Is classical radio in New York saved? Here's what the new boss of WQXR has to say

WNYC chief exec Laura Walker writes about the New York

public radio station's plans for all-classical station WQXR.

by Ken

I'm on record voicing substantial skepticism about the deal whereby New York City's last all-classical radio station, WQXR, is being sold by the New York Times Company and shifted to the stratospheric FM frequency 105.9, where it will be operated by public radio station WNYC as a public radio station -- i.e., basically listener-supported.

My problem isn't the involvement of WNYC, which is in a position to substantially upgrade the listenability of what goes out over the air on the new WQXR, which I and most of the people I know have considered mostly unlistenable for a long time now. (I wondered in particular whether the bright, personable, and music-loving WQXR morning guy, Jeff Spurgeon, might not be able -- liberated from all the mindless commercial babble of the current format -- to do the kind of show that not only services but creates classical-music lovers.)

No, my biggest problem is whether anybody will be able to hear the new WQXR, since under the terms of the deal it will be giving up one of the strongest FM signals on the dial for one of the feeblest: a 600-watt signal that maybe 27 people in the tristate metropolitan area will be able to receive well enough to listen to classical music. Also, it has been known for some time that WNYC was looking for a "spare" channel on which it could dump the remaining classical music it broadcasts off the too-precious-for-classical-music 93.9 frequency. That mission too seems to have been accomplished.

None of this was intended as a reflection on the seriousness or good will of WNYC's chief exec, Laura Walker. Clearly WNYC could never have afforded to pay the Times the $33.5 million that Univision is reportedly paying to move its Spanish talk-and-music station WCAA into WQXR's choice 96.3 frequency and 6000-watt broadcast capacity. (WNYC's announced price tab is $11.5 million. A $15 million fund-raising effort has already been launched, to cover the purchase price plus "transition costs," which I imagine will indeed be considerable.)

In fairness to Laura Walker and the WNYC people, I thought it only appropriate to pass on the statement Ms. Walker sent out yesterday to WNYC listeners, without further comment. (You'll note that she does deal with the question of the new WQXR's receivability: "We will look for ways to enhance the signal and add repeater signals throughout the metropolitan area.")

Dear WNYC Listener,

I am delighted to share the news that WNYC will preserve classical music radio on the New York radio dial through an agreement with The New York Times to acquire WQXR radio, which we will operate as a public radio station.   Because we feel very strongly that New York needs a full-time station dedicated to classical music, when the New York Times decided to sell WQXR, we worked with them to develop an agreement that will preserve classical music on the radio dial in New York for years to come. 

WQXR (currently broadcast on 96.3 FM) will move to its new frequency on 105.9 FM, in October. Univision Radio, which currently broadcasts on 105.9 will move to 96.3 FM.  Although the 105.9 signal is weaker than the 96.3 signal, we will look for ways to enhance the signal and add repeater signals throughout the metropolitan area.

Under the stewardship of WNYC, WQXR will continue to be a trusted curator of classical music, rooted in and reflecting New York’s vibrant classical music community.  We’ll continue and even enhance the on-air connection to the most diverse and talent-filled concert halls in the world, and the presence of their artists and impresarios on-air alongside live concerts.  Through digital streaming, WNYC will also extend a great classical music station’s reach not just to all parts of the City, but throughout the United States, and the world. 

By joining the WNYC family, WQXR will be preserved and will benefit from our stewardship.  Pianist Emanuel Ax, called preserving WQXR as a classical station “the sonic equivalent of saving Carnegie Hall from the wrecker’s ball.” I am delighted and honored that WNYC will be part of this exciting venture.

Please visit click here for more details about the acquisition, and information about what you as a listener can expect to see and hear in the coming months.  We also look forward to hearing your thoughts - you can click here to join the conversation about this news.

With regards and thanks for your support,






Laura Walker
President and Chief Executive Officer
WNYC Radio

UPDATE: ALAS, THOSE SIGNAL ENHANCEMENTS
LIKELY WON'T HAPPEN ANYTIME SOON, IF EVER

Personally, I was kind of dubious about the prospects for the kind of signal enhancements Ms. Walker promises to look into, but what do I know? I wondered even about the economics of WQXR being able to retain the "independently owned 'repeater' signals in Poughkeepsie and Asbury Park, N.J.," of which Richard Perez-Pena and Daniel Wakin's original NYT report said, "It was not clear on Tuesday what would become of those arrangements." In any case, I thought it would be nice to let Ms. Walker just have her say.

Alas, however, in an important comment, our friend Balakirev, writing "as someone who wrote the grant and secured the extra local funding for four translators and repeaters in a West Coast public station," outlines what's actually involved in doing what she suggests -- "a very long term project that is extremely resource intensive," adding that here in the Northeast, where our radio frequencies (which the FCC won't allowed to be interfered with in such an undertaking) are that much more tightly packed, the whole thing becomes that much more difficult.

After describing what the process actually entails, he concludes: "I'm not suggesting this is impossible, or that the new manager doesn't have the best of intentions. But given the likelihood of this having in a reasonable timeframe, she might as well have stated that they're looking into the option of delivering caffeinated mocha directly to the mouths of listeners during their morning drive time. Ingenuous at best, her comments deal with something that is years away, if at all possible."

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Hooray, classical-music radio is saved despite the sale of WQXR! Or is it? Well, the NYT pockets a bagload o' cash

Once upon a time, WQXR mattered.

by Ken

I started out yesterday afternoon writing this as an "Open Letter" to (1) the Head Scumbag at the New York Times Company and (2) Laura Walker, president and chief executive of listener-supported public radio station WNYC, congratulating them on the deal that was then just-announced, and was being passed off as having "saved" classical radio in New York City: the Times Company's sale of WQXR (currently the tristate metropolitan area's only all-classical radio station) to WNYC (which continues to broadcast a certain amount of classical music only because it hasn't dared to dump it, for fear of the uproar that would result from the portion of its donor base that remains unaccountably attached to that broadcast-spectrum-wasting crap).

It turns out that the Times Company didn't exactly "sell WQXR to WNYC," and somewhere along the line, perhaps in sorting out the strands of the deal (which has a certain complexity but isn't all that complex), I discovered I had abandoned the "open letter" format. Hmm, too peeved for sarcasm?

The Times has owned WQXR since 1944. Since the sudden demise of its commercial rival WNCN in 1993, WQXR has been the city's only all-classical station. Juilliard School president Joseph Polisi is quoted in the NYT article: "“WQXR has been in so many ways a symbol of New York’s culture for decades.” (Is it necessary to resurrect the irony that classical music was once master of the FM band? Those are the days when commercial broadcasters scorned FM, while classical-music broadcasters and listeners relished its vastly superior sound quality, all the more so when FM went stereo. Yes, I think it is necessary. Pointless but necessary.)

It turns out that while the Times apparently has indeed sold WQXR, it wasn't all sold to WNYC. Oh yes, the call letters were sold, and presumably all the physical crap associated with, which you assume the Times regards as just a cheaper alternative to having to have it all carted off to the dump. But the station's most valuable asset, the 96.3 FM frequency and powerful 6,000-watt signal and transmitting equipment, ah, that's a different story.

That prime chunk of FM real estate, it turns out, is going to Univision, which is swapping the next-to-useless 105.9 frequency, with its FCC-limited 600-watt signal, now occupied by its station WCAA. According to the NYT report by Richard Perez-Pena and Daniel Wakin:

The deal gives Univision a stronger signal and a coveted spot near the middle of the FM band for WCAA, reflecting the region’s growing Hispanic population and the increasing prominence of Spanish broadcasting. WCAA’s mix of talk and music includes the morning show of Luis Jimenez, one of the most popular Spanish-language radio hosts.

At the heart of the deal is the Times Company's urgent need for money, more apparently than it could likely raise by putting NYT publisher Pinch Sulzberger to work as a male escort. Obviously even if WNYC had actually wanted to "buy WQXR," the price in today's commercial radio market would have been prohibitive. According to the plausible-looking NYT account (Perez-Pena and Wakin are both excellent reporters), the Times is coming out of the deal with $45 million, $11.5 million from WNYC (the station has already mounted a $15 million fund-raising drive to cover the purchase price plus "transition costs"), and $33.5 million from Univision.

So everybody comes out ahead, right? The Times gets its money, WCAA gets that great 96.3 frequency, and WNYC gets to get all that goddamned classical music the hell off its precious 93.9 frequency. (Finally!) And classical radio in New York is saved, hurrah!

More or less.

Now I don't begrudge WCAA's Hispanic listeners a better frequency for their station. From their old perch atop the FM band with that mighty 600-watt transmitter, they're lucky to have listeners at all. However, the number of listeners in the tristate metropolitan area who will be able to receive a good enough signal from the "new" WQXR -- once the switch happens (date unknown; it depends on FCC approval) -- to reproduce classical music is about 27.

I'm not concerned, as many people apparently are, about the change in WQXR from a commercial to a listener-supported format. Or indeed about such other format changes as are likely to occur. Partly because of the commercials the station has been all but unlistenable for 20-30 years. But that's only partly because of the commercials. In what was no doubt considered a necessity for commercial survival, the old management has dumbed down the format to the point of parody.

THE CURRENT WQXR PEOPLE AREN'T A TOTAL LOSS

There are some good people at the station. Back when I was looking desperately for a morning TV or radio replacement to help get me out of the house after Air America Radio abandoned morning programming in New York, I discovered that WQXR's current morning guy, Jeff Spurgeon, is quite good. He's bright and personable and clearly loves music (it's a pleasure to hear a classical-music announcer who can actually pronounce names and titles in the standard foreign languages), and might even be able to do a real radio show if he wasn't enmired in all the yawping crap that has afflicted WQXR. Assuming he's interested in staying with the station, the new management would be crazy not to see what he can do. Heck, I'd give it a shot.

Assuming I can tune the new WQXR in.

WNYC president Laura Walker is assuring institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic that they don't have to worry about being dumped from WQXR. Of course they will be included in the new format ("We will not only look to continue those relationships, but to extend and expand and deepen them,” says Ms. Walker.) But I don't think those great institutions are so much worried about being included as being heard. Because it seems to me that while no, the plug hasn't literally been pulled on classical radio in New York, as soon as the FCC approves the frequency swap, it's going to fall off the end of the broadcast spectrum.

HELLO, POUGHKEEPSIE AND ASBURY PARK!

The Times reporters note: "WQXR is broadcast even farther afield on independently owned 'repeater' signals in Poughkeepsie and Asbury Park, N.J. It was not clear on Tuesday what would become of those arrangements."

I wouldn't hold my breath regarding the "repeater" signals. Who would pay for them?

Oh yes, while I'm bitching, in fairness I would be remiss not to mention: "Listeners will still be able to go online to hear WQXR, which will retain a Web site of its own." So even after classical radio effectively disappears from New York radio, it'll still be on the Internet.

Noted.

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