Along with sister stations 94.5 WNED-FM and channel 17 WNED-TV, it broadcasts from studios in the Lower Terrace section of downtown Buffalo.

In the evening, WBFO presents The Bridge, an adult album alternative music service that also airs fulltime on WBFO-HD2.

The rest of the schedule featured local jazz shows in middays, evenings and late nights plus blues music and specialty programming on weekends.

WNED's AM station, AM 970, had a news and information format that also carried Morning Edition and All Things Considered, along with other public radio shows shared with WBFO.

Once listeners began tuning in WBFO for news and information, Western New York Public Broadcasting could sell 970 AM.

WBFO, along with WNED-FM-TV, began collectively referring to themselves as "Buffalo Toronto Public Media" on February 4, 2020.

It also reflects WNED-TV's significant Canadian viewership and financial support, though cable and satellite carriage.

WNED officials told The Buffalo News that the organization's radio stations have minimal listenership in Canada.

Prior to March 2012, WBFO presented a full-service mix of news and music programming that incorporated blues and jazz.

Weekend music programs included The Thistle & Shamrock, Bebop and Beyond, and Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland in the evenings.

(The latter show ended in 2016 with Garrison Keillor's retirement; neither WBFO nor WNED carried the successor program Live from Here, which ran until 2020.)

In November 2021, JazzWorks was moved to 94.5 WNED-FM-HD2 to make way for "WBFO The Bridge," an adult album alternative format.