WQHT (97.1 FM, Hot 97) is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding, a subsidiary of the Standard General hedge fund, and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement. WQHT's studios are located in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan, and its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building. History WQHT began as an experimental station, W2XWG, licensed to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and located at the Empire State Building in New York City. W2XWG started operations in April 1939, initially as an "Apex" station, used for determining the coverage area of transmitting frequencies higher than those used by the standard AM broadcast band. These tests also compared amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions with the then-new technology of wide-band frequency modulation (FM). On January 11, 1940, W2XWG began regular FM broadcasts, and that July, it was reported that the station was broadcasting on 42.6 MHz from 3 to 11 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the establishment, effective January 1, 1941, of an FM band operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz. The first fifteen commercial FM station construction permits were issued on October 31, 1940, including one to NBC for 45.1 MHz in New York City, which was issued the call sign W51NY. However, NBC reported that equipment shortages resulting from the outbreak of World War II meant it was unable to get delivery of W51NY's high powered transmitter, and on June 10, 1942, the construction permit for commercial operation was canceled, and the W51NY call sign deleted. Meanwhile, the station continued broadcasts under its W2XWG experimental authorization, using its original, lower powered, transmitter, now on 45.1 MHz. Effective November 1, 1943, the FCC modified its policy for FM station call letters. Thus, when the construction permit for commercial operation was reactivated, it was assigned the call letters WEAF-FM. The station's last broadcast as W2XWG took place on September 23, 1944, with its debut as WEAF-FM coming the next day, now with seven-day-a-week programming from 3-11 p.m. that was an expansion over W2XWG's schedule of only operating Saturday through Wednesday. The FCC later reassigned the original FM band frequencies to other services, and ordered existing stations to move to a new band from 88 to 106 MHz, which was later