A listen to the “new” WQXR New York on 105.9 reveals the country’s best public classical station — but that’s just what’s wrong with it, as this icon of New York radio has gone from unique, “The Radio Station Of The New York Times,” to just, well, another public station, no matter how good.
As someone who’s been listening since the ‘60s I was initially excited the classical format would be saved when the Times needed cash and did a 3-way deal to Univision, with WQXR going to New York Public Radio (the operators of WNYC AM & FM). Sadly, management at WNYC passed up a chance to do what WFMT Chicago did when it was cut loose by WGN years ago and become its own corporation so the station’s commercials and unique sound could move to 105.9 intact. Instead they went public — a major blow to listeners.
They did keep familiar voices — Jeff Spurgeon, Midge Woolsey and Elliott Forrest, but now they are public radio hosts with new marching orders. The old “Your New York Starts Here!” slogan of WQXR was banished. The end of affiliation with The Times means no more Times entertainment or restaurant features. Sadly, news at the top of the hour “from the newsroom of the New York Times” went a couple years ago, but it seems the new owners could have contracted with the Times to keep at least some of the features.
The change also means new programmers — apparent from the first morning. You can use the call letters, but you can’t be the same if you change what’s heard — and that’s exactly what management did.
We don’t understand why they didn’t go commercial (as they legally can at 105.9) and we understand even less why WNYC’s management eliminated many of the features which stood for WQXR: things like The Office Hour, a mid-morning 60 minutes dedicated to all the NYC workers slaving away, ostensibly with their radios on. It dated back so long they originally were slaving in shorthand on steno pads and manual typewriters, with the hour’s theme being Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter. So much for history.
WQXR has also added some stand-bys from the NPR/APR stable, and many listeners don’t feel they belong. “Pipedreams” and “Performance Today” are great public shows, but don’t truly fit here anymore than two guys would blend in on the Rockettes' chorus line — no matter how good they dance!
Transition from the “old” to the “new” WQXR was also handled awkwardly for folks who live outside the area, as many do because they always rate well in online listening counts. Online listeners were left high and dry as the web steams and site switched from www.wqxr.com to www.wqxr.org at the stroke of 8 p.m. on Oct. 8th. If you were listening for the big switchover online, your stream died so if you weren’t fast (and ready) you missed the first of the new station. Now, weeks later, the old site redirects to the new, but the stream, depending what one listens with — computer, iPhone, net radio etc. — is still either “not available” or has the Spanish station now on 96.3. Many directories are still not tuned in to the right stream.
Musically, they have gone from movements and very upbeat (William Tell, finale from Beethoven’s 5th, etc.) especially in drive to the “NPR educational style” of mostly full works, often meaning even at busy times 10-20 minutes between announcements when before they'd play things like a Strauss Polka or waltz (3-6 mins max) and basically be more upbeat. Also, adding NPR music programs means more full works and outside voices, which changes the tone of the station from local to more national.
Finally, to those listening in the New York area, our reports say most have not lost reception or had it harmed as much as nay-sayers predicted. Sure the Website chatter does have complaints and the signal is weaker, but how many folks write in to say “Wow, how wonderful!” to any station change? The people we know in Hoboken, Manhattan and Long Island moved their dials and report decent reception.
Except, of course, for those who, like us find the new WQXR not to be like the old. Around our house, we’ve pretty much left the station after 10-plus days' solid listening and trying hard to love the format. We just can’t make ourselves do it. We’ve gone internet, so now the UK’s Classic FM on our Squeezebox wakes us and we spend a lot of our day with WFMT, which, come to think of it is what WQXR could have, should have and still can become. Otherwise it’s just another public radio station (beg-a-thons and all) which held on to some cherished call letters. Nothing more.
