By SCOTT M. BURNSTEIN
Special to The Oakland Press

Set deep in the FM radio frequency resides one of the area media’s most beloved gems: WBFH-FM (88.1), the award-winning high school radio station from Andover High School.

Broadcasting 24 hours a day, with a signal strength that covers most of Oakland County, The Biff provides its listeners commercial-free playlists, engaging personalities and a mix of entertaining and informative programming.

Oddly enough, though, they don’t plan to keep one cent of the booty, but will turn it all over to the March of Dimes.

The Biff provides yearly coverage of the Woodward Dream Cruise and boys and girls varsity sports.

The station, which is open to participation by students at Andover and Lahser High Schools, recently began streaming its broadcasts at www.wbfh.fm, making The Biff available anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.

On Tuesday afternoons, students Mike Tulley and Kevin Quina host “The Edge,” a show dedicated to independent and alternative rock, while on Thursday afternoons listeners can catch “The Mix,” a show that plays modern hits and Top 40 fare hosted by Adam Blumberg.

Every weekday morning, listeners can hear classic tracks from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s on “The Reunion,” and rap fans can catch Billy Whititng and “Hip Hopulation,” which airs Thursday evenings and plays both old-school and new-school hip-hop hits.

The Biff even has its own morning drive-time show, “The Big Chill,” which runs 9-10:30 every school day morning.

“We pride ourselves on playing the best variety of music of any station in Oakland County,” said station manager Peter Bowers.

He founded WBFH in 1976. He was a recent college graduate asked by his alma mater to start a new student-run radio station.

“We have state-of-the-art facilities and equipment and a lot of kids who work tremendously hard and fulfill a great deal of responsibilities,” he said.

The Biff is the four-time winner of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters” award for Best Student Radio Station of The Year, and the John Drury Award winner for the nations”s best student radio station for two consecutive years.

That’s an annual recognition of excellence in student broadcasting, given in Illinois.

Notable alumni of the station working in the broadcast field include WXYT-AM (1270) sports radio talk show host Scott “The Gator” Anderson; Ric Blackwell, an anchorman at WPEC-Channel 12 in Palm Beach, Fla.; Heather Catallo, an anchorwoman at WXYZ-Channel 7; JoAnne Purtan, a consumer reporter for Channel 7; her sister, Jennifer Purtan, who works in morning Radio at WOMC (104.3); Jason Horowitz, radio show host on CBS Sportsline,com; and Larry Barron, vice president of alternative programming for the UPN television network.

“What’s most rewarding to me is to see the kids succeed after they leave,” Bowers said. “I follow all of them and consider myself their ‘radio dad.’ So their success makes me very proud. Not a lot of teachers can see their students achieving on a regular basis, but I can.

“I can turn on the radio or the television, and I can see my kids doing what we taught them here at the station as a profession. There’s not too much cooler than that.”