WHAT THE FM BROADCASTERS HAVE TO SAY:

A Statement Concerning W59NY by V.L.Hogan, President,
Interstate Broadcasting Company

ALTHOUGH W2XQR was the first FM station directly affiliated with a broadcaster in New York City, it's coverage has been somewhat limited, and we have not yet been able to extend our program service to the 8,500 square miles officially set up as the New York area.

A little of the time-table of the past may help to explain this situation and to interpret our FM plans for the future. W2XR, the predecessor of WQXR, was licensed to me personally as an experimental high fidelity broadcasting station on June 20, 1934. It was probably the first high fidelity broadcast station in the world, and its experimental operations demonstrated that there was a substantial audience for good music realistically reproduced. On May 21, 1936, W2XR was transferred to Interstate Broadcasting Co., Inc., which I had incorporated to develop the public service and business sides of the venture, and in January 1937, the station became a full fledged comrnercial broadcaster with call letters WQXR. The power was initially 1 kw; it was increased to 5 kw on November 1, 1940, and now WQXR has a construction permit for 10 kw power day and night.

When Major Armstrong's famous FM station W2XMN needed high fidelity programs, music from the WQXR studios was piped to him over a special wide-band line which he installed for the purpose. Meanwhile, on January 7, 1939, I applied for an experimental FM license, and the C.P. was granted October 3, 1939, with call letters W2XQR. Our 1 kw REL transmitter was installed at once and equipment and program tests began November 8, 1939. The license was granted and regular operation commenced on December 11, 1939. Thus, I believe that W2XQR was the first New York City FM station to begin regular programming. Several hours of the WQXR programs, usually from 5 to 10 p.m., have been transmitted on FM daily ever since that time. W2XQR was probably the first FM station to broadcast a full symphonic program when it, along with WQXR, on November 27, 1939, transmitted the NBC Symphony Orchestra playing from the stage of Madison Square Garden.

From these earliest days, and particularly because of the favorable attitude shown toward FM by the FCC after the 1940 hearings, we have been anxious to extend the coverage and programming of W2XQR. Its service area is now severely limited by its power of 1 kw. and antenna height of only 150 ft. A suitable site at a New York City office building, over 600 ft. high, was finally obtained and an application for a commercial construction permit was filed by Interstate on April 18, 1941, proposing the deletion of W2XQR as licensed to myself, and the transfer of its equipment to Interstate so as to maintain continuity of operation. As a result of the Cornmission's reexamination of the New York FM allocation problem, it granted Interstate's application, specifying the 45.9 mc. channel in the Construction Permit which was issued June 17, 1941, and assigning call letters W59NY.

We ordered the crystals for the new frequency and were ready to proceed with the job of moving the FM transmitter to New York, installing a high antenna, adding a 10 kw amplifier, and extending our program however, we were delayed in going ahead because of a petition filed by another New York FM applicant, which has now been dismissed. While our listeners within ten or fifteen miles have been hearing W2XQR, those in the outlying sections who are anxious to hear the WQXR programs on FM were thus denied that service, by causes beyond their or our control.

We are now proceeding with construction, and if there are no further interruptions we should be able to have W59NY on the air by the first of the year. This is a part of ouf plan to give FM listeners in the New York City area more and better high fidelity programs.

FM / October 1941.

NOTE: The New York City location was the Chanin Building. located near Grand Central Station. WQXR spent most of it's life at that location, before moving to the Master Antenna on the Empire State Building.