verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message wqxr fm city newark new jersey broadcast area new york city metropolitan area branding classical 105.9 fm wqxr slogan new york s classical music station frequency 105.9 mhz also on hd radio 105.9 2 fm for q2 first air date november 26 1939 format classical erp 610 watts haat 416 meters class b1 facility id 46978 transmitter coordinates 40 44 54.00 n 73 59 10.00 w 40.7483333 n 73.9861111 w 40.7483333 ; 73.9861111 callsign meaning a nod to the calls of 1929 experimental station w2xr . the cursive version of q mimics the number 2 . former frequencies 96.3 mhz 1944 2009 owner new york public radio sister stations wnyc wnyc fm new jersey public radio wqxw webcast wqxr webstream q2 webstream pls website wqxr.org q2 website wqxr fm 105.9 fm is an american classical radio station licensed to newark new jersey and serving the new york city metropolitan area . it is the most listened to classical music station in the united states with an average quarter hour audience of 63 000 . citation needed on the air since 1939 the station is also one of the oldest continuously operating fm stations in the world . it is owned by the nonprofit new york public radio which also operates wnyc 820 am and 93.9 fm and the four station new jersey public radio group . new york public radio acquired wqxr on july 14 2009 as part of a three way trade which also involved the new york times company the previous owners of wqxr and univision radio . 1 wqxr fm broadcasts from studios and offices in the hudson square section of manhattan and the transmitter is located atop the empire state building . at 8 00 p.m. on october 8 2009 univision s wcaa moved to the 96.3 fm frequency while wqxr fm moved to 105.9 fm becoming a non commercial radio station run by new york public radio . 1 2 within that next week wcaa now on 96.3 changed its call letters to wxny fm . contents 1 translators and relays 2 history 2.1 founding 2.2 the radio station of the new york times 2.3 sale to new york public radio and change of frequency 2.4 change in coverage area 3 see also 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links translators and relays edit call sign frequency mhz city of license erp w class transmitter coordinates fcc info w279aj 103.7 fm highland ulster county new york 10 d 41 41 58 n 74 00 12 w 41.69944 n 74.00333 w 41.69944 ; 74.00333 w279aj fcc wqxw 90.3 fm ossining town new york 53 a 41 09 7 n 73 47 10 w 41.15194 n 73.78611 w 41.15194 ; 73.78611 wqxw wqxw fcc wqxr once had a repeater at asbury park new jersey that transmit its programming at 96.7 fm however the owners of the translator sold the repeater and the new owners of that repeater in that frequency moved it out of asbury park forcing wqxr to no longer broadcast in the area on that frequency . 3 history edit see also wfme history founding edit wqxr fm is the outgrowth of a high fidelity am station wqxr 1560 am which was founded in 1936 by john v. l. hogan and elliott sanger . hogan began this station as a mechanical television station w2xr which went on the air on march 26 1929 . 4 the radio station broadcast mainly classical music recordings . one of the station s listeners was the inventor of frequency modulation edwin howard armstrong . when armstrong put his experimental fm station w2xmn on the air he arranged to rebroadcast some of wqxr s programming . this ended in 1939 when hogan and sanger put their own experimental fm station on the air w2xqr just down the dial from armstrong at 42.3 mhz . when the federal communications commission began licensing commercial fm stations w2xqr moved to 45.9 mhz and became w59ny ; the special fm call signs were later dropped and the station became wqxq . the radio station of the new york times edit in 1944 hogan and sanger sold their holding company interstate broadcasting company to the new york times company . when the fm band was moved from 42 50 mhz to its present frequency range of 88 108 mhz in 1945 wqxq moved to 97.7 mhz . within a few years the station had adopted its current callsign wqxr fm and its frequency for the next 64 years 96.3 mhz . older logo of wqxr displaying both fm and am frequencies wqxr was the first am station in new york to experiment with broadcasting in stereo beginning in 1952 . during some of its live concerts it used two microphones positioned six feet apart . the microphone on the right led to its am feed and the one on the left to its fm feed so a listener could position two radios six feet apart one tuned to 1560 and the other to 96.3 and listen in stereo . during the 1950s wqxr fm s programming was also heard on the rural radio network on several stations in upstate new york including ones targeting buffalo rochester syracuse and albany . this ended when the rrn stations were sold to pat robertson s christian broadcasting network . both the am and fm sides continued to simulcast each other until 1965 when the fcc began requiring commonly owned am and fm stations in large markets to broadcast separate programming for at least part of the day . wqxr fm concentrated on longer classical works while wqxr am aired lighter classical music and talk programs produced in conjunction with the new york times . while this plan gave classical music fans two options it also increased expenses for the stations . in 1962 the qxr network was purchased by novo industrial corporation but wqxr remained under the new york times company ownership . 5 wqxr s final logo at 96.3 fm after briefly attempting to sell the wqxr stations in 1971 the new york times was able to get a waiver of the simulcasting rules . the stations continued to duplicate each other until 1992 when the am side changed its programming from classical to popular standards becoming wqew it is now wfme . in 1998 the times entered into a long term lease for wqew with abc a move which brought radio disney to new york city . the times company also included a purchase clause in the lease contract and abc exercised the option in 2007 . this left wqxr fm as the times s lone radio station and following a sale of its group of television stations to the local tv llc company that same year the times company s sole remaining broadcasting property . sale to new york public radio and change of frequency edit on july 14 2009 the new york times company announced it was trading the 96.3 frequency to univision radio in return for the 105.9 frequency of univision s wcaa . the sale was slated to close in the second half of 2009 . at 8 p.m. on october 8 2009 wcaa and wqxr traded frequencies . the frequency swap was part of a three way deal between univision the new york times company and new york public radio . univision paid the new york times company 33.5 million to trade broadcasting licenses with the times . new york public radio then paid the new york times company 11.5 million for 105.9 fm s license equipment and the wqxr call letters music library and website . 2 as a result of the deal wqxr became a non commercial public radio station operated by new york public radio and now runs three on air pledge drives a year . change in coverage area edit wqxr s first logo as wqxr 105.9 fm wqxr has less range and population coverage on 105.9 than it had with its old signal on 96.3 . wqxr s old and new signals both radiate from the same fm master antenna atop the empire state building ; but while wqxr s old signal now wcaa s is 6 000 watts erp effective radiated power the energy concentrated toward the horizon its new signal wcaa s old one is 610 watts . 6 the calculated signal strength of the new signal at 30 miles covering about 14.5 million people is less than the old 96.3 fm signal at 42 miles covering about 17.1 million people . further compromising coverage is hartford s whcn which also broadcasts on 105.9 fm . while whcn has a directional signal with reduced wattage toward wqxr s transmitter the two stations do interfere with each other where their signals overlap . citation needed wqxr operates two translator stations 103.7 in highland new york and 96.7 in asbury park new jersey . wqxr s audio is carried over wnyc s hd2 channel at 93.9 fm and over time warner cable television channel 590 in the hudson valley new york . 7 on july 29 2013 wqxr began broadcasting on the former wdfh now wqxw 90.3 fm in ossining new york covering northern and central westchester county . 8 worldwide wqxr s standard programming is available on its webcast and the station also has a webcast called q2 focusing on classical works by living composers . q2 s daily playlist is called living music living composers . 9 see also edit new york city portal radio portal 1939 in radio list of radio stations in new jersey list of radio stations in new york media in new york city references edit a b perez pena richard ; wakin waniel j. july 14 2009 . times co. agrees to sell wqxr radio . the new york times . retrieved july 31 2009 . a b bensinger greg july 14 2009 . new york times to get 45 million for radio station update3 . bloomberg . retrieved july 31 2009 . wqxr asbury park repeater update earlytelevision.org . plan national programming for 36 station fm network . billboard . vol . 74 no. 23 . june 9 1962 . retrieved august 9 2010 via google books . fcc query database . retrieved 11 october 2015 . wqxr faq page wqxr wqxr expands its reach into westchester with new wqxw 90.3 fm . retrieved 22 september 2013 . wqxr new york q2 music daily playlists tuesday september 30 2014 further reading edit jaker bill ; frank sulek and peter kanze 1998 . the airwaves of new york illustrated histories of 156 am stations in the metropolitan area 1921 1996 . jefferson north carolina mcfarland & company . pp. 169 172 . isbn 0 7864 0343 8 . lcc tk6548.u6j35 sanger elliot 1973 . rebel in radio the story of wqxr . new york city hastings house . isbn 0 240 50845 9 . lcc he8698.s33 paperback isbn 0 8115 0016 0 external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wqxr radio locator information on wqxr query nielsen audio s fm station database for wqxr press release wqxr celebrates three notable anniversaries in 2004 nimet habachy wqxr s new york at night host retires porter anderson announces q2 music challenge grant change wcaa to wqxr fm original essays written for the wqxr program guide by notable composers conductors commentators and others during world war ii . v t e radio stations in the new york city market by am frequency 570 660 1 710 1 770 1 820 880 1 1010 1050 1130 1 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560 1 1600 1620 new jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 westchester county n.y. 1460 by fm frequency 87.7