The CB, or Citizen Band, Radio entered the world in 1945 . . . created so that regular "Joes" could communicate publicly . . . it was regulated by the FCC. It was used by businesses, truck drivers, and radio hobbyists.
By the 60's truck drivers had created their own language and began using it to talk to each other on the road . . . 19 being the most popular channel to communicate. Some of the terms they used were pretty funny.
- Alligator: shredded tread from the tires of an 18-wheeler
- Baby Bear: rookie police officer
- Bubble Gum Machine: police car with flashing lights
- Chew and Choke: restaurant
- Chicken Coop: weigh station
- Don't Feed the Bears: don't get a speeding ticket
- Haircut Palace: overpass with low clearance
- Kojack with a Kodak: policeman with a radar gun
- Neon, Freon, Ion Jockey: truck driver with a LOT of lights on his rig
- Somebody Stepped on You: someone else transmitted while you were talking
But it was in 1973, during the US Oil Crisis, when a nationwide speed limit of 55mph was imposed, that it gained real popularity . . . used by nearly all truckers to locate fueling stations along the interstates, relay the whereabouts of police officers running speed traps, and organizing blockades and convoys to protest the new speed limit and other trucking regulations.
One guy, JW Edwards, known on the radio as "River Rat," single-handedly coordinated a highway blockade of hundreds of trucks in eastern Pennsylvania . . . on I-80. It was literally being relayed from one area of trucks to the next. These guys are paid by the mile, and the new speed limit impacted their productivity since they couldn't cover as many miles in a day as they had been prior to the crisis.
Then BAM . . . 1975 . . . a singer named CW McCall recorded a song that not only served as a protest anthem for truckers . . . it took the CB radio to a whole 'nother level! The narrator of the song, "The Rubber Duck," uses the CB to lead a group of truckers in a protest. As they move across the country, the excitement builds . . . law enforcement tries to stop them but they become unstoppable!
Here are the lyrics from that hit:
Was
the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"And I'm about to put the hammer down."
In a Kenworth pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"And I'm about to put the hammer down."
'Cause
we got a little ol' convoy
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a little ol' convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a little ol' convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
By
the time we got into Tulsa Town,
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.
"We about to go a-huntin' bear."
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.
"We about to go a-huntin' bear."
'Cause
we got a great big convoy
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a great big convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a great big convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy!
Well,
we rolled up Interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left 'em settin' on the scales.
By the time we hit that Chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin' smart:
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard.
There's armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of ev'ry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full'a bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus.
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left 'em settin' on the scales.
By the time we hit that Chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin' smart:
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard.
There's armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of ev'ry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full'a bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus.
Well,
we laid a strip for the Jersey shore
Prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn't have a dog-goned dime.
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4."
Prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn't have a dog-goned dime.
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4."
'Cause
we got a mighty convoy
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy! Convoy! Convoy! Convoy!
Just a few years ago, a few truck drivers, using CB radios to coordinate, saved the life of a young kidnap victim! An Amber Alert was sent out in Tennessee . . . a 2 year old boy had been taken by his father following a domestic dispute. Jim Lowe, a truck driver from Hillsboro, spotted the man's car on I-24 just north of Chattanooga, and he, along with a couple of other truckers, boxed the guy in . . . slowing him from 80mph to 30mph . . . allowing time for the police to arrive. Thankfully the boy was unharmed!
Oh yeah . . . the title to this blog . . . you use that phrase when you want to break into a conversation on channel 19. Even Mel Blanc, who lent his voice to tons of Warner Brothers characters, used the CB . . . often as "Bugs Bunny" or "Daffy Duck" . . . in their voices!
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the U-S-A.
Convoy! Convoy! Convoy! Convoy!
Just a few years ago, a few truck drivers, using CB radios to coordinate, saved the life of a young kidnap victim! An Amber Alert was sent out in Tennessee . . . a 2 year old boy had been taken by his father following a domestic dispute. Jim Lowe, a truck driver from Hillsboro, spotted the man's car on I-24 just north of Chattanooga, and he, along with a couple of other truckers, boxed the guy in . . . slowing him from 80mph to 30mph . . . allowing time for the police to arrive. Thankfully the boy was unharmed!
Oh yeah . . . the title to this blog . . . you use that phrase when you want to break into a conversation on channel 19. Even Mel Blanc, who lent his voice to tons of Warner Brothers characters, used the CB . . . often as "Bugs Bunny" or "Daffy Duck" . . . in their voices!
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