Kevin Sutton writes:

>I also think it unfair to characterize NPR as being "commercial" simply
>because it has abandoned a format that does not garner support from the
>public.  That isn't commercialism, it's survival.

I tend to agree with Kevin.  NPR/PBS has as much advertising as needed to
stay alive.  The typical commercial station/network has the maximum number
of advertising minutes it can get away with.  I remember reading an article
a few years ago about how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
mandates a maximum number of minutes of commercials per hour and how many
stations exceed that maximum unless "caught" by the FCC.

On the other hand, even in the "old" days, the public television station
would claim it was commercial free, but the sponsors of shows were
routinely noted and those were commercials for the sponsors.  I know it's
nit-picking, but the claims were not accurate.  It's just a fact of life
that companies which sponsor "something" insist on the public being aware
of it.  Whatever happened to anonymous donations?

Don Satz
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