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| Broadcast area | New York metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 104.3MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Q104.3 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Classic rock |
| Subchannels | HD2:Talk radio (WOR) |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WHTZ,WKTU,WLTW,WOR,WWPR-FM,WWRL | |
| History | |
First air date | December 1, 1956 (68 years ago) (1956-12-01) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Wax is slang for avinyl record, owing to a priorAOR format |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 23004 |
| Class | B |
| ERP |
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| HAAT | 415 metres (1,362 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°44′54″N73°59′08″W / 40.748417°N 73.985694°W /40.748417; -73.985694 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | |
WAXQ (104.3FM) is a commercial radio stationlicensed toNew York, New York. It airs aclassic rockformat and is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. WAXQ's studios are at125 West 55th Street inMidtown Manhattan. DJs heard on WAXQ include radio veteransCarol Miller and Jim Kerr. The station'stransmitter is located at theEmpire State Building.[2]
A stationsigned on the air on the 104.3 frequency in 1949. Itscall sign was WFDR, a non-profit FM station owned by theInternational Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.[3] The call letters referred to the late PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, a hero to the labor movement.
However, few people owned FM receivers in that era. Like many earlyFM stations, WFDR lost money, and the station ceased operations in 1952.[4]
A new FM station began broadcasting on the 104.3 frequency on December 1, 1956. Its call sign was WFMX.[5] Within a year, it adopted the call letters WNCN, standing for "New York Concert Network."[6] It was a part of a group of classical music stations in the Northeastern United States. The Concert Network was programmed fromWBCN inBoston and was carried byaffiliates WXCN inProvidence, Rhode Island (nowWWBB) andWHCN inHartford, Connecticut, as well as WNCN.
Later, WNCN was acquired by medical advertising agency ownerLudwig Wolfgang Frohlich, the founder of the National Science Network.[7][8] The station added daily medical news reports to its schedule, since it was believed that classical music was the choice of doctors and dentists. WNCN'stower was moved from theHotel Pierre to the Empire State Building, increasing the station's coverage.
National Science sold the station to Starr Broadcast Group in 1974. The station retained its classical music format for many years, except for a short period during 1974–1975 when it took up aprogressive rock format with the call letters WQIV.
During the brief run of WQIV, the station's progressive rock appealed to long-timeWNEW-FM listeners. Some veteran 1970s FM rock DJs were heard on WQIV, including Rosko (William Mercer) andCarol Miller. This brief period also saw deployment of a short-lived technology as unintentionally brief as the format change itself: WQIV broadcast inquadraphonic sound (a precursor to "Surround Sound") as indicated by the new call letters "Q" (quadraphonic) "IV" (Roman numeral 4). The choice of these call letters was a reminder to audiences of this technical innovation, although history shows that the consumer audio marketplace quickly abandoned quad.
The WQIV era was during ownership by Starr Broadcast Group, of which political commentator and authorWilliam F. Buckley Jr. was chairman. The GM was Alan Eisenberg, and the program director was Larry Miller (later withWKTU). The announcement that the station was changing to rock music was read by Buckley himself and repeated frequently on the air. Two groups, the WNCN Listeners Guild and Classical Radio for Connecticut, were formed, and petitioned the FCC to block the flip.
A last minute stay by aU.S. Supreme Court Justice delayed the scheduled changeover, but that was lifted and WNCN became WQIV. The first selection played on the air by Larry Miller after WQIV debuted was theElectric Light Orchestra's "Roll Over Beethoven".[9] William Buckley admitted he loved classical music, but had a responsibility to Starr shareholders to maximize returns. The Listeners Guild continued its fight, and eventually forced a change back to classical music when an application was filed for the frequency by a new group headed byWilliam Benton of theEncyclopædia Britannica.
Starr relented, and in a negotiated settlement, sold the station toGAF Broadcasting.[10][11] WQIV signed off with "Funeral for a Friend" byElton John. The station then played the last 2 notes of the last classical song on the original WNCN that were cut off, then said "sorry for the interruption".
The first selection played on the air after the change back was fromJohann Sebastian Bach'sMass in B-minor, "Et resurrexit".[12] From 1971 to 1974 and again from 1975 to 1994,David Dubal served as music director of WNCN.
The station was owned by GAF Broadcasting until 1996, whenViacom purchased it for $100 million. For much of this time, New York had three FM stations playing classical music: WNCN,WQXR-FM (owned by theNew York Times) andWNYC-FM (owned by theCity of New York).[13] Over time, the classical format became harder to sell to advertisers. By the end of 1993, with WNCN and WQXR (then a commercial station) facing considerable listener overlap and a relatively small audience, GAF decided to make a change.[14]
On December 18, 1993, at midnight, WNCNsigned off for good. The last selection wasJoseph Haydn'sSymphony No. 45 (also known as the "Farewell Symphony"). A farewell message came from station president and general manager Randy Bongarten. Afterstunting with a nearly 12-minute loop of a ticking clock and construction sound effects, the station debuted a new, current-based, hard-edgedalbum-oriented rock (AOR) format, along with new call letters WAXQ and the branding "Q104.3".[15][16][17] The station launched with an "AC/DC A-to-Z" playlist; accordingly, the first song under the new format was the group's "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round To Be A Millionaire)".[15][18]
The first on-air staff was Trent Tyler and Christine Nagy in morningdrive time, Heidi Hess in middays, Ida Hakkila and Mark Razz in afternoon drive, Candy Martin (Candice Agree) in nights and Lark Logan in overnights. The station's first PD was Bob Elliot, who was replaced by Ron Valeri. Split into five-song blocks that focused on currenthard rock favorites, also mixed in were classic rock tunes and cuts from bands not typically thought of as radio friendly (such asType O Negative andAnthrax).
At first, the ratings were low, as this format was not ideal during a time in which more people were listening toalternative rock than to mainstream hard rock orheavy metal. Also, during the mid-1990s, other New York City radio stations were playing alternative rock music, asWXRK went from classic rock to alternative andWNEW-FM was trying to go after a younger audience by adding alternative titles.
In 1996, thanks to a deal involving a swapping of various broadcast stations, Viacom re-acquired WAXQ. After initial consideration was given for the station to turn to acountry music format, management decided that there was a need for a full-time classic rock station in New York City. As a result, the station switched to classic rock at 5 a.m. on July 1, 1996.[19] Research indicated that if WNEW-FM were to revert to an all-classic rock format, listeners would not return there due to the distrust for that station. As it turned out, WNEW-FM did unsuccessfully return to a classic rock format in January 1997, six months after WAXQ's flip.
That same year, Viacom sold off its entire radio division before its merger with CBS and Infinity. The new owner wasChancellor Media. Chancellor, in turn, merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM in August 1998. In 2000, AMFM was purchased byClear Channel Communications, forerunner of today's iHeartMedia.
The Sopranos often featured WAXQ as the radio stationTony Soprano would set on his alarm clock.[20] In contrast to their respective tenures on other New York area radio stations, the DJs on Q104.3 now have little creative input into what music gets played, as is common nowadays at mostmajor market radio stations. The playlist is narrower than that of classic rock radio stations of the past, due to results from audience research. Older songs that were once staples of classic rock radio, such as "Eight Miles High" bythe Byrds, are now only played during infrequent segments devoted to "Deep Classics". In an effort to appeal to younger rock fans, some rock acts from the 1990s, such as theRed Hot Chili Peppers andStone Temple Pilots are included. WAXQ plays some pop-leaning classics from artists such asElton John,Billy Joel andPhil Collins, that are not found on harder-edged classic rock stations.
On February 28, 2024, iHeartMedia announced that it had signed a deal for WAXQ to be the new radio and local streaming home of theNew York Jets. The Jets became the 19th of the 32NFL teams to sign a deal with the broadcaster. The move was triggered by the impending end of alocal marketing agreement (LMA) by the operators of previous broadcasterWEPN-FM. That agreement was set to end at the end of August of that year, just before the team's season would begin.[21]
Like other Clear Channel stations, WAXQ adoptedHD Radio technology in late winter 2006. That gave it the ability to adddigital subchannels with different programming for listeners whose radios are equipped to receive HD broadcasts. On WAXQ-HD1, the classic rock format could be heard on the original analog station. WAXQ-HD2 played a blend of deep classic rock cuts including some hard rock and current releases by classic rock artists.
With the demise of "K-Rock" on 92.3WXRK in early 2009, WAXQ's HD2 subchannel began airing "Rock Nation" to satisfy the fans of K-Rock'sactive rock format. On July 16, 2011, one day after alternative station101.9 RXP flipped formats, the HD2 channel became "The Alternative Project" to somewhat fill the gap of alternative rock. As of August 2011, the HD2 channel played a mix of mostly active rock, mixed with 90's alternative hard rock. Although the station'slegal ID at the top of the hour stated "The Alternative Project", it was neither airing "Rock Nation" nor "The Alternative Project". Two weeks later in mid-August 2011, "The Alternative Project" feed returned. On October 1, 2015, HD2 became "iHeartCountry" with a country music format. However, sometime in 2017, the HD2 country format was replaced by a simulcast ofsister stationWOR710 AM, which has atalk radio format.
"The Alternative Project" would later return in 2018, but this time on the new HD3 subchannel, despite having competition from rival alternative station 92.3 WNYL. The HD3 subchannel has since been discontinued.
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