WBHM

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WBHM-FM (90.3 FM), is a National Public Radio-affiliated radio station in Birmingham, Alabama. It primarily features classical music programming, except for several weekly feature shows from NPR, Public Radio International, and American Public Media on weekends.

WBHM-FM serves a territory extending for about a 50-mile radius from Birmingham; a translator relay station, WSGN-FM, 91.5, broadcasts in and around the city of Gadsden, about 45 miles to the northeast. The station maintains studios in the city's Southside neighborhood near Interstate 65, close to the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which is WBHM's licensee. Much of the listening area is also served by the Alabama Public Radio network (via its Tuscaloosa translator).

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Even though Huntsville beat Birmingham, the state's largest city, in getting Alabama's first public radio station in October 1976, WBHM did not follow far behind, beginning operations on December 5. WBHM became central Alabama's first full-time classical station since the demise of a commercial FM outlet, WSFM, which gave way to the present WDJC in 1967.

Except for the expansion of nationally-distributed weekend feature shows like Car Talk, A Prairie Home Companion, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and This American Life, WBHM's schedule has largely remained constant over its three decades of broadcasting. As with most other markets in the country, the drive-time NPR newscasts have become the most-listened-to programs on the station's daily lineup. WBHM augments the national coverage with frequent local features from its news staff.

Some jazz and folk music programs aired on Saturday evenings during the 1980s, but only Echoes and Music From the Hearts of Space, both experimental music programs, represent non-classical genres these days. Central Alabama listeners can hear various types of music on Alabama Public Radio instead, whose Tuscaloosa signal can be received clearly in much of the Birmingham area.

Except for a half-hour Mondays through Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. currently hosted by Lissa LeGrand, WBHM no longer has local hosts for classical music. Since the early 2000s, it has exclusively relied on the Classical Public Radio Network (a joint production of KUSC-FM in Los Angeles and Colorado Public Radio) to provide programming in the middle of the day, evenings, and overnight.

Tapestry--heard Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m., the show spotlights aspects of Birmingham's local artistic and musical scene, with an emphasis on avant-garde and unusual expressions. Greg Bass hosts. Tapestry is produced by Tanya Ott, Michael Krall, and Hunter Bell. The show is also rebroadcast Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. and available as a podcast.

On a sub-carrier channel, WBHM operates the Alabama Radio Reading Service, which broadcasts readings from the Birmingham News and popular magazines for blind and visually-impaired residents of the Birmingham area. The other public radio stations in Alabama also offer the service, provided through a grant by the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.

Perhaps the station's most accomplished alumnus is John Lemley, who announced on WBHM in the mid-1990s. He now supplies the voice for afternoon drive-time on Atlanta's WABE-FM, that city's main NPR outlet. Lemley was further known an as amateur actor while residing in Birmingham.

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