(NYT) The New York Times Company will sell WQXR-FM to WNYC Radio and Univision, the companies announced Tuesday, in a complex deal that preserves WQXR as the only station devoted solely to classical music in New York City, but could alter its character. WQXR would move to a weaker signal near the high end of the FM band, and would become a listener-supported station, owned by WNYC, the nation’s largest public radio station. The Times Company, which has been trying to shed assets to raise cash and weather a newspaper industry downturn, would receive million, but would sever ties with a station it has owned since 1944. The long-rumored sale of WQXR, at 96.3 on the dial, and the real possibility that such a move would spell the death of a major classical music purveyor on the airwaves, was a depressing thought for fans. Classical music radio stations have been dwindling in recent decades. Talk of the sale also sent shivers through cultural institutions that rely heavily on WQXR, like the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School.

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