Q104.3
It is located at 104.3 FM.
WNCN
The station first signed on in 1956 as WNCN, where it was a part of a group of classical music stations in the northeastern United States, the Concert Network, programmed from WBCN, Boston and carried by affiliates in Providence, Riverhead and other markets. 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. 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.
The station's ownership history can be found at
http://www.WNCN.org.
The WQIV era was during ownership by Starr Broadcast Group, of which William F. The announcement that the station was changing to rock music was read by Mr.
A group, the WNCN Listeners Guild, was formed, and petitioned the FCC to forbid the change. William Buckley admitted he loved Bach, 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 head by William Benton, of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Starr relented and in a negotiated settlement sold the station to GAF broadcasting.
The station was owned by GAF , until 1993, when Entercom would buy WNCN.
The WNCN call letters are now used on the NBC affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
WAXQ
In December of 1993, the station adopted a hard rock format, as they took the call letters WAXQ and the nickname "Q-104.3." The first on-air staff was Trent Tyler and Christine Nagy in morning drive; Heidi Hess in middays; Mark Razz in afternoon drive; Candy Martin in nights and Lark Logan, overnights.
The APD/MD for Q 104.3's entire existence as a hard rock station was Vinny Marino. The playlist was split into 5-song blocks that focused on current hard rock favorites, but also mixed in classic rock tunes and cuts from bands not typically thought of as radio friendly (Type O Negative, Anthrax).
Also, during the mid-1990s, other New York City radio stations were playing alternative rock music, as WXRK went from classic rock to alternative rock, and WNEW-FM was trying to go after a younger audience.
In 1996, thanks to a deal involving a swapping of various broadcast stations, Viacom would acquire WAXQ. After initial consideration was given for the station to turn to a country format, management decided that there was a need for a full-time classic rock station in New York City.
As a result, the station went to its current format on July 1, 1996. Research indicated that if WNEW 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 would unsuccessfully go back to a classic rock format in January 1997.
That same year, Viacom sold off its entire radio division (before its merger with CBS and Infinity) to Chancellor Media. Chancellor in turn merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AM/FM, and that company was then purchased by Clear Channel.
WAXQ's airstaff includes several disc jockeys who were well-known from other New York City radio stations, such as morning show host Jim Kerr, Carol Miller, and Eddie Trunk.
In sharp contrast to their respective tenures on other NYC area radio stations, the DJs have little creative input into what music gets played, as WAXQ is a Clear Channel Communications radio station. The playlist is much narrower than that of classic rock radio stations of the past, and 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".
They also are known to go outside the genre of strictly classic rock, sometimes playing more modern rock, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. WAXQ is Arbitron rated #1 in America for Classic Rock.
On Air Schedule
WEEKDAYS
1:00am-5:30am (T-F) Big E (Eric Wellman WAXQ's longtime music director)
5:30am-9:00am Jim Kerr with Shelli Sonstein
9:00am-2:00pm Maria Milito (she was previously the announcer on Make the Grade, and is the American Idol princess on Countdown with Keith Olbermann)
2:00pm-4:00pm Bob Buchmann
4:00pm-8:00pm(M-TH) Ken Dashow
8:00pm-1:00am (M-TH); 7-11 (F) Carol Miller
4:00pm-7:00pm(F) Friday Rock and Roll Road Show with Gerry Martire
11pm-2am (F) Friday Night Rocks with Eddie Trunk
WEEKENDS
(sat) 2:00am-6:00am Big E (Eric Wellman)
(sat) 6am-10am Ralph Tortora
Every other (sat) 10am-2pm Maria Milito
Every other (sat) 10am-2pm Ian O'Malley
3pm-7pm; (Sun)12am-7am (M)12am-5:30am Gerry Martire
(sat)7pm-12am Marc "The Cope" Coppola
(sun) 6am-10am (Breakfast With The Beatles 8-10) Ken Dashow
(Sun) 10am-3pm Ian O'Malley
(Sun) 7pm-10pm Jonathan Clarke
9pm-10pm Sundays Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke
10pm-12am Sundays Little Steven's Underground Garage with Steven Van Zandt
Popular Segments
"Breakfast with the Beatles": Sundays 8:00am-9:45am; all Beatles music, together and solo, by fan request, often with emotional stories behind the chosen songs
"Twelve O'clock Beatles Block": Weekdays 12:00pm-12:20pm; "Keeping Scott's Promise to New York", Scott Muni, a disc jockey until his death in 2004, who after John Lennon's death promised to start his segments with a Lennon or Beatles song; The disc jockey plays four Beatles, together and solo, songs in a row, some chosen by listeners.
"Workforce Blocks": Weekdays 12:20pm-1:00pm; listeners go online to enter suggestions for a set of songs (usually by a single artist) to be played in one of the two twenty minute time periods.
Often requested by listeners.
"Get The Led Out": Weekdays 8:00am and 8:00pm; Carol Miller will play one, two, or three Led Zeppelin songs (the nighttime segment often includes lots of live and rare tracks).
"Three at 3": Weekdays 3:00pm; contest where the first fan to call in with the connection between three songs chosen by disc jockey wins a prize
"Top 1,043 of all time": Thanksgiving Wednesday 1:00pm-Sunday night; fans vote for their favorite rock songs in the preceding weeks, then the top 1,043 vote-getters are revealed in the order of a countdown to number one, with only occasional interruptions
HD Operations
Like other Clear Channel stations, Q104.3 has begun Multicasting in the late winter of 2006. On WAXQ HD 1, the Classic Rock format can be heard on the original analog station while WAXQ HD 2 plays a blend of Deep Classic Rock Hits including some more hard rock and current releases by Classic Rock artists.
HD Radios receive both the primary analog station, the duplicate HD Feed and the multicasting feeds.