Classical 105.9 FM WQXR launches new mobile app
Classical 105.9 FM WQXR, the nation’s most listened-to classical music station, extends its reach even further with the launch of a new mobile app, available today. This technological advance will give listeners a new way to tune in to the station’s vibrant music programming as well as granting access to WQXR’s wealth of digital-only features. In keeping with the station’s programming hallmark of broadcasting and streaming live from New York City’s concert halls and performance spaces, the app debut coincides with the station’s live broadcast of tonight’s season-opening concert by the New York Philharmonic.
The mobile app will give audiences direct access to the broadcast on 105.9 FM and on Q2 Music, WQXR’s online contemporary music stream. The app will also offer all the rich content and features found on www.wqxr.org, including:
- real-time and archived radio playlists;
- archived episodes of destination programs, including the cross-genre All Ears with Terrance McKnight, the film-score fest Movies on the Radio, and The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle;
- WQXR news features including “Arts File” and “The Washington Report” with New York Times reporter David Sanger;
- WQXR blogs, including the popular “Operavore” (formerly “WQX-Aria”), authored by Fred Plotkin and Olivia Giovetti;
- original video/audio content, such as Café Concerts videos, which features both emerging and established artists, and “Top Five at 105.9,” on which classical music luminaries and personalities from other fields share their favorite compositions and performances; and
- WQXR podcasts, including the music industry roundtable “Conducting Business” and Around Broadway with New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood, among others.
The new WQXR app is available free of charge to iPhone users, and may be downloaded from the iTunes store. An Android version will be available in early October.
www.wqxr.org will also unveil a fresh look and more features for accessing and sharing content next month. The site relaunch will help kick off WQXR’s 75th anniversary and offer an online space for listeners to share their treasured memories of the station’s history. A special online music stream – “Vintage WQXR,” featuring classic shows such as The Vocal Scene with George Jellinek and archival recordings of Leonard Bernstein – will be available through December.
“It took us 75 years to get here, but we are thrilled to launch the WQXR app,” said Graham Parker, Vice President of WQXR:
“Now our listeners can hear our live broadcasts from New York’s premier concert halls, watch exclusive video of their favorite performers, read the latest musings of our plugged-in bloggers, or just enjoy the great classical music we offer everyday, wherever they are. We’re excited to have a new way to reach passionate fans while also attracting new listeners to the genre.”
Tonight, WQXR will broadcast live a highlight of the New York classical music season: the opening of the New York Philharmonic’s 170th season, with music director Alan Gilbert at the podium, and featuring soprano Deborah Voigt. The app release also anticipates “Carnegie Hall Live”: WQXR’s upcoming live broadcast series with partners Carnegie Hall and American Public Media, which will present, over the course of the 2011-12 season, twelve live performances by some of the world’s foremost ensembles, soloists, and recitalists from the three stages of Carnegie Hall. The WQXR app will provide another way for listeners to engage with the exciting web features of “Carnegie Hall Live” – including live web chats, exclusive video, and conductor interviews – and to build a community around great live music.
The WQXR app was developed for WQXR by Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
New York Public Radio is New York’s premier public radio franchise, comprising WQXR, WNYC, and The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, as well as www.wqxr.org, www.wnyc.org, and www.thegreenespace.org. Classical 105.9 FM WQXR is New York City’s sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the city’s top venues, immersing listeners in a rich musical life. As America’s most listened-to AM/FM news and talk public radio station, reaching 1.1 million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City’s cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and it presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. In addition to its audio content, WQXR and WNYC produce content for live, radio, and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. For more information about New York Public Radio, visit www.nypublicradio.org.
For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Houlihan, WNYC/WQXR: [email protected], (646) 829-4497
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: [email protected], (212) 625-2038