The George Washington Regional Commission’s “Commute Fairy” commercial was recognized as the best radio commercial for a medium-sized market at the 72nd Annual Virginia Broadcasting Awards, held in June at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel in Virginia Beach. The awards are presented by the Virginia Association of Broadcasters.
The award-winning commercial ran in the summer of 2008 and was the first in a series that ran until this summer. That series of commercials promoted GWRC’s nationally-recognized rideshare program, GWRideConnect. The program supports approximately 390 commutervanpools that transport thousands of workers from the Fredericksburg area to locations in Washington and northern Virginia.
In the commercial – which was written by GWRC Executive Director Bob Wilson and produced byWBQB-FM (B101.5) in Fredericksburg – a beleaguered commuter stuck in a northern Virginia traffic jam wishes out loud for a better commute. His plea is answered when a small, surly fairy magically appears in his car, tells him about the benefits of ridesharing and instructs him to call GWRideConnect. At the urging of GWRideConnect Director Diana Utz, Wilson agreed to provide the voice for the commute fairy character.
“As a regional planner you don’t ever expect to write radio commercials, and you certainly don’t believe you’d ever win an award for one,” Wilson said. He credited Utz and her staff for the “outstanding job” they do in making GWRideConnect such a critical transportation resource in Planning District 16. “If it weren’t for Diana and her team, there would be no need to run radio commercials. They’ve made GWRideConnect something well worth promoting.”
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Commuting Options 
