All was quiet in the blue office where Carroll County Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge sat poised to speak.
A microphone, a couple of flat computer screens and a sign hung on the outside of the closed door - "Quiet Please Commissioner Taping In Progress" - were the only indications of what was taking place in the corner room of the county office building in Westminster on a recent Thursday afternoon.
Gouge cleared her throat, clicked the mouse and began.
"Hello, everyone, this is Julia Gouge, coming to you from the commissioners' office."
While the nation can hear the president's weekly radio address every Saturday, Carroll residents can tune to WTTR (1470 AM), the self-dubbed "Voice of Carroll County," on Sundays at about 8 a.m. for The Commissioners' Report.
The topics vary, ranging from current issues the board is tackling - creating a county police force or dealing with solid waste disposal - to anything the three officials wish to share with county residents, as Commissioner Dean L. Minnich did during a recent address about the changing nature of the media.
For the commissioners, who take turns doing the 10-minute show, the segment represents an unbridled opportunity to speak their minds, without having to defer to one another as they do during their regular meetings.
"It's my mike, and whatever I want to bring to the table as a priority, that's what I bring," Commissioner Michael D. Zimmer said in an interview. "I don't have to consult with anybody. ... There's no filter."
Gouge echoed that observation during her recent report about the creation of a county police force: "Each of us, as commissioners, have our own opinion," she said in closing. "This is definitely my opinion that I am speaking of today."
Among the counties with boards of commissioners, Carroll's radio show, which goes back more than 30 years, is a relative rarity in nature and longevity.
The Kent County commissioners used to do a Wednesday radio spot, but county administrator Susanne Hayman said she now goes on the air in their stead. In Queen Anne's County, board President Eric S. Wargotz said he gives weekly radio updates on a local station.
And in Charles County, press secretary George Clarkson recently began a television show on the county's cable channel, with each board member rotating in a "commissioner's corner" feature.
