Heard any good radio lately?

I heard one the other day -- for the Northern Virginia Clean Water Partnership. It’s a storm sewer in front of some guy’s house calling him up to complain about over-fertilization and uncollected dog waste. (“Hey Johnson, it’s me . . “) I love it. The casting and writing are terrific. It was originally produced for the Texas Commission on Water Quality.

Unfortunately, it’s a long stretch between water holes on the Radio Desert. Spots like this one pop up only now and again. The crap that assaults us on our way to and from work is usually somewhere between awful and terrible, amateurish and insulting, and a waste of time and a waste of money. I don’t know who writes this stuff or who approves it, but I know some good radio writers ― Ed Stern and Brian Klam come to mind ― and I’ll happily give you their phone numbers. And Clean Cuts is as good a production company as you’ll find.

You can do good radio. Honest. There is always some good radio in the local awards shows.

Maybe it’s because radio is relatively inexpensive and advertisers don’t want to invest in a quality spot. Or all the good copywriters down at the agency really want to do TV so they blow off radio. Maybe radio salespeople are really good at selling station produced stuff. Probably a bit of all three.

But the funny thing is, it seems to me that it would be in the best interests of everybody involved to run better (read it: attention-getting and memorable) spots.

Personally, I love radio. If I could, I’d do nothing else. Listening to this stuff ― and realizing that somebody got paid to do it ― is taking years off my life. So if you’re looking for a radio writer, I can find you one. Call me at 301-222-0010. That’s 301-222-0010. Don't forget -301-222-0010.

Operators are standing by.