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Lon Anderson has been friends with Andy O for over 40 years. Listen in to Andy describe the Lon Anderson he\u2019s come to know. \u201cHe's a big voice in our town. He's helped us . . .get around town . . . You've heard his voice on radio. You've seen his face on TV news talking about one of the biggest issue that affects us daily. He's been on the pulse of transportation issues."\n\n\n\nAndy continues, Lon's "name has appeared in The Washington Post more than 500 times - sometimes favorably I may add. He can speak on any topic related to traffic safety, holiday travel, speed cameras, gas taxes and driving in snow. He's been the spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic for most of his career. He sits with me on the Board of Directors of the Washington Area Regional Alcohol Program which grew out of some ideas that we had on WMAL years ago, with Jerry Sachs and others and we started this whole effort with WRAP. And, he's my friend of many many years and a great great citizen of Our Town.\u201d\n\nLon Anderson and WMAL\n\nAndy considers Lon Anderson part of WMAL just without being on the payroll because Lon was on the air so much back then. Andy and Lon take a walk down memory lane. The talk about the talent at WMAL back in the day. Harden and Weaver. Trumbull and Core \u2013 co-hosts of \u201cTwo for the Road. Ken Beatrice. Lon says of Trumbull and Core, that there \u201cit was the generational gap there . . .that really made it . . .it wasn't a natural pairing that you would have expected . . . they were different generations. Boy, talk about making the evening drive a little easier for all those motorists.\u201d Andy agrees that \u201cit was so incredible the way they got on beautifully . . .they were entertainers. . . they were information outlets but really entertaining . . .that was the old WMAL to entertain people and make their drive safer going and coming to the office absolutely.\u201d They go on to reminisce about WMAL\u2019s popularity, at the time, with AM and PM commuters. \n\nEducation and Career\n\nLon went to Montgomery College and then University of Maryland. On the way to becoming AAA\u2019s Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, he worked in public relations as spokesman for two different Secretary of Education and as a Vice President of Communications for a trade association. He began his career in journalism as a cub reporter with the Frederick Post where he covered Montgomery County council meetings as a part of the Montgomery County Bureau of the Frederick Post. The Frederick Post is alive and well and is published daily. Sometimes on weekends it is fatter than The Washington Post. Andy and Lon continue to discuss how things have changed geographically. Frederick is no longer the end of the world as it once was but very much a part of Our Town.\n\nAfter the Fredrick Post, Lon became editor-in-chief of the News Express \u2013 a weekly community paper out of Bowie. After a couple of years at News Express, Lon bought a failing community newspaper, the Damascus Courier. He \u201cdecided it was time to go see if all the things I thought would make a good community newspaper work and happen.\u201d He could see growth coming to the Damascus market. If he could just hold out it will come and he would be in clover. Lon renamed it the County Courier and expanded into Olney. Things worked out and Damascus grew as did Olney but then in the early 80s the recession hit. Lon ended up selling the County Courier to a competitor the Gazette Papers which ultimately sold to The Washington Post. The Washington Post ended folding the community papers. \n\nBoth Andy and Lon talk about how sad it is that community journalism is no longer. They continue the discussion about the general lack of newspaper readership and what that means. They finish up this segment talking Our Town newspaper history, including the demise of the Washington Star. Andy attributes its demise that in part to transportation problems in Our Town.\n\nAAA and Transportation Problems Around Our Town