Decoder Ring: McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime Pt. 1
McGruff the Crime Dog arrived on the scene at the dawn of the 1980s, just as a firehose of anti-drug PSAs was inundating the youth of America. These messages didn\u2019t always work as intended\u2014but they did work their way into the long term memories of the kids who heard them.\xa0\nIn the first of two episodes, we take a look at PSAs and their strange afterlife through the lens of a trench-coat wearing bloodhound and his bizarre, yet catchy anti-drug songs. We\u2019ll talk to Dan Danger, Sherry Nemmers, Joseph Cappella, David Farber, Mike Hawes and Robin Nelson to discover how the McGruff Smart Kids Album came to exist in the first place.\nThis podcast was written by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. We had production help from Sam Kim.\xa0\nEditing by Jamie York and Derek John, Slate\u2019s Sr. Supervising Producer of Narrative Podcasts. Merritt Jacob is Sr. Technical Director.\nThank you to Wendy Melillo, Dan McQuade, Dale Mantley, Larissa Zargeris, Daisy Rosario, Drew Bledsoe, Larre Johnson, Duane Poole, Ari Merkin, Charles and Karen Rosen and Eric Greenberg.\xa0\nIf you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com\nIf you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you get ad-free podcasts, bonus episodes, and total access to all of Slate\u2019s journalism.\nCheck out\xa0Remote Works\xa0here\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices