Is the New York Times putting WQXR up for sale? That's the suggestion Page Six makes this morning, airing rumors that the classical station-estimated by one expert as being worth about $50 million dollars-is on the block. Rather than selling it outright, the company could also lease its frequency to, say, ESPN radio, which would be a comical transition for anyone tuning in to hear three hours of opera and symphony smattered with the occasional theater dispatch from Ben Brantley.

Whether or not this is true-$50 million is, as the Post points out, about $16 million more than the entirety of the cash on hand after debts, and, quite frankly, at this point the only part of the paper making any money is probably the paid death notices-the idea of the station shutting down or shifting format is a bit upsetting on a personal level: I grew up with the station in the background. Its little snippets from Times critics and reporters (the affable Joe Durso, the stern and scary sounding John J. O'Connor) were what first made me aware of the paper's bylines. There was the Egyptian DJ on the night shift whose name I can't recall who would actually cry when she played what she thought was a particularly beautiful piece of music. And I've still never found a satisfactory solution to the mystery which gripped every listener in the morning hour during the early nineties, namely: Greg Whiteside, gay or straight? Either way, sad times.