A Salute To C.W. McCall

Last month, I found and bought online a Mannheim Steamroller (MS) CD "American Spirit", featuring the legendary C.W. McCall. It can be ordered directly from MS by clicking here.

As Mary and I were heading to and from Florida, we listened to this CD and it really struck a chord in my "roadgeekness" with the songs "Wolf Creek Pass", and of course "Convoy". :)

Now you may wonder, "What does C.W. have to do with Mannheim Steamroller (and vice versa)? Here's the story...

In 1972, Chip Davis ("Mannheim" creator) and Bill Fries (a.k.a. "C.W. McCall") were both working for an Omaha advertising firm. Together, they created the ficticious trucker C.W. McCall, and created some local commercials around this character.

In 1975, Davis and Fries released the first C.W. McCall album "Wolf Creek Pass", and one year later (1976), they released the song "Convoy", a ficticious story of truckers "Pig Pen" and "The Rubber Duck" (C.W.'s CB "handle") crossing the nation in a huge convoy and defying the "bears" (police) while talking on to each other on their CB radios. "Convoy" was the catalyst for the 1970's "CB craze", and soon enough, Americans were buying CB's (originally with 23 channels, later expanded to 40) like hotcakes.

I was 12 when "Convoy" came out, and my dad bought us a 23-channel Cobra CB at the Naval Air Station Atlanta's PX while he was in the Naval Reserves as an aviation electronics tech (2nd class petty officer). Once he got it hooked up in our car, I couldn't wait to get on. I even had my own "handle" ("The Rattler", a name that I thought was cool at the time). We had a great time going between Atlanta and Florida giving/receiving "smokey reports" (reports of police cars spotted along the road) and "ratchet-jawing" (talking) to other CBers. Little did I realize at that time how "Convoy" would influence me as a roadgeek. :)

Radiowise, I gravitated away from CBs by 1980, but in 1987, I studied for and earned my Amateur (Ham) Radio license (callsign KC4AZO), which I have proudly held since. Ham radio and roadgeeking have since become 2 intertwined passions of mine.

BTW, my dad bought the CB rig when the FCC still required licenses for each rig. All you had to do, though, was fill out the application, mail it to the FCC (as opposed to taking a test), and they mailed you back a CB callsign. Our CB callsign was KAMX 5963. Soon afterward, the FCC dropped CB licensing requirements, and sadly, CB became an anarchistic "free-for-all". :(

Roadwise, I will be forever grateful to Mr. Davis and Mr. Fries for "C.W. McCall", for their songs "Convoy" and "Wolf Creek Pass". Everytime I hear them, especially "Convoy", I always pine for traveling up and down the highways that have changed America and, in their own way, contributed to the prosperity of this great nation and allowed us, as roadgeeks, to explore this nation in ways the common folks could never do as they do now.

God Bless America, God Bless America's Roads, and God Bless the Great American C.W. McCall!!!

LET THEM ROADGEEKS ROLL, 10-4!!! :)