The Kindest Cut

The New York Times's station WQXR is one of the few gentle havens in radio's jingle-jangle jungle. No giveaways, soap operas, rock'n'roll or singing commercials mar its well-mannered purr of good music, mostly classical. But as WQXR reaped prestige, it also reaped advertisers--so many, in fact, that its listeners began to complain. One of the complainants: Listener No. 1, Times Publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger. Upshot: this season WQXR has invoked what it believes to be the first commercial cutback in broadcasting history, is eliminating all one-minute spots following sponsored programs (representing a $150,000 annual "loss"), also will carry only one brief commercial in the two hours on Saturday nights when the Boston Symphony plays.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.