Since 1975, this will be format change #12. Their A/C format through most of the 1980's seemed to be the most successful.

RadioActive wrote:

If memory serves, didn't they try Howard Stern at one point? Possibly even while his semi-censored version was airing on Q107.

They did and it was live. Q107 had an at least 20 minute delay to edit anything that might offend GTA listeners.

With the proper antenna placement I can still get the signal. During tropo season I can sometimes get both BUF and the Grand by changing antenna position.

My favorite era for WBUF was when it was free form. I think that lasted from 1974 to 1978. When it went AOR lamentably.

One of my recordings from the golden era:

WBUF 1975

Also have some from the AOR days on a weekend they were playing 1960's music Second clip below:

WBUF 1978 




 

They were an AC billed simply as WBUF FM 93 from the end of 1981 through to 1991 when they unveiled the Mix monniker.

Paul Jeffries wrote:

Jody Thornton wrote:

They were an AC billed simply as WBUF FM 93 from the end of 1981 through to 1991 when they unveiled the Mix monniker.

I think they became B93 shortly after changing their moniker to Mix 92.9, possibly to avoid confusion with CKFM, who had just recently rebranded themselves as The Mix 99.9 around the same time.


PJ
 

Nice thinking, but Jack & Jack were closer on the dial for the longest time!

Would a Buffalo station really care what the branding of a Toronto station is? Not sure I've ever heard of that happening down south. But anything's possible.

EDGE102.1 and EDGE103.3 perhaps?

What is it with this station's seemingly endless inability to land on a format that works? I can't recall a revolving door anywhere that matches the record of WBUF (or whatever call letters it has this week.)

RadioActive wrote:

What is it with this station's seemingly endless inability to land on a format that works? I can't recall a revolving door anywhere that matches the record of WBUF (or whatever call letters it has this week.)

They managed to hold onto Jack FM for quite some time. 

RadioAaron wrote:

Radiowiz wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

Maybe in the diary days, but I doubt it today.

Those were the diary days when Jack & Jack were side by side. 
 

Do the non-CN tower signals even make it into Buffalo?

Probably not.
Funny how CIDC ended up changing their name to Z103. Was it Hits or Htz that a diary writer here on the Canadian side was listening to? I'm sure Htz listeners wrote 97.7, but still... 

It's still not intelligent to have the same name as a station that bleeds into the same market, even with PPM. 
Being extra sure (with a different radio name) is always best.
 

Paul Jeffries wrote:

I think they became B93 shortly after changing their moniker to Mix 92.9, possibly to avoid confusion with CKFM, who had just recently rebranded themselves as The Mix 99.9 around the same time.


PJ
 

If I remember correctly, B92.9 was the Dancing Oldies Format, so that would be different than the AC years.  I remember them sticking with AC until they became Smooth Jazz in 1994.  The last AC song they played was "Lucky One" by Amy Grant, going into the format change.
 

Got this from Wikipedia. It should clarify this once and for all. But like the format changes, it's a loooong list!

From early 1991 to 2005, WBUF had a history of short-lived and rapidly changing formats (usually failed attempts to challenge other more dominant stations in the market or adopt fad formats popular in the radio industry for brief periods of time), with the station typically changing formats every two years:

• April 2, 1991-Early 1992: "Mix 92.9", "B93" (Adult contemporary)[3]
• 1995: WSJZ Smooth Jazz 92.9


• This format launched on March 30, 1995, and lasted two years. The final song on "B93" was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, while the first song on "WSJZ" was "Smooth Operator" by Sade.[4]


• 1997: WLCE Alice@92.9 (Modern adult contemporary)


• This format began on April 3, 1997, and was intended to challenge what was then WMJQ (now WTSS) with an edgier, slightly alternative-leaning sound.[5] WTIC-FM morning show (Gary) Craig and Company was syndicated to WLCE, and later WBUF, for its morning show. The format lasted two years.


• 1999: WBUF Rhythmic oldies "B92.9"


• Using the slogan "Buffalo's Dancin' Oldies", this disco-centric format began on June 23, 1999, at Noon, and was positioned to an older audience than Urban sister station WBLK and to directly challenge traditionally oldies-formatted WHTT (commercials advertising B92.9 mocked WHTT's music, using "Little Darlin'" by The Diamonds as an example, as music that put a person to sleep).[6] As with other rhythmic oldies stations of the era, the format was short-lived; it lasted two years. Its end was marked with a stunt, playing the song "We Will Rock You" by Queen repeatedly for one day.


• 2001: Buffalo's Rock Station (Active rock)


• This format was launched on at Noon on February 23, 2001.[7] The first song was "Abacab" by Genesis. "92.9 WBUF", as it was called, was intended to challenge WGRF and WEDG. WBUF brought the syndicated Howard Stern Show to Buffalo's morning drive. Later on, the station added Opie and Anthony. A combination of two events held by the duo led to their demise on WBUF. The first was "T'n'A with O&A," a raunchy party hosted by Opie and Anthony in western New York and sponsored by WBUF. However, before any disciplinary action for that incident was taken, the hosts were embroiled in the infamous "Sex for Sam" scandal in New York City, where two lovers had sex in St. Paul's Cathedral in New York City in exchange for Samuel Adams beer. It was the latter event that ultimately led to their first firing. As Gregg Hughes has said, "We were well on our way to being fired for the 'T'n'A with O&A' party, when we were canceled for 'Sex for Sam'." Instead of reverting the drive time back to rock, Opie & Anthony were replaced with the all-talk Don and Mike Show.


• 2004: FM Talk


• This format was a revival of WWKB's ill-fated "hot talk" format of the mid-1990s. The format was intended to challenge WGR and WBEN, as well as partially replace WNSA. With both drive blocks filled with hot talk hosts, the natural progression was to make WBUF a full-time talk outlet. With the region's best known hot talk host, J. R. Gach, working in Albany and unavailable, Brother Wease, from sister station WCMF in Rochester, was hired to fill the midday, while Tom Leykis and Loveline were given nighttime slots. The format ended after six months due to Wease developing nasal cancer and could not work both his Rochester and Buffalo shifts.

• 2005: Jack FM


• On May 16, 2005, the station flipped to an adult hits format, branded under the Jack FM name. Stern was the only host retained when CBS Radio, then the station's owner, dropped the talk format, as CBS burned off Stern's contract (their slogan even briefly being "Howard in the morning, playing what we want all day"). It was the first format in about 10 years not intended to directly compete with another station in the market. When Stern left terrestrial radio for Sirius Satellite Radio, he was not replaced on WBUF. Jack FM was, by far, the longest-running format in the station's recent history, lasting 15 years, longer than the previous six formats combined. Subsequent owners of WBUF, Regent Communications and Townsquare Media, continued to license the Jack FM format and did not share the same desire to flip the station's format every few years as previous owners CBS Radio and Infinity Broadcasting had done.
• Similar to other Jack FM stations, WBUF had no live disc jockeys, carried no syndicated long-form or short-form programming, and carried no time-sensitive information (such as news, weather or sports), only interrupting its music for commercials, pre-recorded one-line jokes and station identification; this format was followed uniformly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At first, 92.9 was one of the only Jack FM stations which didn't use Howard Cogan as the voice of Jack due to its proximity to Toronto's CJAQ-FM, which identified itself as 92.5 Jack-FM.
• Using Cogan would have most likely caused confusion with listeners due to the fact the two stations are so close on the FM dial, 92.5 and 92.9. Until mid-April 2009, WBUF used voice talent Brad Davidorf, best known for his voice work on TBS. At that point, WBUF began using Howard Cogan as its imaging voice. Within two months of Cogan's employment on WBUF, CJAQ-FM dropped the Jack format and went back to the Top 40/CHR format known as "Kiss-FM" that Jack-FM replaced six years earlier.


• 2020: Buffalo's Real Rock (Mainstream rock/active rock)


• On November 25, 2020 at Noon, after briefly stunting with a loop of Christmas music (which ended with "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by John Cougar Mellencamp), the station flipped back to a mainstream rock format, branding once more as "92.9 WBUF, Everything That Rocks" and returning to the broad-based rock format the station had featured from 2001 to 2004. The first song under the rock format was "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC.[8] The station added the nationally syndicated The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show a few months after launch.
• From 2020 to 2022, WBUF's playlist leaned toward a classic rock presentation billed as "Everything that Rocks,", initially hoping to take advantage of on-air turmoil in the market's heritage classic rock station WGRF. When this was unsuccessful, on June 10, 2022 WBUF shifted its format from mainstream rock to active rock, branded as "92.9 WBUF, Buffalo's Real Rock". The station's airstaff (other than one daypart) and presentation did not otherwise change. There had been no major active rock station in Buffalo since WEDG shifted to alternative (itself prompted by previous alternative station WLKK, another station in Buffalo notorious for its frequent format changes, changed format to country music).

Radiowiz wrote:

Jody Thornton wrote:

Paul Jeffries wrote:

I think they became B93 shortly after changing their moniker to Mix 92.9, possibly to avoid confusion with CKFM, who had just recently rebranded themselves as The Mix 99.9 around the same time.


PJ
 

If I remember correctly, B92.9 was the Dancing Oldies Format, so that would be different than the AC years.  I remember them sticking with AC until they became Smooth Jazz in 1994.  The last AC song they played was "Lucky One" by Amy Grant, going into the format change.
 

Here's the switch from B 93 to Smooth Jazz back in March of 1995:




 

I wonder then if I'm thinking of the switch from Mix to B.  I only say that because I was in Burlington and I remember Amy Grant going into the new format.

Ive dragged the toronto (CN Tower) signals almost towards Erie PA once on a road trip - this also is because of the lakes in aid.   Once you get south to the hills of Buffalo the signals get even better too. 

Thanks for the info guys. I haven't been to Buffalo in at least 25 years. As I had mentioned earlier, it was a reception guesstimate based on Radio Locator. Good to know that the most of the Toronto FMers have reliable signals in Western NY.