WFDR (1949–1952) A station
signed on the air on the 104.3 frequency in 1949. Its
call sign was WFDR, a non-profit FM station owned by the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. The call letters referred to the late President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, a hero to the labor movement. However, few people owned FM receivers in that era. Like many early
FM stations, WFDR lost money, and the station ceased operations in 1952.
WNCN (1956–1974) A new FM station began broadcasting on the 104.3 frequency on December 1, 1956. Its call sign was WFMX. Within a year, it adopted the call letters WNCN, standing for "New York Concert Network." It was a part of a group of classical music stations in the Northeastern United States. The Concert Network was programmed from
WBCN in
Boston and was carried by
affiliates WXCN in
Providence, Rhode Island (now
WWBB) and
WHCN in
Hartford, Connecticut, as well as WNCN. Later, WNCN was acquired by medical advertising agency owner
Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich, the founder of the National Science Network. 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's
tower was moved from the
Hotel Pierre to the Empire State Building, increasing the station's coverage.
WQIV (1974–1975) 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 a
progressive rock format with the call letters WQIV. During the brief run of WQIV, the station's progressive rock appealed to long-time
WNEW-FM listeners. Some veteran 1970s FM rock DJs were heard on WQIV, including Rosko (
William Mercer) and
Carol Miller. This brief period also saw deployment of a short-lived technology as unintentionally brief as the format change itself: WQIV broadcast in
quadraphonic 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 author
William F. Buckley Jr. was chairman. The GM was Alan Eisenberg, and the program director was Larry Miller (later with
WKTU). 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 a
U.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 the
Electric Light Orchestra's "
Roll Over Beethoven". 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 by
William Benton of the
Encyclopædia Britannica.
Return to WNCN (1975–1993) Starr relented, and in a negotiated settlement, sold the station to
GAF Broadcasting. WQIV signed off with "
Funeral for a Friend" by
Elton 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 from
Johann Sebastian Bach's
Mass in B-minor, "Et resurrexit". 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, when
Viacom purchased it for $100 million. For much of this time, New York had three FM stations playing classical music: WNCN,
WQXR-FM (owned by the
New York Times) and
WNYC-FM (owned by the
City of New York). 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.
WAXQ (1993–present) On December 18, 1993, at midnight, WNCN
signed off for good. The last selection was
Joseph Haydn's
Symphony No. 45 (also known as the "Farewell Symphony"). A farewell message came from station president and general manager Randy Bongarten. After
stunting with a nearly 12-minute loop of a ticking clock and construction sound effects, the station debuted a new, current-based, hard-edged
album-oriented rock (AOR) format, along with new call letters WAXQ and the branding "Q104.3". 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)". The first on-air staff was Trent Tyler and Christine Nagy in morning
drive 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 current
hard rock favorites, also mixed in were classic rock tunes and cuts from bands not typically thought of as radio friendly (such as
Type O Negative and
Anthrax). At first, the ratings were low, as this format was not ideal during a time in which more people were listening to
alternative rock than to mainstream hard rock or
heavy metal. Also, during the mid-1990s, other New York City radio stations were playing alternative rock music, as
WXRK went from classic rock to alternative and
WNEW-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 a
country 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. 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 was
Chancellor Media. Chancellor, in turn, merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM in August 1998. In 2000, AMFM was purchased by
Clear Channel Communications, forerunner of today's iHeartMedia.
The Sopranos often featured WAXQ as the radio station
Tony Soprano would set on his alarm clock. 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 most
major 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" by
the 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 the
Red Hot Chili Peppers and
Stone Temple Pilots are included. WAXQ plays some pop-leaning classics from artists such as
Elton John,
Billy Joel and
Phil 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 the
New York Jets. The Jets became the 19th of the 32
NFL teams to sign a deal with the broadcaster. The move was triggered by the impending end of a
local marketing agreement (LMA) by the operators of previous broadcaster
WEPN-FM. That agreement was set to end at the end of August of that year, just before the team's season would begin. In 2026, WAXQ stopped referring to itself on air as a classic rock station, adopting the slogan "New York's Rock." This is a trend amongst other iHeartMedia classic rock stations, likely to reflect a broader playlist. == HD operations ==