It airs a classic rock format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WAXQ's studios are at 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

Its call sign was WFDR, a non-profit FM station owned by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

The Concert Network was programmed from WBCN in Boston and was carried by affiliates WXCN in Providence, Rhode Island (now WWBB) and WHCN in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as WNCN.

Later, WNCN was acquired by medical advertising agency owner Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich, the founder of the National Science Network.

[7][8] The station added daily medical news reports to its schedule, since it was believed that classical music was the choice of doctors and dentists.

WNCN's tower was moved from the Hotel Pierre to the Empire State Building, increasing the station's coverage.

Some veteran 1970s FM rock DJs were heard on WQIV, including Rosko (William Mercer) and Carol Miller.

The choice of these call letters was a reminder to audiences of this technical innovation, although history shows that the consumer audio marketplace quickly abandoned quad.

The WQIV era was during ownership by Starr Broadcast Group, of which political commentator and author William F. Buckley Jr. was chairman.

Two groups, the WNCN Listeners Guild and Classical Radio for Connecticut, were formed, and petitioned the FCC to block the flip.

A last minute stay by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice delayed the scheduled changeover, but that was lifted and WNCN became WQIV.

The first selection played on the air by Larry Miller after WQIV debuted was the Electric Light Orchestra's "Roll Over Beethoven".

The Listeners Guild continued its fight, and eventually forced a change back to classical music when an application was filed for the frequency by a new group headed by William Benton of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

On February 28, 2024, iHeartMedia announced that it had signed a deal for WAXQ to be the new radio and local streaming home of the New York Jets.

The move was triggered by the impending end of a local marketing agreement (LMA) by the operators of previous broadcaster 98.7 WEPN-FM.

[19] At that point, WEPN-FM was no longer an all-sports radio station and eventually flipped to a bilingual AC format.

That gave it the ability to add digital subchannels with different programming for listeners whose radios are equipped to receive HD broadcasts.