According to Ken Mills, a Minneapolis broadcast consultant and Nielsen data, the number of WBUR listeners has grown since 2012, increasing from 409,000 to 534,400.

Here and Now is a news and culture digest show hosted by Scott Tong, Robin Young, and Deepa Fernandes normally consisting of several interview segments with reporters, authors, artists and statesmen.

The wide-ranging program described itself as "irreverent" and often covered sports from a human interest angle, rather than appealing directly to a particular fan base.

The show features academics and intellectuals presenting lectures and answering questions on issues of national or global importance.

Current productions include Dear Sugar Radio, an advice podcast with Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond; and Modern Love, a partnership with The New York Times.

Initially, most of WBUR's staff were Boston University students, with the station broadcasting primarily classical, jazz and BU sporting events.

In the early 1960s, the station moved from Exeter Street to the newly renovated School of Communications building at 640 Commonwealth Avenue.

[citation needed] WBUR's main transmitter operates at 8,600 watts, which on paper is somewhat modest for a full NPR member on the FM band.

In 1997, auto dealer Ernie Boch Sr. donated WUOK (1240 AM) in West Yarmouth, which had been simulcasting WXTK, to Boston University, which changed its call letters to WBUR and made it a full-time satellite of WBUR-FM (which added the "-FM" suffix to accommodate the West Yarmouth station as AM stations always have the base callsign).

[1] On November 27, 2012, WBUR announced that it would acquire WMVY (92.7 FM) in Tisbury (on Martha's Vineyard) to serve as an additional satellite,[12] under the call letters of WBUA.

[15][16] The call letters of 1240 AM were changed to WBAS on February 1, 2014,[17] two days after BU and Langer agreed to a time brokerage agreement.

WBUR decided to partner with the newly formed Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio to build a state-of-the-art facility at historic Union Station in downtown Providence.

[20] This was the result of a boycott launched by Jewish groups who charged that NPR coverage of the Middle East was biased against Israel.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and explicitly pro-Palestinian organizations have made contradictory accusations of pro-Israel bias in NPR's coverage or imbalance in particular stories.

NPR's ombudsman and an independent reviewer appointed by the agency found "lack of completeness but strong factual accuracy and no systematic bias" in reporting on the controversial issue.

[23] In mid-June 2020, WBUR laid off 29 employees, more than 10 percent of the station's staff, and ended the Only A Game syndicated program due to the ongoing COVID-19 recession.

The station is eliminating seven positions, and 24 employees, including four senior leadership team members, are taking voluntary buyouts.

In addition to staff reductions, the station is implementing cost-saving measures such as eliminating unfilled positions, reducing travel expenses, and negotiating lower rates for contracted services.

To further save costs, Low will take a ten percent pay cut as part of the cutback, Peet's coffee will no longer be purchased for the station, and cell phones will not be covered for any non-represented colleagues.