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Watershed Radio originated as
an education project of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club
producing radio spots to educate people about the environment
in and around the Chesapeake Bay. In May 2001, Watershed Radio
began collaboration with the Smithsonian Environmental Research
Center (SERC) to create a companion web site offering a more
in-depth look at the topics explored in the radio show at www.watershedradio.org.
Each one-minute radio program opens with the call of
a red-tailed hawk, a collage of natural sounds, and the words
"from the Blue Ridge to the Bay-it's Watershed," leaving
only 42 seconds to tell the story of the day. It's a challenge
to be sure, but the Ducks have mastered the form and can squeeze
an amazing amount of information into a limited time.
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 Executive Producer Chris Bedford was struck by how little he saw or heard
about the Chesapeake Bay in the mainstream media. After coming up with the
initial idea for Watershed Radio, he decided to place an ad in the
newsletter of the Sierra Club's Maryland Chapter to see if anyone else was
interested. |
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Robin Jung, a scientist with the United States Geological survey in
Maryland, was the first to respond to the ad. An amateur singer and
musician, she injected the initial shot of adrenalin into Bedford's idea.
Before she knew it, Jung had become the Watershed Radio voice |
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Andy Roberts, a writer, musician, and recording engineer was the next person
involved. He thought he was lending a hand to a one-time project at first,
but the further the series has gone, the more excited he has become. |
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Health and science writer Janis Oppelt had just completed a long period of
soul searching and concluded that helping the environment was something she
really wanted to do when she saw the Watershed Radio ad. "There was the ad,
and click, that was it, that was what I wanted to do," she says. |
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For Anna van der Heijden, working on Watershed Radio has
offered an excellent opportunity to advance her knowledge of
scientific and technical communication. "I get to research the
issues and translate the technical information for the general
public and make it available on the web site," she explains.
"I get to educate people about the watershed — and I love
doing that." |
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