There has been a reprieve: After an outcry from artists, composers, listeners and staffers, WNYC-FM announced Monday that it had reversed its plans to cancel “New Sounds,” the influential, eclectic new-music program that has expanded the city’s tastes for 37 years.

“There was an overwhelming response from the community: I’m sure it took everybody in management by surprise,” John Schaefer, the program’s host, said in a telephone interview. “It took me by surprise.”

“There were people writing not just impassioned emails, but really thoughtful emails,” he said, “making points about what public radio should be.”

The station had announced on Oct. 10 that it planned to end “New Sounds” — which was often the first place to hear future Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, avant-garde rockers and music from different parts of the world — by the end of the year, along with most of its remaining music programming, as part of a shift to more news and talk.