NY Times selling radio station for 45 mln dlrs

The New York Times Co., which has been seeking to raise cash to pay down its debt, announced plans on Tuesday to sell a New York City radio station for 45 million US dollars. The Times Co. said it is selling WQXRFM, a station which plays classical music, to WNYC Radio, the largest public radio station in the United States, and Spanishlanguage broadcaster Univision Radio. The complicated sale, under which WNYC will eventually operate WQXR, requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, if approved, is expected to close in the second half of the year. Advertisement: Story continues below The Times Co. said that under the deal, the radio station would retain its classical music format. "WQXR is the nation's preeminent classical music station," Times Co. president and chief executive Janet Robinson said in a statement. "We are very pleased that this transaction will preserve WQXR's ability to serve New York City's classical music audience and its cultural institutions as a public radio station," she said. Like other US newspapers, the Times has been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. The Times Co. is currently entertaining bids for the Boston Globe, which it purchased for 1.1 billion US dollars in 1993, and is also seeking to sell another Massachusetts Rosetta Stone Italian paper, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. The Times Co. recently completed a saleleaseback deal for part of its Manhattan headquarters and received a 250milliondollar loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. The Times is also seeking a buyer for its 17.75 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team and their iconic stadium, Fenway Park. Gibbs said Obama's talks in China would focus on regional and global issues, including security, nonproliferation, energy issues and climate change. The president will wrap up his visit to Asia in Seoul, South Korea, between November 18 and 19, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. North Korea's nuclear challenge and the US nuclear alliance will dominate talks between Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak. While in South Korea, Obama will also meet US service members from the US garrison monitoring the uneasy Cold War truce with Stalinist North Korea. There had been expectations that Obama would travel this year to Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood after his divorced mother married an Indonesian. Gibbs said that Obama met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh last month, and the two leaders agreed that it made most sense for the visit to take place next year. "They agreed on the importance of having a visit that would showcase the importance of a growing USIndonesian bilateral relations," Gibbs said. Obama's childhood connection and his knowledge of a few words of the Indonesian language have made him hugely popular in the country of 234 million people, 90 per cent of whom are Muslim.