Sean Reiser

I was listening to Off The Wall last night when Emmanuel mentioned that WQXR, the Classical Music radio station owned by the New York Times was being sold to WNYC, one of NYC's NPR stations. It appears they bought the station to preserve an all classical music format in NYC, which is a good thing. For those who don't know, the details of the deal, as reported in the Times look something like this:

• Univision pays Times Co. $33.5 million to swap broadcasting licenses and shift its WCAA broadcast to 96.3 FM from 105.9 FM, which will become WQXR and WCAA will get 96.3 FM’s stronger signal
• WNYC will pay Times Co. $11.5 million for 105.9 FM’s license and equipment and the WQXR call letters.

One of the unique things about the QXR was it's relationship with the Times. The Times owned QXR before the FCC regulations prohibiting newspapers ownership of a radio station were enacted. Because of this relationship, QXR's newsroom was located in the NY Times building and news gathering resources were shared. In a precursor to newspaper reporters doing podcasts, Times columnists and arts reporters would often appear on the air doing segments.

QXR was the muzac for groups that couldn't afford muzac. If you were getting your hair cut in NYC, in a small store or in a small restaurant and classical music was playing, odds are you were listening to QXR. QXR was a station that inspired me as a child. As I was learning to play piano and trumpet, I would often listen to QXR to hear how things "should sound". To this day it's a station I listen to in background as I work.

As WNYC is looking to preserve classical music in New York, one presumes that once this officially goes down later this year we'll get more of the same, but with pledge drives instead of commercials, which will be good for all of the city.