Radio . . . and Me - 32

In the 1960s, when wanted to relax, I could listen to WQXR, the quiet, 50,000-watt classical music station from New York, ‘way down on the right side of the AM radio dial.
ID: ‘This is the radio station of the New York Times, WQXR, New York.’

There it was, a quiet spa on 1560, amid a sea of loud rock ’n’ roll stations: WMEX, 1510 Boston, WKBW, 1520 Buffalo, and WPTR, 1540 Albany.
Quiet, too, because they had commercials, usually read by the duty announcer, but … without jingles!
And, of course, as they were owned by the New York Times, they had excellent hourly newscasts.
WQXR (now known as ‘Radio Disney’) began as an experimental television station in 1929, and was bought for just over $1 million by the New York Times in 1934. (This was BIG money at any time, but this deal was done during the Depression.)
They broadcast classical music on 1560, as well as on FM after 1939.
In 1971, with the face of AM radio moving from music to spoken-word: news, phone-in, sports, the Times put WQXR up for sale. However, management could not get a satisfactory bid.
— Fact is, they were reluctant to sell the station outright, as they would have to pay any ‘capital gains taxes’ on the difference between the new selling price and the original purchase price of $1 million in 1934!!!
Some TWENTY-SEVEN years later (they appeared to be in no hurry!), following WNEW's switch from standards to business information, it began playing standards, as: ‘1560 WQEW, The home of American popular standards.’
They were a success with their standards listeners for six years, but ad revenues could not keep up, and they set up a local marketing agreement to … ah … ‘affiliate’ (i.e., sign a lease) with Radio Disney (so the dreaded ‘capital gains taxes’ wouldn’t come up).
Local newspapers were highly sceptical of the new programming: headlines dismissed the new station: ‘WQEW-AM: All Kids, All the Time,’ and ‘New Station WQEW bets it can win pre-teens without driving their parents up the wall.’
In 1997, Disney exercised its option to purchase, and paid $40 million.
(Let's see: wonder what the ‘capital gains taxes’ came to: $1 million to $40 million … over SIXTY-THREE YEARS?)
It was (and still is) curious, one-of-a-kind programming: a high-energy national feed, upbeat pre-teen music (Justin Bieber, et al) and novelty oldies for the parents, with exclusively Disney commercials, promoting latest movie, contests and Disney swag.
Pre-teens and their parents love it!
But, times change: Over the last 15 years, pre-teens (as with most of rest of us) have switched to social networks as the favourite means of communication and commerce.
A couple of weeks ago, Disney decided to change to a digital distribution platform for its goods and services (and shook the AM radio world across the U-S), by putting WQEW and its twenty-two other Radio Disney stations up for sale.
How much can they sell WQEW for?
Nobody will pay $40 million these days, so it should be an interesting process to watch.
And, then, what format can / will the new owner adopt? Got all that? ‘We’ll have a quiz on Friday!’
Who knows what the future will bring?