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 Birmingham's first full-time classical station since the demise of a commercial FM outlet, WSFM, which gave way to the present WDJC-FM in 1967. WBHM no longer has local hosts for classical music; for most of the 2000s, it exclusively relied on the Classical Public Radio Network to provide programming in the middle of the day, evenings, and overnight. When CPRN shut down operations in 2008, WBHM switched to an all-news/discussion format in the daytime hours with programming from PRI and NPR, a move that several other previously classical-formatted NPR affiliates elsewhere have made in recent times in response to listener demand. Classical music is now heard on WBHM only overnights after 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Monday through Saturday evenings are now devoted to jazz. On Sunday nights, two long-running atmospheric music programs, Echoes and Hearts of Space, air on WBHM.
WSGN
WSGN began operation as WEXP on February 11, 1975, primarily as a training facility for Gadsden State Community College's broadcasting department. The station was assembled using equipment donated from several Alabama radio stations and from Rick Maze of Birmingham, plus purchases from the State of Alabama Surplus Property warehouse. Construction was performed by broadcast instructors Don Smith and Bob Mayben with assistance from WBRC-TV personnel in Birmingham. The station was operated by students and faculty for many years. When both Smith and Mayben left the school for other interests, new instructor Neil Mullen took over the station operation and a cooperative arrangement was struck with WBHM to provide programming. The call letters of WSGN date back to the beginning of radio broadcasting in the state, and were formerly located in Birmingham at 610 on the AM dial. In fact, there was a WSGN-FM in the 1950s which today is known as WDJC in Birmingham. The call letters were changed under Mullens' leadership when WSGN 610 AM was sold to a company that did not want to use the call letters, but did not want another station in Birmingham to be able to use them, so another deal was struck to rename WEXP as WSGN. As of 2013, the WEXP call letters are located in Brandon, Vermont. On September 30, 2018, WSGN ceased broadcasting programming from WBHM as Gadsden State Community College sold the license to a non-profit faith-based broadcaster. The sale, to Educational Media Foundation, was consummated on January 31, 2019.
Local programs
--Originally a weekly 30-minute program, the show spotlights aspects of Birmingham's local artistic and musical scene, as well as features interviews with artists coming through the Birmingham region, hosted by Greg Bass. From July 2009 to 2013, the program was reduced in frequency to a 60-minute monthly broadcast. Arts related segments on WBHM are now a part of regular news and feature shows, but Tapestry is no longer broadcast over the air. Tapestry archival programs and segments are still available on the WBHM website. In recent years, the WBHM news department has expanded, allowing for news content to be frequently inserted in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
