WAXQ
 |
|
| City | New York, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | New York City area |
| Branding | Q-104.3 |
| Slogan | New York's Classic Rock |
| Frequency | 104.3 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1949 |
| Format | FM/HD1: Commercial; Classic rock HD2: WOR simulcast |
| ERP | 6,000 watts |
| HAAT | 415 meters (1,362 ft) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 23004 |
| Callsign meaning | The Q in WAXQ is used in the Q-104.3 branding |
| Former callsigns | WFDR (1949–52) WFMX (1956–57) WNCN (1957–74 and 1975–93) WQIV (1974–75) |
| Owner |
iHeartMedia (AMFM Radio Licenses, L.L.C.) |
| Sister stations | WHTZ, WKTU, WLTW, WOR, WWPR-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | q1043.com |
WAXQ (104.3 FM, "Q-104.3") is a classic rock-formatted radio station located in New York City. WAXQ is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the AT&T Building in the Tribeca district of Manhattan; its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.
The 104.3 frequency originally signed on in 1949 as WFDR, a non-profit station owned by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. However, like most early FM stations, WFDR lost money, and the station ceased operations in 1952.
The callsign WNCN was first issued by the Federal Radio Commission (precursor to the FCC in 1934) to a Great Lakes passenger steamer City of Detroit III and shows up on a list of maritime calls published in 1931. In those days, the three and four letter callsigns were used by ships, broadcast stations, and police departments.
The FM station first took to the air on December 1, 1956 as WFMX, and within a year adopted the call letters WNCN (for New York Concert Network). As such, it was a part of a group of classical music stations in the northeastern United States, the Concert Network, programmed from WBCN in Boston and carried by affiliates including WXCN in Providence, Rhode Island; WHCN in Hartford, Connecticut and WRCN-FM in Riverhead, New York. Later, WNCN was acquired by the National Science Network, which added daily medical news reports to the schedule since it was believed that Classical Music was the choice of the medical and dental professions. It also moved the antenna from the Hotel Pierre to the Empire State Building, increasing the station's coverage. National Science sold the station to Starr Broadcast Group in 1974. The station would retain a classical music format for many years, except for a short period during 1974–1975 when it took up a rock format with the call letters WQIV. During the brief run of WQIV, the station's progressive album-oriented rock appealed to long-time WNEW-FM listeners and included some veteran 70s FM rock DJs (Rosko, Carol Miller...). This brief period also saw deployment of a short-lived technology as unintentionally brief as the format change itself: WQIV broadcast in 4 channel quadraphonic (a precursor to "Surround Sound") as indicated by the new call letters "Q" (quadraphonic) "IV" (Roman numeral 4). This choice of call letters was a constant reminder to audiences of this technical innovation, although history shows that the free market quickly abandoned quad. The station's ownership history can be found at www.wncn.org.
...
Wikipedia