Western New YorkPublic Broadcasting Association, which at the time owned an AM station which had the call letters WNED and had been carrying some of the same programming as WBFO, purchased WBFO in July 2011, and incorporated some of the channel's news features and staff into a combined lineup on March 1, 2012, through November 30, 2012 which it broadcast on both stations. Most of the programming lost in the merger formerly aired on WNED. Among the programs eliminated from the old WBFO were the last jazz programs originating from a Buffalo area radio station at that time; in June 2013, Niagara Falls stationWJJL began carrying a weekly jazz program, "Off We Go", hosted local trumpeter Lew Custode, returning a jazz programming to the market. WBFO, along with WNED-FM-TV, began collectively referring to themselves as "Buffalo Toronto Public Media" on February 4, 2020. The rebranding was in part to better identify WBFO and the WNED stations as part of a single organization; it also reflects WNED-TV's significant Canadian viewership and financial support, though WNED officials told The Buffalo News that the organization's radio stations have minimal listenership in Canada.
Programming
Prior to March 2012, WBFO presented a full-service mix of news and music programming that incorporated blues and jazz. WBFO's local news department had been highly recognized by the New York StateAssociated Press Broadcasters Association. WBFO was all-news during the day and featured jazz overnight. On weekends there had been a mix of syndicated talk programs mornings, and music programs in the evenings. Locally originated blues programming was broadcast on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. A four-hour block of jazz programming during the midday shift was eliminated in 2010, with Fresh Air moving to an earlier time slot and additional talk programming added. The program changes also eliminated an additional two hours of jazz and local music in the evening time slot, pushing the start of jazz programming from 8 p.m. back to 10 p.m., being replaced by replays of programming that had already aired on WBFO earlier in the day. All remaining local and syndicated music programming on WBFO, with the exception of the weekend afternoon blues blocks which were moved to evenings were eliminated on March 1, 2012, after WNED took over WBFO's operations; the only music programming on either WNED or WBFO were the blues blocks and A Prairie Home Companion, which had previously aired on WNED.
HD programming
A musical satellite feed called Exponential which had been carried on the HD2 channel was replaced by a satellite jazz feed called JazzWorks. A third channel, HD3, consisting of NPR news and information which allowed the listening of programs at times they were not on the main channel was eliminated.
