WNED, which I listen to more often, sponsors an event called Buffalo City Forum, which discusses important issues in Buffalo. A great conversation took place this past winter when Jeff Olson discussed the potential positive effects of making Buffalo a more bike-friendly city. He references a funny conversation he had in which someone told him that you can't bike in the winter because of snow. He then asked why people don't get around in the winter on cross-country skis, and the person responded by saying that there isn't enough snow for that.
WBFO's Roundtable, on the other hand, recently had an upsetting conversation with Buffalo News columnist Bruce Andriatch on "urban sprawl," which ended up being about urban problems reaching Buffalo's first ring suburbs. They literally did not talk about urban sprawl at all. With a declining population, we need to significantly curb the construction of new houses in the area, and we need to honestly discuss problems and solutions, even if they may offend people.
WBFO apparently isn't interested in talking about controversial issues, which is really ironic, because they recently changed their format from a jazz station to a "news" station. They now play many of the same programs which you can hear on WNED. It seems like they would have at least tried to work out an agreement with WNED to play different programs at different times.
Based on that Roundtable discussion, WBFO will probably be changing its format as soon as WNED finishes eating its lunch.
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