway, off Interstate 290 in Amherst, while its transmitter site is along South Parkway on Grand Island. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WBEN is relayed over 98.5 WKSE's HD3 subchannel, and is available online via Audacy.
Fox News Radio provides national news coverage while WKBW-TV provides weather forecasts. WBEN airs overflow sports programming from WGR, including the NFL on Westwood One Sports and Buffalo Sabres hockey games that are played on the same day as Buffalo Bills football contests. WBEN features local talk hosts during the day, including longtime Buffalo radio personality Tom Bauerle and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia along with news magazines in morning and afternoon drive time. Nighttime syndicated programming includes Will Cain Country, Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.link to WBEN schedule on Audacy's Web site
History 1920s WBEN has traditionally traced its history to September 8, 1930, the date when it made its first broadcast using the call sign WBEN."Edward Hubert Butler", Niagara Frontier: Biographical: Volume IV, 1931, page 10. However, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records list the station's first license date as September 22, 1922,"WBEN's First License" AM Query Results for WBEN (FCC.gov) tracing WBEN's origin to an earlier license, with the sequentially assigned callsign WMAK, that was issued to Norton Laboratories in Lockport, New York."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, October 2, 1922, page 3. The station initially used the facility built by the Norton Laboratories organization from Boston as part of an experiment to send amplitude modulated (AM) voice transmissions between Niagara Falls, New York, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
WMAK was a charter member of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS Radio Network program on September 18, 1927."Columbia Broadcasting System: Radio Stations" (advertisement), Radio Digest, September 1927, page 20. In 1928, WMAK joined with General Electric (GE), owner of WGY in Schenectady, to demonstrate television technology. A mechanical scan system with only 30 lines of vertical resolution, it was crude compared to later electronic standards such as the 525-line NTSC analog system and subsequent 1080-line high definition digital television. But the effort was historic because GE's experimental facility was the first American television station with a regular broadcast schedule, as well as the forerunner of the current Capital District CBS-TV affiliate WRGB. The comedy duo of Stoopnagle and Budd began their careers at WMAK in 1930.
When WMAK was launched in 1922, it initially operated on the standard "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz). In mid-1924 the station was reassigned to 1100 kHz"Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, June 2, 1924, page 7. and at the end of the year was shifted again, to 1130 kHz."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, January 2, 1925, page 7. In late 1927 the transmitter site was changed to Tonawanda,"Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, December 31, 1927, page 4. followed a few months later to Shawnee Road in Martinsville."Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, March 31, 1928, page 8. In mid-1927 the station moved to 550 kHz."Broadcasting Stations by Wave Length" (effective June 15, 1927), Radio Service Bulletin, May 31, 1927, page 10.
Effective November 11, 1928, WMAK was reassigned to 900 kHz, with 750 watts of power, now with a timeshare partner, WFBL in Syracuse,"Broadcasting Stations, By Wave Lengths, Effective November 11, 1928", Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States (Edition June 30, 1928), page 172. as a result of the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, which implemented a major realignment of American AM radio. (At this time, WMAK's previous frequency of 550 kHz was assigned to WGR). WMAK was unhappy with this new assignment because the reduced hours limited its ability to carry CBS network programming. WFBL was also unhappy, even though it was also issued an unusual second authorization for unlimited use of 1490 kHz to test "synchronized" transmissions. In practice, WFBL preferred the 900 kHz assignment and only broadcast on 1490 kHz during times when, under the timesharing agreement, 900 kHz was in use by WMAK.FRC Docket No. 468 (December 18, 1929), "WMAK Broadcasting System v. Federal Radio Commission", Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, October Term, 1929, No. 5117, page 85.
Eventually, a five-way legal battle broke out over control of the 900 kHz assignment. WMAK and WFBL filed applications for full-time use of the frequency, while two other existing stations, WEBR in Buffalo and WBNY in New York City, applied for half-time assignments. A fifth application, made with support from local businesses, came from the Buffalo Evening News newspaper, which filed a request to build a new full-time station. Although it had never operated a radio station, the News had extensive experience supplying a news service to local stations, beginning in November 1920 when it provided election returns for broadcast over an amateur station operated by Charles C. Klinck, Jr."'News' Wireless Service on Election Wins Praise", Buffalo Evening News, November 4, 1920, page 2. The News also had a contract to supply news for use by the Buffalo Broadcasting Company stations, however, a dispute led to the station group canceling the contract in September 1929.From Butler to Buffett: The Story Behind the Buffalo News by Murray B. Light, 2011, pages 100-101.
The five competing station applications were evaluated at a Federal Radio Commission hearing on December 18, 1929. The FRC issued its ruling two days later, denying the WMAK, WFBL, WEBR, and WBNY applications while ordering WFBL to transmit exclusively on 1490 kHz. It also granted the Buffalo Evening News request to build a new 1,000-watt station on 900 kHz with unlimited hours. In early 1929 WMAK had been acquired by the Buffalo Broadcasting Company, based at Buffalo's Rand Building, which also controlled WGR and WKBW in Buffalo and WKEN in nearby Kenmore. The FRC saw this as pertinent to its decision, stating "There existed in Buffalo, New York, a virtual monopoly of broadcasting facilities controlled by the Buffalo Broadcasting Corporation by reason of which Buffalo and the surrounding community were given radio broadcasting service... of an unstable and unsatisfactory nature",FRC commission chairman Ira E. Robinson filing, "WMAK Broadcasting System v. Federal Radio Commission", Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, October Term, 1929, No. 5117, page 39. therefore "the greatest benefit to the greatest number would result from granting the application of the Buffalo Evening News".FRC commission chairman Ira E. Robinson filing, "WMAK Broadcasting System v. Federal Radio Commission", Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, October Term, 1929, No. 5117, page 41. A construction permit to build the new station on 900 kHz, with a sequentially assigned provisional call sign of WRDA, was issued on January 23, 1930,WRDA Construction Permit, "WMAK Broadcasting System v. Federal Radio Commission", Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, October Term, 1929, No. 5117, pages 798-800. specifying a transmitter site in Orchard Park and studios in Buffalo."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 31, 1930, page 4.
1930s Both WMAK and WFBL appealed this ruling. WFBL complained that 1490 kHz was an "undesirable" assignment,Onondaga Company filing, "WMAK Broadcasting System v. Federal Radio Commission", Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, October Term, 1929, No. 5117, page 33. and the FRC eventually agreed for the station to use 1360 kHz instead. Following plaintiff arguments, but prior to the appeals court making a ruling, the Buffalo Evening News and the Buffalo Broadcasting Company devised a settlement, and agreed that instead of building a completely new station, the newspaper would purchase WMAK and upgrade its existing transmitter site."Peace Pact in Buffalo War", Radio World, July 5, 1930, page 16. The assignment of WMAK's license to the Buffalo Evening News was made on June 25, 1930, and WMAK's callsign was changed to WBEN. The original construction permit for a (never built) new station was modified to specify that it was now an upgrade to the existing Martinsville transmitter site.Card No. 1 (reverse): Construction Permit and License Record, FCC History Cards for WMAK/WBEN (image #3). At the same time, WMAK's call sign and intellectual property were transferred to the former WKEN in Kenmore,"Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, June 30, 1930, page 15. where it would operate until its deletion in 1932."Strike out all particulars", Radio Service Bulletin, February 29, 1932, page 24.
WBEN remained off the air while the upgrades were being made, until it made its debut broadcast on September 8. A new studio complex was built at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in downtown Buffalo, chosen primarily for access to the live orchestra there, which served WBEN, its sister FM station, and a television station opened in the spring of 1948, for more than 25 years.
In 1934, WBEN continued the station's tradition of innovation, launching the ultra-shortwave experimental station W8XH on the Apex radio band, as the first station of its kind to broadcast a regular schedule. In December 1938, WBEN began an experimental facsimile service, transmitting overnight newspaper extracts printed with special receivers in subscribing homes."Orders for New Facsimile Equipment Bring New Interest in Experiments", Broadcasting, February 1, 1938, page 13."Real Newspaper Delivered Through Ether", Buffalo Evening News, December 18, 1938, page 18. In April 1939, the facsimile service was transferred to an "experimental facsimile broadcasting station", W8XA,"Short Wave Listener: W8XA, WBEN's New High-Frequency Transmitter Is to Be Used for Facsimile Broadcasting" by Earnest H. Roy, Buffalo Evening News, April 8, 1939, page 5. which employed much of the equipment originally used by W8XH."WBEN Gets License", Buffalo Evening News, March 7, 1939, page 17. The facsimile service was ended in December 1940."Short Wave Listener" by Earnest H. Roy, Buffalo Evening News, December 21, 1940, page 5.
1940s In 1941, WBEN moved to 930 kHz as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) reassignments. The station also relocated its transmitter to Grand Island at this time, increasing full-time power to 5,000 watts. The Grand Island transmitter and two towers are still in use today.
Buffalo, in general, and WBEN in particular, was an incubator of national radio and television talent. In the early 1940s, WBEN's morning host was comedian and future national late-night television star Jack Paar (he left the station when drafted into the military in 1943 during World War II and opted not to return to Buffalo after the war). Paar's place was taken by Clint Buehlman, who was recruited from competing station WGR. Buehlman remained for 34 years until retiring in 1977.