Here’s a story from “Marketplace” with some interesting discussion on the effects of corporate underwriting on noncommercial programming integrity and the importance of a firewall between programming and underwriting.
I always take so much pride in pointing out that KBOO has perhaps the most stringent set of restrictions in the nation regarding who may underwrite, and we field many calls from stations around the country looking to ensure that their policies are comprehensive and sustainable.
Underwriting follows programming, not the other way around; we don’t create programming to attract underwriters. Underwriters want to be associated with quality programming.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/features/underwriting/segment2.html