Posted on 10/05/2014 10:09:41 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
In 1973, the Citizens Band radio (aka the CB radio, aka a collection of short-distance radio communications) grew so popular that it attracted millions of people throughout the entire decade not at all unlike the way social media attracts users today. This weekend, 70s on 7 pays tribute to the fad by welcoming American country singer C.W. McCall, who is best known for his 75 chart topper, Convoy, a hit song Rolling Stone recently included in its 100 Greatest Country Songs Of All Time list. On writing Convoy, McCall reminisced: When we wrote the song, we went out and bought a couple of CB radios. It had all of these wonderful handles. There was Rubber Duck and there was Sidebuster So we decided wed have a handle. We went in the studio and I wrote down this imaginary vision of a convoy that went clear across the country.
On life after Convoy, McCall remarked that, come 1982, he just wasnt into how time-consuming promotional work can be. He adds jokingly, Im getting too old for this business maybe Willie Nelson can do it, but not me! McCall ended up retiring to Ouray, Colorado, where he ran for mayor, helping restore city hall. Theres a lot of history here, and I enjoy it.
On whether or not he still uses a CB, McCall concedes, I dont use a CB anymore. Everything is cell phones now, as you might know. But Convoys hit status follows McCall wherever he goes. I remember one time when I was in my motor home in the late 70s, and it was snowing. I got on the CB and said, Breaker hows the weather on top of the pass? And they answered me, and somebody says Yeah, hey, whos this? I said, Its Rubber Duck. By the time I got on top of the pass, there were dozens of semis waiting for me. Everybody wanted me to sign their records and all of that stuff. It was amazing.
In addition to Convoy, McCall has written countless other country songs, most notably Old Home Filler-Up an Keep on A-Truckin Cafe and Round The World With A Rubber Duck. But Convoy will always be McCalls most recognized single. The country singer urges that not only did Convoy become a staple to the CB trend back then, but ultimately it has become the truckers anthem.
Initially I had a 23 channel but by ‘78 I got a 40 channel with sideband that a friend had tweeked and added a power mike. I was traveling about 60,000 miles a year in construction and was always on the road. The single sideband let me contact bases at home from a 40 mile radius with dependable results.
Across Kansas and Missouri I knew hundreds of handles of guys in the trucking business or traveling for work. I knew about a dozen troopers in various areas that would shout-out to me when they saw me as I had helped in a number of accident situations and road closures.
The best example of why I had a free pass from many troopers is a wreck where two women went off a rural bridge approach into a 75’ ravine. I used the CB to (a) get the guy behind me to cross a median and stop an ambulance on a blood run that had just gone by me, (b) get the troopers, (c) get the Fire Dispatcher to send the local fire crew and (d) got three other vehicles to stop and go into the hidden ravine to get the women out with the ambulance crew.
That radio allowed us to have these two elderly women transported within 10 minutes of their running off the road. They both survived.
I used "Highway Star" after the Deep Purple Song.
That’s great—and I wonder if CB might get better results than a cellphone in some areas. Cell may not get reception (for emerg call to police etc) but maybe CB would work...
The good old days when you could still ride around with a beer in your hand. In Fla you could drink and drive as long as you were not drunk. LOL!
I imagine with the low sun spot activity, they have had a good 15 mile reach at night without going to single sideband transmissions.
Five to Fifteen miles was about normal range for most road talk on CBs. I could talk twenty or better, but receiving a reply was patchy.
In those days I was a skinny tall guy so my handle was “Bird Legs”.
A bit of trivia about Chip: when he graduated college, he said there were 2 things he never wanted to do...live in the Midwest, and write country songs.
Well...we know that ‘Convoy’ made the top of the country charts. The success of ‘Convoy’ allowed Chip to work on that other musical idea he had...which we now know as Mannheim Steamroller.
Oh, and as to where he lives....he has lived for many, many years...in Omaha, Nebraska. About as Midwest as you can get!
I agree.
Obama is definitely a “good buddy.”
Yes, good old liberal Chris Davis, who was merely doing what sold well while laughing at his customers all the way to the bank, and is now ensconced in Omaha, Neb.!
His follow up version of a convoy across Europe was pretty funny.
Before he was C.W. McCall, the performer was a copywriter for a Chicago ad agency. One of the agency's accounts was Old Home bread, out of Sioux City, Iowa (I believe it was).
He actually wrote the "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on A-Truckin' Café" as a jingle for the bread company. But he retained the commercial rights to the song...
The rest is history.
He did the same for Kerns Bread in Knoxville, Tennessee. I heard the commercial version long before I heard the album version.
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