Faro Radio, Guatemala’s classical radio station (104.5 FM), recently faced going dark, so the signal resorted to a desperate gambit. It announced that it would bury the composer Ludwig von Beethoven yet again (he last died in March of 1827).
The Adland Commercial Archive blog explains:
“In Guatemala, when a person passes away, you express condolences in obituaries over the TV, newspaper and on the radio. So Faro opted for a mass media campaign announcing that Ludwig van Beethoven would die for the second time, unless the people of Guatemala tune in to 104.5 FM.”
The announcement went as so: “Radio Faro Cultural mourns deeply that Mr. Ludwig von Beethoven is going to pass away for a second time. We pray to save his music from death and invite you to tune into 104.5 FM.” In other words (to put it more crudely): ‘support our station or Beethoven croaks once more, this time over Guatemala’s airwaves.’
This apparently moved Guatemala’s Minister of Culture to find the funds to save the station. “We are forgetting this kind of music,” Carlos Batzin concurred in this video on the Radio Faro ad campaign.
It’s a fun clip. Odd that it starts with Pachelbel’s Canon and Albinoni’s Adagio, but one cannot live with Beethoven alone, I guess.
