(image: Fish 'n Flush)

A one-man-band PR agent from Kansas lucked in to the juiciest of media real estate today, the middle column on Page One of The Wall Street Journal.

In "Are Your Clients Happy Now, Mr. Brabender?" writer Barry Newman carefully chronicles how Todd Brabender of Spread the News lands upwards of 500 placements a year for a number of quirky clients, each paying $2500 a month.

I spoke to Newman this afternoon, and immediately wished I'd recorded the call upon hanging up (surprisingly, all on the record). He told me he had the inkling to write such a story for years and merely stashed the more annoying pitches in a file as they rolled in, till he saw a pattern. Expressing some frustration, he also told me he received new ones based on this very profile.

I got the impression that Newman believes he blew the lid off of certain aspects of the PR industry. I was privy to an earful about his disdain for the business and how he felt PR people viewing queries on ProfNet and having an inside line on what is yet to be published is inappropriate.

The lid isn't off though perhaps this is small chink in the armor that is the perceived separation between PR and the media. As one source told me, the story might encourage more people to try PR themselves. So? Journalists will continue to ignore the weaker pitches and thank you for the savvy ones.

I kept thinking what if people want to know about the Fish 'n Flush? It is no "nose douche" but still, as we wrote about on Monday, there are ton of human interest stories yet to be filed and many Brabenders available to pitch the ideas.