WAQX-FM

{{Infobox radio station

| name = WAQX-FM

| logo = 95X Syracuse Rock Alternative.png

| city = Manlius, New York

| country = US

| area = {{ubl|Syracuse metropolitan area|Central New York}}

| branding = 95X

| frequency = {{Frequency|95.7|MHz}}

| airdate = {{Start date and age|1978|8|23|p=y}}

| format = Alternative rock

| erp = 25,000 watts

| haat = 91 meters (299 ft)

| class = B1

| facility_id = 52606

| coordinates = {{coord|43|00|24.7|N|76|05|38.0|W|region:US-NY}}

| callsign_meaning = Wax, slang for phonograph records

| affiliations = Westwood One

| owner = Cumulus Media

| licensee = Radio License Holding CBC, LLC

| sister_stations = WNTQ, WSKO

| webcast = {{ubl|{{listen live|https://player.listenlive.co/26181}}|{{iHeartRadio|5439}}}}

| website = {{url|https://www.95x.com}}

| licensing_authority = FCC

}}

WAQX-FM (95.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Manlius, New York, United States, featuring an alternative rock format known as "95X". Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Syracuse metropolitan area of Central New York.{{cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WAQX|title=WAQX Facility Record|work=Federal Communications Commission, audio division|access-date=August 6, 2008|archive-date=September 10, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010910192157/http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WAQX|url-status=live}} Studios are located in Downtown Syracuse, while the transmitter resides in DeWitt. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WAQX-FM is available online.

History

On November 29, 1976, AGK Communications, Inc., a company owned by George Kimble, Craig Fox and Ted Utz applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new radio station on 95.3 MHz to serve Manlius.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=79656 |title= History Cards for WAQX-FM|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The application competed against a bid from Manlius Broadcasting Co., which was owned by Craig Fox and Ted Utz, along with a small group of investors. {{cite news|title=Await Manlius Radio Ruling|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-dec-07-1977-3100201/|page=1|date=December 7, 1977|work=Eagle-Bulletin|access-date=March 17, 2022}} The Kimble and Fox/Utz bids merged and won the construction permit on May 10, 1978.{{r|hc}} Construction immediately ensued on studios in the Market Place complex on Route 92,{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-08-1978-3100204/|work=Syracuse Post Standard|first=John|last=Wisniewski|page=26|date=August 8, 1978|title=WAQX Promises Variety, Fewer Commercials}} including Fox and Utz doing much of the construction Fox as chief engineer,{{r|dreams}} and with an album-oriented rock (AOR) format, WAQX began broadcasting on August 23, 1978.{{cite web|page=C-154|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1980/1980-BC-YB.pdf#page=435|work=Broadcasting Yearbook|date=1980|title=WAQX(FM)|access-date=March 17, 2022|via=World Radio History|archive-date=February 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220191931/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1980/1980-BC-YB.pdf#page=435|url-status=live}} Fox, then 25, Utz then 24 and two friends of his from Syracuse University felt that Syracuse could support a commercial AOR station; until then, WAER at the university and WOUR in nearby Utica were the only AOR stations serving the market.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1970s/1978/RR-1978-10-13.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=October 13, 1978|page=42|title=Dreams Come True|first=Jeff|last=Gelb|via=World Radio History|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=October 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001064925/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1970s/1978/RR-1978-10-13.pdf|url-status=live}}

The small WAQX, which went on the air with an effective radiated power of 410 watts, had only been on the air a year when format competition came in the form of a much stronger station: WSYR-FM 94.5, which dropped WAQX's ratings by a full point nearly immediately. An attempt at an "adult rock" format proved to be a disaster, but an upgrade to 3,000 watts and the sale of WSYR-FM and its flip to another format helped lead to a rebound.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1984/RR-1984-09-21.pdf|date=September 21, 1984|work=Radio & Records|first=Steve|last=Feinstein|title=WAQX: The Little Station That Could|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305163001/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1984/RR-1984-09-21.pdf|url-status=live}} Ratings rose to double-digit shares in 1984 and 1985, a feat the station would only accomplish one other time—in 1994, when it made its lone appearance as the highest-rated station in Syracuse.{{cite web|first=James H.|last=Duncan, Jr.|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Syracuse.pdf|title=Syracuse|work=Duncan's American Radio: The Markets|date=2004|via=World Radio History|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927075955/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Syracuse.pdf|url-status=live}}

In 1988, after an upgrade in the station's transmitting facility and power prompted it to relocate from 95.3 to 95.7 MHz,{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-19-1988-3100214/|title=Rock station 95X sold for $4.5 million|work=Syracuse Herald-Journal|page=C5|first=James T.|last=Mulder|date=July 19, 1988|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317083301/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-19-1988-3100214/|url-status=live}} Kimble and Fox negotiated the sale of the station to Atlantic Ventures Corporation, a Massachusetts company formed by former executives of the recently sold American Cablesystems, for $4.5 million.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-19-1988-3100208/|title=Massachusetts Firm to Buy WAQX-FM for $4.5M|page=B-5|date=July 19, 1988|work=Syracuse Post Standard|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317083243/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-19-1988-3100208/|url-status=live}} The deal also included a construction permit for a new radio station at 670 kHz which would have required a divestiture of a Fox station anyway; Fox owned WOLF (1490 AM), which for five years had simulcast WAQX on the AM band.{{cite news|page=C7|work=Syracuse Herald-Journal|title=AM listeners of 95X 'Turn It Up' no more|date=October 12, 1989|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-12-1989-3100216/|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317083245/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-12-1989-3100216/|url-status=live}} New studios on James Street were built for WAQX.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-apr-29-1989-3100211/|first=Caryn|last=Bruce|date=April 29, 1989|page=C-8|title=WAQX-FM to Move Studios to James Street Site|work=Syracuse Post Standard|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317083245/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-apr-29-1989-3100211/|url-status=live}} However, Atlantic soon unloaded WAQX, selling it at a $500,000 loss to Pilot Communications in 1990 to focus on its stations in Rochester and Boston. Neither of the partners in Pilot had owned a radio station before;{{Cite news|pages=B5, [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-03-1990-3100221/ B7]|work=Syracuse Herald-Journal|date=July 3, 1990|title=School buddies buy 95X for $4 million|first=J. Michael|last=Kelly|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-03-1990-3100220/|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317083245/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-03-1990-3100220/|url-status=live}} Pilot would own seven stations in Syracuse and Augusta, Maine, when Broadcasting Partners, a unit of VS&A, invested in the group in 1997.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1997/RR-1997-01-24.pdf|work=Radio & Records|page=4|title=Broadcasting Partners Lands Pilot Deal|date=January 24, 1997|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=March 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305160342/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1997/RR-1997-01-24.pdf|url-status=live}}

In 1999, Citadel Communications purchased WAQX and three other Syracuse stations as part of a $190 million purchase of Broadcasting Partners involving 36 stations in 11 markets.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-11-05.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=November 5, 1999|title=Citadel Ropes In Broadcasting Partners Properties|page=6|access-date=March 17, 2022|archive-date=October 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001125427/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-11-05.pdf|url-status=live}} Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.{{cite news |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2011/09/16/cumulus-now-owns-citadel-broadcasting.html |title=Cumulus Now Owns Citadel Broadcasting |work=Business Journal |date=September 16, 2011 |access-date=May 19, 2016}}

References

External links

[http://www.95X.com/ 95X Online]
{{FM station data|52606|WAQX-FM}}

Category:Alternative rock radio stations in the United States

Category:Modern rock radio stations in the United States

AQX-FM

Category:Cumulus Media radio stations

Category:Radio stations established in 1978

Category:1978 establishments in New York (state)