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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | |
| Frequency | 95.7MHz |
| Branding | 95X |
| Programming | |
| Format | Alternative rock |
| Affiliations | Westwood One |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WNTQ,WSKO | |
| History | |
First air date | August 23, 1978 (47 years ago) (1978-08-23) |
Call sign meaning | Wax, slang forphonograph records |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 52606 |
| Class | B1 |
| ERP | 25,000watts |
| HAAT | 91 meters (299 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 43°00′24.7″N76°05′38.0″W / 43.006861°N 76.093889°W /43.006861; -76.093889 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | |
| Website | www |
WAQX-FM (95.7FM) is a commercialradio station licensed toManlius, New York, United States, featuring analternative rock format known as "95X". Owned byCumulus Media, the station serves theSyracuse metropolitan area ofCentral New York.[2] Studios are located inDowntown Syracuse, while the transmitter resides inDeWitt. In addition to a standardanalog transmission, WAQX-FM is available online.
On November 29, 1976, AGK Communications, Inc., a company owned by George Kimble, Craig Fox and Ted Utz applied to theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new radio station on 95.3 MHz to serve Manlius.[3] The application competed against a bid from Manlius Broadcasting Co., which was owned byCraig Fox and Ted Utz, along with a small group of investors.[4] The Kimble and Fox/Utz bids merged and won the construction permit on May 10, 1978.[3] Construction immediately ensued on studios in the Market Place complex onRoute 92,[5] including Fox and Utz doing much of the construction Fox as chief engineer,[6] and with analbum-oriented rock (AOR) format, WAQX began broadcasting on August 23, 1978.[7] Fox, then 25, Utz then 24 and two friends of his fromSyracuse University felt that Syracuse could support a commercial AOR station; until then,WAER at the university andWOUR in nearbyUtica were the only AOR stations serving the market.[6]
The small WAQX, which went on the air with aneffective radiated power of 410 watts, had only been on the air a year when format competition came in the form of a much stronger station:WSYR-FM 94.5, which dropped WAQX's ratings by a full point nearly immediately. An attempt at an "adult rock" format proved to be a disaster, but an upgrade to 3,000 watts and the sale of WSYR-FM and its flip to another format helped lead to a rebound.[8] Ratings rose to double-digit shares in 1984 and 1985, a feat the station would only accomplish one other time—in 1994, when it made its lone appearance as the highest-rated station in Syracuse.[9]
In 1988, after an upgrade in the station's transmitting facility and power prompted it to relocate from 95.3 to 95.7 MHz,[10] Kimble and Fox negotiated the sale of the station to Atlantic Ventures Corporation, a Massachusetts company formed by former executives of the recently sold American Cablesystems, for $4.5 million.[11] The deal also included a construction permit for a new radio station at 670 kHz which would have required a divestiture of a Fox station anyway; Fox ownedWOLF (1490 AM), which for five years had simulcast WAQX on the AM band.[12] New studios on James Street were built for WAQX.[13] However, Atlantic soon unloaded WAQX, selling it at a $500,000 loss to Pilot Communications in 1990 to focus on its stations inRochester andBoston. Neither of the partners in Pilot had owned a radio station before;[14] Pilot would own seven stations in Syracuse andAugusta, Maine, when Broadcasting Partners, a unit ofVS&A, invested in the group in 1997.[15]
In 1999,Citadel Communications purchased WAQX and three other Syracuse stations as part of a $190 million purchase of Broadcasting Partners involving 36 stations in 11 markets.[16] Citadel merged withCumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[17]