In fact, UB's own public radio affiliate, WBFO, recently concluded another successful $125,000 membership drive and is coping well with the funding cuts it did sustain, according to WBFO Radio General Manager Jennifer Roth.

Airing at 88.7 on the FM band, WBFO offers news from the National Public Radio (NPR) network and jazz, as well as specialized programming. The station is a major public service of UB.

The recent nine-day campaign brought in more than $119,000, and a steady flow of mail renewals and additional pledges will put the station over its $125,000 goal shortly, said Roth. Realizing that the membership drive is a necessary distraction to listeners, Roth explained that WBFO plans to continue to hold only two drives per year. Numerous public radio and television stations now solicit funds three or four times a year to make up for lost support at the state and federal level.

Rather than immediately eliminate the CPB, a non-profit support organization for public radio and television affiliates nationwide, overnight, Congress voted to phase out funding for the organization over five to seven years, Roth explained. While some in Congress are still working out "different ways of funding public broadcasting," she continued, it has created a "much more intense need for local support."

Membership support now accounts for more than one-third of the station's annual budget. Institutional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the state government and UB, account for the rest. UB offers the station considerable non-monetary support, such as rent-free space in the South Campus' Allen Hall and support services, explained Roth.

The station has nine full-time and nine part-time employees, as well as "a wonderful crop of student interns and community volunteers...we just couldn't function without them," explained Roth.

Format changes implemented last fall, which brought more news, but slightly less jazz, have been well received, according to Roth. NPR's Morning Edition now airs between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and the start time for the popular, live national evening news program, All Things Considered, was moved an hour earlier, to 4 p.m., and runs until 7 p.m.

Also, a national NPR talk radio show, Talk of the Nation, now airs live between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Previously, only the first hour of Talk was carried and that was on tape delay, explained Roth. At 7 p.m., UB alumnus Terry Gross hosts an hour-long NPR feature program, Fresh Air. "That still leaves 13 hours a day of jazz programming," explained Roth.