Unusual? WGBH-FM sponsoring TV Weather Forecast

[aaronread]

On another thread it was mentioned WGBH does NECN's closed captioning so maybe a barter deal

Possibly, but WGBH does closed captioning for almost two-thirds of everything you see on television these days.  My wife and I frequently leave the captions on while watching TV because our sound setup is kinda weak (I know, the irony) and I almost always see a little caption at the end of a show that says something like "Captions provided by WGBH and VW: That's Das Auto".

[vmorrison]

WGBH literally invented Closed Captioning and although they have one tough commercial competitor they still do a great deal of CC for stations and programs around the country. I doubt they cut a trade deal with NECN. The CC department was it's own little entity when i was there but who knows maybe they did. 

[raccoonradio]

Speaking of public or at least non-commercial radio and commercial enterprises, at one
point the minor league baseball Akron Aeros were on WAPS (Akron Public Schools, non-comm.)
I heard an aircheck on it and was a bit surprised to hear them running what sure sounded
like an ad for the Ohio Lottery during the ball game. Or was it not considered an ad for a commercial enterprise, since it involved a state agency? (If so then could Mass Lottery
run ads on, say, WBUR?)

[vmorrison]

I don't see why The Mass State Lottery could not buy a sponsorship message on public broadcasting. There have been several government agencies that have been corporate sponsors on GBH TV and radio. As long as they complied with the sponsorship regulations there is no reason why they wouldn't take their money.

Beyond the usual regulations like no call to action, you can not give a phone number but you can give an web site address, there are some odd regulations. For example, a sponsor can not show more than one product in an ad. I remember a long drawn issue over a spot for Dunkin Donuts as to whether a dozen donuts in a box was one product or twelve products.   A sponsor can not show themselves with more than one customer. For example, Mass Eye and Ear could only show one patient in their spot.

Hasbro was a sponsor but a toy could never been shown in an ad.

[raccoonradio]

OK, that sounds about right....and thanks for those examples.
btw I thought a "donorship" couldn't have praise for the product ("this is the best restaurant")
but someone sent me an mp3 file of the syndicated (airing on public radio) Midnight Special
and their sponsor is Bose : "Better sound through research". After hearing the slogan I
wondered if that was considered a recommendation, a superlative, etc.

At WMWM we have donorships for restaurants, Salem State's "Clipper" Card, etc. and can
say things like hours, products ("Boston Hot Dog company features the Frank Sinatra Dog"), etc.

I have seen donorship announcements for such things as a cereal maker on a PBS kids' show
(looks like a mini-ad but probably follows regulations). The public radio show Marketplace
used to (maybe still does, if they're still on) mention they were sponsored by G.E. and the theme
morphed into a bit of their jingle ("we bring good things to life"), instrumental only. Well they can get away with some stuff.