WBHM
Public Radio for the Heart of Alabama.
Deep Dives
Deep Dives are free site visits to selected nonprofit organizations that serve critical socioeconomic needs in Alabama. The CEO describes the work of the organization, its history, challenges, and needs. A tour of the facility provides a deeper understanding. Participants may optionally use a provided checklist to make observations and discuss what they observed and learned. Recommendations can be sent to the CEO. This Deep Dive is limited to 20 participants. Please send an email to our Events Chair to reserve your seat and you will receive a confirmation and checklist by reply email: Email John Whitman.
The Organization
WBHM is public radio for the heart of Alabama, reaching more than 110,000 listeners a week online and on-air at 90.3 FM in Birmingham. The nonprofit station, a member-supported service of UAB, relies on individual and corporate donations for about 80 percent of its operating revenues. WBHM also operates the Alabama Reading Service, providing local news and information for the blind and disabled.
Our Mission Statement: WBHM is much more than a radio station – it is an essential public resource that enlightens and enriches our audience and makes strong connections to our communities through journalism that is fair, credible, accurate, and honest. Free from commercial and political influence, WBHM seeks to make Birmingham and Alabama a better place to live by educating, engaging, and entertaining the people of our metro area and our state. WBHM is dedicated to the idea that an informed citizenry is vital to democracy and a thriving economy, and it celebrates diversity, innovation, and lifelong learning.
The Dive Leader
Chuck Holmes is Executive Director and General Manager.
Chuck Holmes arrived in Birmingham in January 2017 to lead Public Radio WBHM. He is a veteran journalist who has reported from around the world, and he also has deep roots in Alabama – his father was a native of Birmingham and his mother is from Decatur.
Holmes previously worked at NPR in Washington, D.C., where he managed the network’s daily news operation. In eight years with NPR, he also served as managing editor of Morning Edition, one of America’s most listened-to radio programs, and also served as a foreign news editor.
Prior to joining NPR in 2009, Holmes was foreign editor of Cox Newspapers and its flagship, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He earlier served as a foreign correspondent, posted in Jerusalem (1993-97) and Moscow (1997-2000), for the Atlanta-based newspaper chain.
Throughout his career, Holmes gained national recognition for his reporting and editing. His reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Kosovo, and the Rwanda genocide and civil war all earned industry awards. At NPR, he shared an Edward R. Murrow Award for Afghanistan coverage and a Peabody Award in 2013 for The Race Card Project.
Holmes, a native of Tennessee, is a graduate from The George Washington University. He lives in Homewood with his wife, Sarah Lindsey Holmes. Holmes is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and board member of the Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations.
WBHM is on the west side of the UAB campus, directly between the new UAB football practice facility and I-65. The building’s parking lot is not directly accessible from 11th Street South. Our parking lot is reached by turning onto the drive that runs between the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service station and the UAB Recycling Center (a left-hand turn if you’re coming north from University Drive. A right-hand turn if you’re driving south from 6th Avenue.) You’ll follow the semi-circular lane past our satellite dishes on the left and the parking lot is in front of our one-story building. We’ll give you a temporary parking hang-tag for your car when you arrive.