Bill Yuhnke’s Kenmore Broadcasting Corporation has completed its $60,000 acquisition of Oldies 1440 WJJL Niagara Falls/Buffalo NY and has flipped the station to Adult Standards as WEBR.

The station, which resurrects the call letters utilized in Buffalo on 970 AM from 1924 until 1993, will feature a music playlist that mixes Standards, Showtunes, and contemporary artists such as Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr. and Norah Jones. The station will feature local hosts from 6am to 6pm daily including Bob Stilson & Gail Ann Huber in mornings from 6-9am, ‘The Mayor’ Vince Anello from 11am-12pm, Jack Horohoe from 12-3pm, and Barry Lillis from 3-6pm. The talk show “View Point” hosted by Tom Darro is held over from WJJL in the 9-11am slot.

WEBR operates with 1kW day and 55 watts night. The station is operating out of new studios in the offices of Yuhnke’s Liberty Yellow Cab and Transportation in Buffalo.

Nearly 100 years after being founded in Buffalo, the call letters WEBR will have a new home on the radio airwaves at 1440 AM on July 6 under local owner William Yuhnke of Kenmore Broadcasting, who purchased WJJL from M. J. Phillips. WEBR will broadcast from 1580 Kenmore Ave. Don Angelo is general manager.

Yuhnke president of Liberty Yellow Cab and Transportation in Buffalo and Angelo, veteran radio and television executive elected to the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame, are Buffalo natives. They have been friends since they worked together in the 1970s at area radio stations.

“Our WEBR music format, ‘Standards of Excellence,’ is inspired by the Great American Song Book,” including classics from Hollywood, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley,” Angelo said. “This music is timeless,” he said, noting the trend of contemporary recording artists such as Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Harry Conic and Norah Jones to dip into the rich treasure of “cool, classy and sophisticated songs.”

Reprising WEBR’s tagline, “The Sound of The City,” WEBR also will feature music recorded by local artists. Veteran area broadcaster Tom Darro will continue hosting his daily “Viewpoints” talk show currently heard on 1440 AM at WJJL. WEBR will be an affiliate of the 180-station USA Radio Network. The station will stream at WEBR1440.com.

Yuhnke said: “We are broadcasters, patriots and Christians who love the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region and are dedicated to God, family, freedom and country. Our pledge is to serve our hometown community with reliable, non-biased, fair and balanced news, information and entertainment. We will provide listeners an open mic to express their personal opinions without interruption by a talk show host.”

Local ownership, he pointed out, brings flexibility in responding to listeners. “We are here and want to be close to and serve our friends and neighborhoods across Niagara and Erie Counties and Southern Ontario.” Yuhnke said that programming would include “local legends” such as former TV personality Barry Lillis and “Jazz in the Nighttime” host Al Wallack.

WEBR HISTORY
WEBR was born on October 14,1924 when engineer Herbert H. Howell built WEBR and signed on from 54 Niagara St. In 1936, The Buffalo Evening News bought the station and then sold it to The Buffalo Courier-Express in 1942. WEBR was located in a historic red brick mansion at 23 North St. Struck by lightning in 2014, 23 North St. has since been demolished.

WEBR served Western New York for 70 years at 970 AM. Its last media owner, Western New York Public Broadcasting (WNED), purchased WEBR in 1975. The call letters were dropped in 1993 when the station became WNED (now WBFO).

NOTABLE WEBR PROGRAMS
By the mid 1920s, WEBR had a full staff including a 27-piece orchestra and a cast of actors performing a variety of live programs each day in its studio.

In 1930, young Buffalo broadcaster and writer Fran Striker created, wrote and produced the first episodes of “The Lone Ranger” series, which premiered on WEBR. It had a long run on national network radio, then moved to TV in the early 1950s.

In 1931, WEBR was the first radio station to broadcast a program in a language other than English. Emelino Rico and his wife Maria of Buffalo, weekly presented “Neapolitan Serenade” in Italian.

Their son, Lenny, continued the tradition as host of the “Casa Rico” radio show. It is set for WEBR’s weekend schedule.

Disc Jockey Bob Wells created the first live teen dance radio show, “Hi-Teen,” in 1946. For 17 years, it was broadcast Saturday afternoons from the Dellwood Ballroom at Main and Utica.

WEBR ALUMNI
Several were inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Jack Sharpe, America’s first helicopter traffic reporter in 1959, later was elected Amherst Town Supervisor.

Alumni include Clare Allen, Mike Allen, Perry Allen, Joe Alto, Sam Anson, Ron Arnold, Charlie Bailey, Teresa Beaton, George Beck, Bill Besecker, George Black, Roger Blackwell, Mary Brady, Scott Brown, Eulis Cathey, Bob Christian, Dave Debo, Sid Ehrenreich, Jack Eno, Jerry Fedell, Herb Flemming, John Gill, Dave Gillen, Jerry Glenn, Kevin Gordon, Carroll Hardy, Allan Harris, Jack Horohoe, Billy Keaton, Dennis Keefe, Bill Kimble, Cy King, Don Lang, David Leopold, Larry Levite, Ed Little, Greg Lucas, Jack Mahl, Bill Masters, John McKay, Bill McKibben, Al Meltzer, Kevin O’Connell, Loren Owens, Tom Pecora, Lucky Pierre, Jim Ranney Joe Rico, Possum Riley, Ken Ruof, Margaret Russ, Bernie and Norma Jane Sandler, Jim Santella, Mike St. Peter, Andy Thomas, Leon Thomas, Ed Tucholka, Al Wallack, Pete Weber, Harry Wismer, and Mark Scott, who was the last voice heard on WEBR.