UPDATE 1-New York Times to sell NYC radio station

Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:13pm BST
 
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* Two-part sale involving Univision, WNYC radio

* WQXR to remain classical radio station

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co (NYT.N) said it will sell its New York City classical music radio station WQXR for $45 million, in a two-part sale that will help the struggling newspaper publisher pay off debt.

The station will continue to broadcast classical music, something it has done for 73 years, but at 105.9 on the FM radio dial instead of 96.3 FM, the Times said in a statement on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the deal, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Radio [UVN.UL] will pay $33.5 million for the 96.3 slot on the FM radio dial that the Times uses to broadcast WQXR.

The Times in turn will get the U.S. government broadcast license for 105.9 FM, the slot that Univision currently owns. It plans to sell the license, its transmitting equipment and the WQXR call letters to WNYC Radio for $11.5 million.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which supervises broadcast licenses, must approve the sales.

WQXR was founded in 1936 on AM radio as the first U.S. commercial classical music station, the Times said. Three years later, it debuted on FM radio. The newspaper publisher bought the stations in 1944. It sold the AM station to Radio Disney in 2006.

The Times is trying to sell off various properties, including its interest in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, as it pays off debt and fights a steep decline in newspaper advertising revenue.  Continued...

 

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