On November 29, 1976, AGK Communications, Inc., a company owned by George Kimble, applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new radio station on 95.3 MHz to serve Manlius.[3] The application competed against a bid from Manlius Broadcasting Co., which was owned by Craig Fox.[4] The Kimble and Fox bids merged and won the construction permit on May 10, 1978.[3] Construction immediately ensued on studios in the Market Place complex on Route 92,[5] including Fox doing much of the construction himself as chief engineer,[6] and with an album-oriented rock (AOR) format, WAQX began broadcasting on August 23, 1978.[7] Fox, then 25, and two friends of his from Syracuse University felt that Syracuse could support a commercial AOR station; until then, WAER at the university and WOUR in nearby Utica were the only AOR stations serving the market.[6]
The small WAQX, which went on the air with an effective radiated power of 410 watts, had only been on the air a year when format competition came in the form of a much stronger station: WSYR-FM 94.5, which dropped WAQX's ratings by a full point nearly immediately. An attempt at an "adult rock" format proved to be a disaster, but an upgrade to 3,000 watts and the sale of WSYR-FM and its flip to another format helped lead to a rebound.[8] Ratings rose to double-digit shares in 1984 and 1985, a feat the station would only accomplish one other time—in 1994, when it made its lone appearance as the highest-rated station in Syracuse.[9]
In 1988, after an upgrade in the station's transmitting facility and power prompted it to relocate from 95.3 to 95.7 MHz,[10] Kimble and Fox negotiated the sale of the station to Atlantic Ventures Corporation, a Massachusetts company formed by former executives of the recently sold American Cablesystems, for $4.5 million.[11] The deal also included a construction permit for a new radio station at 670 kHz which would have required a divestiture of a Fox station anyway; Fox owned WOLF (1490 AM), which for five years had simulcast WAQX on the AM band.[12] New studios on James Street were built for WAQX.[13] However, Atlantic soon unloaded WAQX, selling it at a $500,000 loss to Pilot Communications in 1990 to focus on its stations in Rochester and Boston. Neither of the partners in Pilot had owned a radio station before;[14] Pilot would own seven stations in Syracuse and Augusta, Maine, when Broadcasting Partners, a unit of VS&A, invested in the group in 1997.[15]
In 1999, Citadel Communications purchased WAQX and three other Syracuse stations as part of a $190 million purchase of Broadcasting Partners involving 36 stations in 11 markets.[16] Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[17]
^ abGelb, Jeff (October 13, 1978). "Dreams Come True"(PDF). Radio & Records. p. 42. Archived(PDF) from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022 – via World Radio History.
^"WAQX(FM)"(PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1980. p. C-154. Archived(PDF) from the original on February 20, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022 – via World Radio History.
^Duncan, Jr., James H. (2004). "Syracuse"(PDF). Duncan's American Radio: The Markets. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022 – via World Radio History.
