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| Broadcast area | Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1120kHz |
| Branding | Hot 98.9 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 1947 (78 years ago) (1947-09) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Buffalo Buffalo |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 53967 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 1,000 wattsdays only |
| Translator | 98.9 W255DH (Buffalo) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WBBF (1120kHz,Hot 98.9) is a commercialAM radio station inBuffalo, New York. It airs acontemporary hit radio format and is owned byCumulus Media. The studios and offices are on James E. Casey Drive in Buffalo.
WBBF broadcasts with a power of 1,000watts as adaytimer. Itstransmitter is on Dorrance Avenue at Onondaga Avenue inWest Seneca, New York.[2] BecauseAM 1120 is reserved forClass A,clear channel stationKMOX inSt. Louis, WBBF must leave the air at night to avoid interference. WBBF programming is heard around the clock onFM translator W255DH on 98.9MHz.
The stationsigned on the air in September 1947, as WWOL. In 1954, its FM counterpart WWOL-FM (nowWHTT-FM) signed on, simulcasting WWOL. In the 1970s, WWOL-AM-FM aired acountry music format, later switching tooldies as WHTT and WHTT-FM.
In the 1990s, WHTT (AM) broke away from its simulcast with WHTT-FM, as the AM station was sold to Mercury Communications and changed its format to abrokered programming business format. It began using thecall sign WMNY, which represented the owners Mercury Communications and the state of New York, but with a play on the "money" the program producers paid to be on the station.
The WBBF call letters were used on several radio stations in nearbyRochester for over fifty years, including stations now known asWROC,WBZA and most recently,WFKL, which dropped the call sign in early 2005. Then-WMNY picked up the WBBF calls shortly thereafter.
The station had been a part of the Totally Gospel Radio Network from September 1996 until December 2006. The network moved to a stronger 24-hour signal inWestern New York on sister station 1270WHLD as well as other stations across the U.S., including FM stationWFWO in 2010.
In 2007, a Spanish-languageChristian music and talk station was launched by Totally Gospel Radio Network. All of the Spanish-language programming on WBBF which was initially produced by the Totally Gospel Radio Network was sold to Assemblia Iglesia, a local Hispanic ministry headed by Pastor Sam Rivera.[citation needed]
When Cumulus Media switched WHLD fromadult standards toCBS Sports Radio early in 2013, the company planned to move the former WHLD format to WBBF, but people in the Spanish speaking community wrote to Cumulus about the station's value to Western New York Latinos. The ministry's programming remained.[3]
The original Totally Gospel Radio Network format returned to the airwaves on WBBF in January 2016, during drive times, along with a blend ofurban contemporary gospel and Hispanic Christian programming throughout the week. Totally Gospel Network returned as the primary format on WBBF as of September 2017.
WBBF wentsilent on July 16, 2019, and resumed broadcasting December 20. For the following 14 months, the station resumed simulcasting WHTT-FM as temporary programming, identifying itself as WBBF only instation identification.
On February 27, 2021, WBBF dropped its simulcast with WHTT and flipped toclassic hip-hop, branded as "98.9 The Vibe", with programming sourced from the co-ownedWestwood One Radio Network. The 98.9 FM translator indirectly reunites the WBBF call letters with one of the frequencies it used during its time on Rochester radio.[4]
WBBF was one of three Buffalo AM stations, along withWUFO andWWWS, offering programming for the Buffalo market's African-American community. WBBF, WUFO and WWWS have FM translators and use the FM dial position to identify themselves. They compete with full-power FM stationWBLK, which has anurban contemporary format.
On July 14, 2023, at 6 p.m., after playing "Feels Good" byTony! Toni! Toné!, WBBF switched to Top 40/CHR, branded as "Hot 98.9", with the first song being "Flowers" byMiley Cyrus. The format flip was the closingdomino in a series of format changes that had taken place in Buffalo over the previous month, most directly nearbyWKSE on 98.5 (the market's previous heritage Top 40/CHR station) shifting to an adult lean following the sale of its own hot-AC sister stationWTSS to a religious broadcaster in June.[5]
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42°49′50″N78°48′01″W / 42.83056°N 78.80028°W /42.83056; -78.80028
