To the editors:
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On February 1, 1990, fine arts radio station WFMT abandoned its policy prohibiting prerecorded advertisements [Hot Type, February 2]. Until the day before the new policy was announced, station officials tried to pacify concerned listeners–who had heard rumors of plans to gradually destroy the format which had made WFMT a nationally renowned cultural institution–with denials that any such policy change was going to be implemented in the immediate future. Listeners who love the station are concerned. Without the clear bar against prerecorded ads there is no remaining “guardrail” from the slippery slope of tasteless advertising that will destroy the station’s ambience and unique nature.
Similarly, sponsors should be reminded that such ads insult the audience. They suggest that the sponsor so underestimates our intelligence that it believes the message cannot be gotten if it is calmly stated by an announcer; that the sponsor believes that only aural bombardment or “Madison Avenue” tricks can get the message across.
