The Place of Dead Roads

From the AP, Wisconsin radio station sells naming rights to newsroom:

MADISON, WIS. - A radio station has sold the naming rights to its newsroom, sparking some concern that advertisers had crossed a line and could influence news coverage.

The WIBA newsroom in Madison will be known as the Amcore Bank News Center beginning Jan. 1.

Sign of things to come?

It was not clear whether the move was a companywide policy of the station's parent, Clear Channel Communications, a San Antonio-based company that owns nearly 1,200 radio stations and a national radio network.

Of couse, adding support to the idea that everything comes around again...

such branding tactics by newsrooms had been abandoned in the 1950s, such as when the NBC Nightly News got rid of a Gulf Oil logo on the front of the set.

Just because it was once considered a bad idea once doesn't mean it will be a bad idea this time. We should expect the Federal Government the not be too happy with this one. They don't like competition.