David wrote:

The government provides way less than half of NPR funding.

Right. Below is from http://www.npr.org/about/privatesupport.html :

NPR supports its operations through a combination of membership dues
and programming fees from over 780 independent radio stations,
sponsorship from private foundations and corporations, and revenue from
the sales of transcripts, books, CDs, and merchandise. A very small
percentage -- between one percent to two percent of NPR's annual budget
-- comes from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded
organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Published reports in Worth Magazine and Consumers Digest cited NPR as a
leading U.S. nonprofit charity because of the organization's program
spending efficiency, high level of private support, and outstanding
public service.

On average, public radio stations (including NPR Member stations)
receive the largest percentage of their revenue (34%) from listener
support, 25% from corporate underwriting and foundations, and 13% from
CPB allocations.*

(* These figures are derived from the most recent CPB data available,
FY02. The remaining average revenue breakdown is: 6% from local and
state governments, 15% from institutional support, and 7% from all
other sources.)