I couldn't find any information about this. Am I missing a joke or a point?

Probably a joke about them going from having hosts very-occasionally acknowledge the names of big sponsors, to straight-up reading ads for them. Between ads for sponsors and ads for other NPR content or begging me to give them my car, they're almost as ad-heavy as any other station now. Maybe are as ad-heavy, if you count hours spent on pledge drives per year.