NPR Doesn't Do Commercials

Sort of.

I was over at NPR's site, listening to a Robert Smigel interview (creator of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) that TAN pointed out, and noticed how their player carries a nice big banner throughout the interview. The actual interview was naturally prefaced with that very affected, almost dead exclusively NPR type voice that announces, "NPR is supported by Mastercard / Toyota / VisitBritain /etc." - and then the announcer tries not to sound like an announcer as he /she reads the company slogan / copy / come on.

When you hear these on the radio, they're fairly innocuous, and you actually believe that NPR is pretty much a non-commercial operation. But when they're doing audio preroll on their website and keeping a giant reminder of their "supporter" (read: sponsor) in front of you for over half an hour, then I think they've gone beyond "listener supported" and become a full-fledged commercial network. But really, I'm not saying anything new.

And besides, as they say in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare got to get paid, son.