Notes off the Napkin was the name of a column I was privileged to write for the terrific Radio and Production Magazine for about 15 years. Publisher Jerry Vigil, a Texas based production wizard, and fellow Amateur Radio operator, honored me with Contributing Writer status on the masthead along with some of the best in the industry. He also invited me for many years to be a judge in the annual RAP Awards. That award, a tall, clear pyramid is one of the most prized possessions in the industry. (Alas, as a judge, I was not eligible for one…)
RAP was the trade magazine for radio production people through the age of deregulation, the rise of digital editing, and the ongoing fight to prove that good creative is not only possible, but essential. Where Radio and Records, the Gavin Report, Friday Morning Quarterback, and Billboard were the program and music director’s print fetish, Radio And Production was ours, and we guarded our copies like a wolverine.
For those new here, Notes off the Napkin is an Old-School meme that refers to the account manager that meets an advertiser for lunch, and brings their copy notes back written on the silverware (or bar) napkin. That really did happen in the days before e-mail and text.
Also, in the early 2000’s, I was invited to be a charter member of the original Radio Advertising Bureau’s Radio Creative Council. Many of the commercials that I wrote and produced on the RAP monthly demo CD, were also added to the RAB’s library.