Buffalo Radio: Historic Calls WEBR Return Airing Standards

Nearly 100 years after being founded in Buffalo, the call letters WEBR have a new home on the radio airwaves at 1440 AM starting today under local owner William Yuhnke of Kenmore Broadcasting, who purchased WJJL from M. J. Phillips. Don Angelo is general manager.

Yuhnke president of Liberty Yellow Cab and Transportation in Buffalo and Angelo, veteran radio and television executive elected to the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame, are Buffalo natives. They have been friends since they worked together in the 1970s at area radio stations.

“Our WEBR music format, ‘Standards of Excellence,’ is inspired by the Great American Song Book,” including classics from Hollywood, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley,” Angelo said. “This music is timeless,” he said, noting the trend of contemporary recording artists such as Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Harry Conic and Norah Jones to dip into the rich treasure of “cool, classy and sophisticated songs.”

Reprising WEBR’s tagline, “The Sound of The City,” WEBR also will feature music recorded by local artists. Veteran area broadcaster Tom Darro will continue hosting his daily “Viewpoints” talk show currently heard on 1440 AM at WJJL. WEBR will be an affiliate of the 180-station USA Radio Network. The station will stream at WEBR1440.com.

Yuhnke said: “We are broadcasters, patriots and Christians who love the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region and are dedicated to God, family, freedom and country. Our pledge is to serve our hometown community with reliable, non-biased, fair and balanced news, information and entertainment. We will provide listeners an open mic to express their personal opinions without interruption by a talk show host.”

Local ownership, he pointed out, brings flexibility in responding to listeners. “We are here and want to be close to and serve our friends and neighborhoods across Niagara and Erie Counties and Southern Ontario.” Yuhnke said that programming would include “local legends” such as former TV personality Barry Lillis and “Jazz in the Nighttime” host Al Wallack.

WEBR 1440 AM (1 Kw)

WEBR was born on October 14,1924 when engineer Herbert H. Howell built WEBR and signed on from 54 Niagara St. In 1936, The Buffalo Evening News bought the station and then sold it to The Buffalo Courier-Express in 1942. WEBR was located in a historic red brick mansion at 23 North St. Struck by lightning in 2014, 23 North St. has since been demolished.

WEBR served Western New York for 70 years at 970 AM. Its last media owner, Western New York Public Broadcasting (WNED), purchased WEBR in 1975. The call letters were dropped in 1993 when the station became WNED (now WBFO).