WQEW-AM: All Kids, All the Time (original) (raw)

New York|WQEW-AM: All Kids, All the Time

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/02/nyregion/wqew-am-all-kids-all-the-time.html

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Dec. 2, 1998

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December 2, 1998

Section B, Page

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Radio station WQEW, New York City's sole broadcaster of American popular standards, will be leased to ABC for eight years for children's programming by a Walt Disney Company radio network, officials announced yesterday.

The announcement by ABC and the station's current owner, The New York Times Company, said that the agreement gives ABC the right to buy the station, 1560 on the AM dial, after eight years. The financial terms were not disclosed, and executives at both companies declined to discuss them yesterday.

One executive valued the deal at around $40 million, but would not break it down into the lease and purchase components.

Station employees said that midnight Dec. 27 was set for the switch from round-the-clock big band and swing music to 24-hour children's programming by Radio Disney, which already has outlets in 35 markets nationwide. The same Disney format is beamed to all its stations and affiliates.

The format, intended for youngsters under 12, combines Top 40 songs, call-in segments, children's sports and commercials for the children's market. The show is on nonstop because ABC and its parent company, Disney, want to maintain control over the programming to assure its suitability, ABC officials said. The late-night hours are to be given over to ballads to lull children to sleep, they said.

The eight-year lease, known in the industry as a ''local marketing agreement,'' does not affect the Times Company's other station, WQXR-FM (96.3). Both stations broadcast from studios at 122 Fifth Avenue. The company's chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said, ''We believe that The New York Times Company can continue to best serve radio listeners in the New York metropolitan area through its ongoing commitment to WQXR-FM, our premier classical music station.''

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