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Another classical station gets the shaft

R

rtetro

The Hudson Valley will lose a viable classical music station due to changes at WQXR in New York.

NY Times sells WQXR's 96.3 Class B frequency to Univision's WCAA. The WQXR calls and format go to public radio WNYC, and will be operated non-commercially on class A 105.9, the old WCAA freq. The good news in this is that NYC will still have a fulltime classical station (unlike the complete decapitation of WFLN in Philly). The bad news is that WQXR will have about half the coverage area that it once had. The signal will be weak to non-existent in the mid-Hudson Valley. This is, I believe, the second major classical station to lose a good portion of its signal through frequency swaps - the other being WCRB in Boston.
 
rtetro said:
This is, I believe, the second major classical station to lose a good portion of its signal through frequency swaps - the other being WCRB in Boston.
Click to expand...

Don't forget WCLV in Cleveland as well.
 
What a dumb move from moving the WQXR calls from 96.3 to 105.9. I hope this works very well.

Remember WBPM? It was a heritage station when it was existed on 94.3. If you go back to the 60's and 70's, it was WGHQ-FM until 1974 where they changed it's calls to WBPM which it stands for "World's Best Popular Music" and it was an automated Top 40 station using it's fake Drake elements and so much more. It was one of Jean and Robert Maxwell's station for it's time, as they moved on into the 80's, it became "B-94" and it was a successful Top 40/CHR station for its time. By 1999, WBPM flipped from Top 40 to a "Jammin' Oldies" station known as "Rhythm 94.3", and then to oldies by 2001 as "Cool 94.3" until the station flipped to Country in 2003 and the call letters was changed to WKXP as briefly "Kicks 94.3" which is now "The Wolf".

After WBPM changed calls, the call letters resurrected back in 2004 after changing it's call letters from WRKW as a rock station as "92.9 Rock" to an oldies station as "Cool 92.9", and finally by 2007, they changed once again to "Classic Hits 92.9" which is mostly a classic rock station than WPDH which is still is today.

We had discussing about WBPM's history last month whien I made a thread on the 10-year anniversary of the loss of Top 40's "B-94" back in 1999.

I guess WQXR would do the same thing that WBPM does back in 2003 or 2004 is move classical to 105.9 instead of 96.3 and there you go.
 
If they aint making money, why should it stay as it is?

105.9 will hit the areas they think will generate the revenue.
Fishkill/Newburgh isn't that area unfortunately.
 
I've hear the news that WQXR is moving to 105.9 starting October 8th at 8 PM. That means there is no more classical music for everyone depending on your frequency at 96.3 which is interfering with "Kiss-FM" at 96.1 which is 2 kw down. And on Time Warner Cable depending on your channel higher than 500.

If you want real classical music than WQXR, besure to listen to WAMC. You will love it!
 
So I wonder what will become of Poughkeepsie’s 103.7 ? Although 105.9 signal is very weak , it’s still there but not really listenable in the Poughkeepsie area . I think there is enough there that it could be boosted up and rebroadcast .Could owner Bud WALKER BROADCASTING Work out a deal with WNYC to continue broadcasting of the new WQXR ; or would he go to Univision's for carriage of their WCAA on 96.9? You could argue that Spanish language is underserved on radio in this area. However WEOK tried it several years ago and got zip in the ratings .Furthermore , WQXR repeated on 103.7, even though it was limited by a low power translator did show in the Poughkeepsie ratings. Although classical music fans still have non- com 88.7 WRHV it is not full time having to share the frequency with New Paltz Colleges WFNP.I know many people were upset when 96.1 , which eventually became WPKF came on the air blocking WQXR , thus 103.7 was born .So perhaps the new WQXR would be the better option . If neither deal works I hope Bud Walker would take his translator silent before considering another Religious broadcaster !

PS. I know I am asking the impossible but wouldn’t be great if Disney would write posts that :
1) made sense
2) DID NOT SOMEHOW GET TWISTED AROUND TO YET ANOTHER MENTION OF THE OLD 94.3 WBPM !!
 
Now as a non-comm, perhaps WQXR will pick up some translators in fringe areas where it believes there could be a meaningful impact.
 
WAMC plays very little classical music. WMHT-FM 89.1 is a 24/7 classical service. It isn't very good though. They have a part time repeater WRHV-FM 88.7 in Poughkeepsie but if I recall correctly it is some sort of time sharing deal with a local college, or at least it used to be.

If you are far enough north maybe you can receive 95.1 from Mt. Equinox - it is Vermont Public Radio's classical service. Despite being a class A, the height helps it carry far beyond what the contour map indicates.

Too bad we don't have a full time jazz (NOT smooth jazz) station in the area. 88.3 is such a waste and shouldn't be allowed.
 
MHVRadiofan said:
So I wonder what will become of Poughkeepsie’s 103.7 ? Although 105.9 signal is very weak , it’s still there but not really listenable in the Poughkeepsie area . I think there is enough there that it could be boosted up and rebroadcast .Could owner Bud WALKER BROADCASTING Work out a deal with WNYC to continue broadcasting of the new WQXR ; or would he go to Univision's for carriage of their WCAA on 96.9? You could argue that Spanish language is underserved on radio in this area. However WEOK tried it several years ago and got zip in the ratings .Furthermore , WQXR repeated on 103.7, even though it was limited by a low power translator did show in the Poughkeepsie ratings. Although classical music fans still have non- com 88.7 WRHV it is not full time having to share the frequency with New Paltz Colleges WFNP.I know many people were upset when 96.1 , which eventually became WPKF came on the air blocking WQXR , thus 103.7 was born .So perhaps the new WQXR would be the better option . If neither deal works I hope Bud Walker would take his translator silent before considering another Religious broadcaster !
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! You forgot to mentioned that 96.1 came on the air back in 1996 before WPKF came along was WNSX where they tried to block WQXR on it's frequency at 96.3. It was "The X 96.1" when it was a modern rock station at the time until 1997 during the Strauss era where they flipped to a simulcast of Hot AC's "The Cat" from 98.5 as WCTJ until 2001 when "Kiss-FM" came along and it is now an urban station than "Hot 97", "Power 105" and "92.3 Now".
 
This evening (Saturday) I noticed commercials on Univision channel 41 TV for the new Spanish staton on 96.3. Later, I heard the same kind of ads on WCAA-105.9. The switch hasn't happened yet. Checking the WQXR website, the switch is planned for this Thursday, October 8th, at 8pm. We'll see if the 103.7 Poughkeepsie translator stays with classical WQXR.
 
dx1ng said:
Checking the WQXR website, the switch is planned for this Thursday, October 8th, at 8pm. We'll see if the 103.7 Poughkeepsie translator stays with classical WQXR.
Click to expand...

This is from WNYC's website regarding the conversion of WQXR to 105.9 :
" “Yes, we are trying to reach agreements with some translator operators and we are looking into the possibility of us adding some translators. We are also looking to have relationships with cable operators, as well, so that [the WQXR programs] will be available to as many listeners as possible.”

As Jim stressed to us, we are still in the process of working out the details, but as soon as more information develops with regard to extending broadcast availability via repeaters, translators, and cable channels, you can be sure to read about it here. "

So perhaps 103.7 will continue with the new WQXR shortly if not right away.
 
I checked through one of my cable channels that channels 590 which is carrying WQXR and 592 which is carrying WNYC are off, but it shows a black screen. I rebooted my cable box and it's still got the station going running music with Time Warner Business Class ads shown. And then a few hours later, I go through the channels and they are off again, just a black screen and no audio. What's wrong? I have to record this aircheck this Thursday.
 
I saw on the WNYC site that they plan to retain the 103.7 translator in Highland. That's good news for you guys up the line.
 
Guess what? I recorded the entire aircheck of the relaunch of the new WQXR at 105.9 when it was simulcast on WNYC. right before the relaunch, I also recorded the last half hour of WQXR at 96.3 right before the stunting took place at 5:00 PM. Nothing special going on.

I checked channel 590 on my Time Warner Cable that the station has gone static. WTF?

I have this aircheck off and running and I will be posting it this weekend in the "New York" board.
 
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