It's Beg-For-Money-Week at my local NPR affiliate, KQED. I love KQED and yes, I'm a listener/subscriber. Still, I hate the pledge drive. As do the hosts. You can tell.
So yesterday during a pledge break they were talking about the $200 million dollar donation to NPR left by Joan Kroc and how that money goes to the NPR endowment and not actually to individual NPR affiliate stations, so your pledge is still needed.
Then the woman announcer started with the pledge amounts schtick: "You can start at our membership level of $40. If you pledge at the $120 level, which is only $10 a month, you get your choice of a promotional item from our KQED logo grab bag." Then the man cuts in: "If you pledge at the $200 million dollar level, you get all of the items in the grab bag!" woman cuts in: "Even the commuter mug!"