BUFFALO, N.Y. – Classical 94.5 WNED and WBFO-FM 88.7 / WNED-AM 970 announced today that they will participate in Public Radio Music Month, a month long celebration in April 2012 highlighting the invaluable role played by public radio stations in supporting music.  The initiative will link together public radio stations in communities across the United States. Stations will highlight local events, interviews, performances and other programming elements. 

“Classical 94.5 WNED and WBFO-FM 88.7 / WNED-AM 970 and other public radio stations are an integral part of the local music economy,” said Donald K. Boswell, WNED president and CEO. “We provide a unique and increasingly rare platform for new performers and serve as a staging ground for musical discovery. Public Radio Music Month is an opportunity for us to showcase some of the great work that stations like ours do every day in preserving America’s musical traditions and fostering and nurturing the development of music talent. Classical 94.5 WNED’s new Young Performers series, debuting this spring, and WBFO-FM 88.7 / WNED-AM 970’s support of the Blues/Jazz music are two fine examples.”

Across the country, public radio music sounds like:

• Nationally, more than 180 public radio stations have full-time music formats and another 400 or more play music as part of their programming lineups.
• A recent study of the public radio system found that one in three listening hours was to music.
• On the whole, local public radio stations air nearly five million hours of music per year, the majority of which is local programming.

Public Radio Music Month will run throughout the month of April. Tune in to Classical 94.5 WNED and WBFO-FM 88.7 / WNED-AM 970 for more information or visit our website at wned.org/fm or wbfo.org.

Through WNED-TV, WBFO-FM 88.7 / WNED-AM 970, Classical 94.5/WNED-FM and ThinkBright and Well/WORLD TV, member-supported WNED Buffalo/Toronto provides high quality programming and services to local, regional and national audiences that enlighten, inspire, entertain and educate Western New York and Southern Ontario communities. Additional information about WNED can be found at wned.org.