July 14 (Bloomberg) -- New York Times Co. agreed to sell WQXR-FM, the New York classical-music radio station, for $45 million in a series of transactions with a division of Univision Communications Inc. and public broadcaster WNYC.

The sale is expected to close in the second half, Times Co. said today in a statement. The transaction will end the publisher’s ventures into so-called terrestrial radio; in April 2007, Times Co. sold its WQEW-AM station to Walt Disney Co. for $40 million.

Times Co. has been selling assets, cutting jobs and slashing wages to cope with plunging advertising sales at its New York Times and Boston Globe newspapers. The publisher is also seeking a buyer for its minority stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

Univision will pay Times Co. $33.5 million to swap broadcasting licenses and shift its WCAA broadcast to 96.3 FM from 105.9 FM, which will become WQXR, according to the statement. Spanish-language WCAA will get 96.3 FM’s stronger signal. WNYC will pay Times Co. $11.5 million for 105.9 FM’s license and equipment and the WQXR call letters.

According to the station’s Web site, WQXR, founded in 1936, is the oldest U.S. classical radio station and has an audience of almost 800,000 weekly listeners. WNYC will continue to operate WQXR as a classical station, Times Co. said.

Catherine Mathis, a Times Co. spokeswoman, declined to say how much the company will save in operational expenses by selling the station. The publisher paid $1 million in 1944 for the company controlling WQXR, according to a New York Times article at the time.

Times Co. added 10 cents, or 2 percent, to $5.05 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 31 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 14, 2009 17:57 EDT