The New York Times Co. is selling its classical music station and exiting the radio business.
The Times said Tuesday it will sell WQXR-FM in a three-way deal that will see the classical music format become part of public radio, and its 96.3 FM signal broadcast a Spanish language station.
Univision Radio will pay the Times $33.5 million to exchange the broadcast license of WCAA, at 105.9 FM, for the 96.3 FM signal. The station, currently broadcast out of Newark, N.J., features Spanish language music and entertainment.
WNYC Radio, the city’s public radio provider, is paying $11.5 million for WQXR’s call letters, and the license for 105.9 FM. WNYC plans to continue WQXR’s classical format, and has started a fundraising drive to raise money for the purchase.
The deal, which needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, is expected to close before the end of the year.
WNYC operates two other stations, WNYC-AM, which airs a news-and-talk format, and WNYC-FM, which features a mixture of news and music.
WQXR-AM began broadcasting in 1936, and the FM station followed in 1939. Both were sold to The New York Times in 1944. The Times sold the AM station to Radio Disney in 2006.
With the sale of the FM station, the Times will no longer be in the radio business.
The Times has been looking to sell properties as it struggles in an advertising market that is dramatically shifting away from print media.
It recently hired an investment bank to try to sell the Boston Globe, after renegotiating contracts with that paper’s unions, and is also trying to sell its interest in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
The company reported a $74.5 million loss in the first quarter, and is expected to post continued losses when it reports second-quarter results later this month.
