I was listening to one of my favorite radio programs this week; the ‘Midnight Trucking Radio Network’. I catch it out of Detroit, Michigan (WJR radio 760AM). It is syndicated out of Texas and makes for interesting listening for me as I move into the trucking field, so I imagine it is also a good listening for the men and women already in the business and moving in the overnight hours. You can see their website here – MidnightTrucking.
The hosts deal with life on the road, but also handle hot news topics of the day. They are hard conservatives, so if you looking for something common out there, this show might be it.
I’m still digesting what I heard one of my fellow students say during our introductory meeting a few weeks back. Our course director had just finished explaining what was expected from truckers, once they had completed their training and were ready to fly solo. This guy says, ”…so what I think I hear you say is you don’t have to be very smart to be a truck driver.” The instructor looked at him with a look that could have only been interpreted one way and said, ”…oh, I don’t think I’m suggesting that at all,” then asked, ”what is your name again?” I get the feeling when classes finally start, we won’t be seeing him. Sometimes I wonder though, if what he said reflects a sentiment out there; that it doesn’t take much to be a trucker. There are some people who tend to look down at truckers, no pun intended. But as one of my brothers, a teacher, once said when someone said it must be nice to have the summer off every year, ”…walk a mile in my shoes, buddy, just one mile.” I’ve come to know truckers to be some of the smartest, most creative, worldly, and funniest people I have ever met. Personally, I like the straight-talking, no-BS ways; very refreshing in our so very politically-correct world.
About Author Murray
Hi;
I've been working as a reporter/broadcaster in the radio business in Canada for several years. A recent corporate change presented in an opportunity to take on other adventures. I was bitten by trucking in Edmonton when I repesented a radio station at a media trucker rodeo event. I used my experience of working on a farm, to manouver my rig through some pretty complex challenges and WON!!. I am about to enter trucking school.
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There is so much to know if you want to be safe and reliable year in and year out. Anyone can go through the gears and get a rig rolling through Nebraska on an 80 degree day in July. But make a delivery in downtown Chicago at 8:00 a.m. on a 5 degree Monday morning in January on a sheet of ice in blinding snow and brutal traffic and you’ll see that there’s a lot to know and a it’s a tough lifestyle to live.
Brett said it best. Many think all you do is get in that truck and go. They also think because they can shift gears in their car, they can do the same in that truck!! HA!! Yes, to be a trucker, one has to be smart to get all the job done. Wonder if people think anyone can just get in that cockpit and fly that plane???? That industry does not get the negativity that trucking does.