Driver Lifestyles
A voice across North America - Dave Nemo and XM Satellite Radio
Dave Nemo has spent the last thirty years of his broadcasting career bucking the passing trends and doing things his own way. And he's made a lot of friends and acquired a lot of fans along the way.
In the early 1970's, Nemo was one of the pioneer broadcasters involved in the then-unknown business of "trucking radio." Nemo is also a country music purist who still plays the music from the early days of, and many would say, the golden days of country.
He began his foray into trucking radio when, after a stint in the US Army, he joined mentor Charlie Douglas on WWL radio in New Orleans.
"Charlie needed a second host for the show and we began a working relationship that lasted for 13 years, until I took over the full time duties in 1984."
"Charlie has to be credited with inventing trucking radio; we were probably one of the first programs to do live remotes and promotions."
The preceding lines are from an Expediters Online article published around two years ago. The Dave Nemo Radio Program has undergone some major changes since then - not necessarily in the area of its format, but rather in its broadcasting technology.
Nemo's radio heritage predates most of his contemporaries and his preference of playing traditional country music on his program speaks of his belief in the time-tested values.
But, Nemo is always open to change, as evidenced by the addition of what he terms "Roadworthy" music that includes classic and southern rock music genres. And, he's a man willing to embrace new technologies.
The changeover
Since July 1, 2003, the Dave Nemo Radio Program has been broadcasting 7 days a week exclusively on XM Satellite Radio.
Originating from a modest studio in Nashville, TN, the program carries on the trucking radio tradition established almost 35 years ago on AM radio.
The Dave Nemo Radio Network can be heard on XM Satellite Radio - Channel 171 (Open Road Channel). Nemo hosts the show Monday-Friday, 7 AM - 12 PM EST.
"The whole landscape of AM radio has been changing over towards a talk format," says Nemo. "It's because of the competition from FM radio, CD's and other music formats along with the licensing fees that have become unrealistic in terms of how much you have to pay to play music."
"I feel that AM radio has gotten away from music more and more. One of the cornerstones of our program has always been great music; road music, trucking music especially. It's part and parcel of trucking life, there's a whole genre of trucking music that nobody else is playing, but is still, I think, a necessary ingredient if you're going to do a trucking show."
"Based on the very first premise of the show itself, this goes back to the Charlie Douglas days. Charlie always had a theory that the best network for a traveling audience, i.e., truckers, would be one radio station. No stations dropping out due to distance, etc."
Nemo says that idea was more viable back in the sixties and seventies when there were fewer stations and fewer interferences with an AM signal.
"There have been so many things stacking up against the continued viability of AM. Of course, FM has the quality of signal, but it doesn't have the range."
"Enter XM Satellite radio. It rivals CD quality for music and then when it comes to the talk portion of our show for example since we have music and talk. Because of it's coverage area, you don't miss the end of the joke or the end of the story and you don't have to switch to another station."
"We needed the quality, range, reliability and simplicity of that one-channel operation. XM fills all of those bills and more. It was a natural transition for us to go to XM."
He continues, "Today's truck cabs are as luxurious as any upscale car with air-ride seating, air conditioning, wood paneling, TV's, VCR's and DVD's. Truckers deserve and expect to be able to listen to their entertainment source in a way that is of a high technical quality."
Benefits
Nemo says that the move to XM Satellite Radio also offered his program opportunity to break away from the 'traditional' (by default) time frame for the trucking shows.
He tells us, "Every trucking program that's been on the air since the early 70's with the Charlie Douglas Road Gang, (and there's been a dozen or so that have come and gone), were all designated to the AM stations in the midnight to dawn time slot."
"Now, with XM and it's 24/7 schedule we have the ability to be on in the mornings. We have the opportunity to have industry leaders, politicians and even entertainers come in and visit with us on the program. There's no downside with XM."
The Nemo audience
"We have always interacted with the audience behind the scenes on the phone; our audience feels they are a part of the show. A lot of our ideas for the show are driver generated, i.e., the music we play, how we present the weather and other features; they all come from the drivers."
"The things we talk about on the show run the gamut from A to Z," he continues, "and we talk about a wide range of topics. If I don't know the answer to a question, the audience usually has the answer. We get more information from the audience than they do from me."
The current hot topics on the Nemo show include politics, taxes,
industry issues, toll roads and "the business of trucking. We also try to mix it up with fun stuff like, 'where's the best meatloaf on the road?'"
Nemo states that his show has trimmed back the amount of music it plays and has settled into a mix of about fifty percent music and fifty percent talk. He says that, "The phones never stop ringing. The drivers call us and they want to talk and become involved."
"I feel we have a dynamic plan for the music we play. We call it 'Roadworthy' music and it includes the best of trucking songs, southern rock and classic rock. Now, our audience will hear Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Doobie Brothers and the Eagles along with Red Sovine, Joey Holiday, Dave Dudley and classic country music. We play a lot of requests, so if someone calls in to hear Bill Haley and the Comets, we'll play it. The drivers seem to like it."
"This is the first time in a very long time that I've worked in the mornings and I love it! People ask me if it took a long time to re-adjust to sleeping nights and working days and I tell them it took one day! My wife loves the new schedule, too."
Nemo says that there is a certain romance to being on the air at midnight and there's a romance to the road that disappears when the sun comes up, "But you can't have everything," he laughs.
"And, the XM audience seems to be proactive in many ways. We've just seen a difference in the way they respond to the political and legislative issues that we bring up."
Nemo adds, "That applies as well to our appeals to the audience to call senators and congressmen and getting involved, getting their voices heard when it comes to legislation involving the industry."
"We were asked to please tell drivers to stop calling by a certain senator who had a bill in place concerning the Hours of Service issue. His phones were completely overwhelmed. It seems like the numbers are so much greater and XM is the impetus for that kind of reaction."
Michael Burns - Business Manager
"Michael is a renaissance man," says Dave Nemo. A look at Burn's career history - Apprentice Electrician, Police Officer, Truck Driver and Trainer, Recording Studio Owner, Engineer, Producer and Songwriter - bears that out.
And add to that resume, Dave Nemo's business partner.
"I was a long time listener and fan," says Burns. "As a matter of fact, when I was working as a truck driver trainer, I insisted on driving at night to be able to listen to Dave's show."
"I listened to Dave for 8 years before meeting him," Burns recalls. "The meeting came to pass when I wrote a song called "Christmas Comes On 18 Wheels" which was part of a Christmas album on MCA called "Trucker's Christmas". The first time I heard Dave play it on his show, I just about drove off the road!
"I contacted Dave and we developed a friendship, which in turn, developed into a working relationship. Dave and I clicked immediately."
"When an opening for the weekend spot on Dave's show became available, I asked him to give me a tryout and that's how my alter ego of Rusty Wheeler was born."
He continues, "Sometime after I became involved with the show, there were some tough business decisions to be made. With the help of a business investor I brought into the picture, we spent the next eighteen months reorganizing the financial areas of the business."
Regarding the major move to XM, "It's often been compared to jumping off the high board before checking to see if there's water in the pool," laughs Burns, "but we really believed in the XM technology and the people in the industry."
"My association with Dave Nemo, going back to when we first met to this day, has absolutely been the most satisfying thing I've ever done. I am so pleased that we have been able to breathe new vitality into the show."
"We've been able to introduce so many new people to Dave and they've been able to discover what a wonderful man he is!"
The business side
"Our advertisers have given us an unbelievable response. On our program, our sponsors have the same first-line goal that we do. Michael Burns and I are small businessmen operating as Dave Nemo Entertainment; that's what we call our little company and the key word is little. We're small, independent owner-operators like so many of the truckers and expediters out there."
"Our mandate was, 'you know what, we're not working for a big corporation anymore and we don't have to take advertising from everyone who wants to advertise.' We can pick and choose our sponsors very carefully and find folks who feel the same way we do about the owner-operators the way we do."
Michael Burns adds, "These are long term sponsors who believe
in what Dave does. If they are trucking companies, they are the cream of the crop; if they have products to sell, those products have been tested and evaluated. There are advertisers that we have actually chosen and we have sponsors who are waiting for an opening on our schedule."
"All of our sponsors have that same philosophy. It's been proven time and time again from the unsolicited endorsement phone calls we get; our audience tells us how the products worked so well for them. Being small and independent and on XM is the only way we've been able to accomplish that goal."
The trucking radio guys have always been friends - The Truckin' Bozo, Bill Mack and myself have always had great mutual respect, but we've all worked for highly competitive companies, large corporations. That aspect was rather disheartening."
"You would listen to me when you couldn't get Bill and you'd listen to Bill when you couldn't get Bozo and so on. We all understood that - we all had something to say and something different to offer the drivers."
"Put all three of us together and you have a little bit of this and a little bit of that; meanwhile the cutthroat radio business was just chugging right along and the corporate competition was fierce."
"Now, that's pretty much all over with. All three of us are on the same channel at different times and we're free of those corporate bonds and it's worked out very well."
Michael Burns concurs with his business partner: "People who were formerly our competitors are now our friends and colleagues. In the past, the listeners had to make choices. Now, they don't have to make those choices - they can listen to the three shows at different times."
On the technology horizon
"I think paperless logs are getting mixed reviews from the drivers but we all know it's coming. Trucks are becoming more automated, particularly automatic shifters. For example, I recently brought up the topic of automatic transmissions, planning to talk about it for a day. It turned out to be a continuing topic for about ten days and the drivers wouldn't let it go."
"I was surprised to see how accepting the veteran drivers were of the automatic shifters. I think there may have been a displacement of doing it the old, hard way as opposed to the modern efficient way. I think the image of the trucker has changed because the trucker has changed."
"Looking back at the history of new technologies in trucking, everyone was shocked and surprised at the acceptance of laptop computer technology by the truckers. By and large, the trucking industry, the computer people and even the drivers themselves thought that trucking would be the last industry to get dragged into the computer age."
"My goodness, those laptops started appearing on the seats of those trucks and I think that says a lot for the switchover to new, more efficient technology."
The Nemo "family"
The radio program is, of course, based around Dave Nemo's talents, but he has a small group of professionals who assist in the production of the show.
In addition to his production work throughout the week, Michael "Rusty Wheeler" Burns keeps his broadcasting skills honed by helping out on the weekends, as well as sitting in for Nemo on selected weekdays.
Marcia (pronounced mar-see-uh) Campbell is known as 'America's Trucking Sweetheart' and she handles the Dave Nemo show duties on Saturdays. Marcia is a veteran of the Interstate radio network from the mid-90's and the Nemo audience has "welcomed her with open arms."
Long-time radio host Slam Dunkin will continue with his Sunday show duties. Slam came to the Nemo program from the Roanoke, VA area and he also works as a color commentator for the Nashville Predators hockey team.
The future?
"I hope that we can get better at what we do," the broadcasting veteran says, "and I mean that sincerely. I hope we can increase our ability to bring political and industry leaders on the program as well as industry experts on the program to talk first-hand with the drivers."
"I think that bringing these people to interact one on one with the drivers live and in real-time is very important. I think the 'suits' of the trucking industry are starting to realize the benefits and power of XM radio, so I believe that we're more accepted now than we have been during the past thirty years!"
DAVE NEMO APPEARANCES
Veteran trucking radio personality Dave Nemo will appear at the first Tennessee Trucking Show in Nashville, TN on May 7-8.
Nemo invites all of his XM Satellite Radio listeners to meet the four members of his radio family at the show which will be held at the Tennessee Fairgrounds located at Exit 81 off I-65.
The hours of the 2-day event are:
Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM
Saturday, 9 AM - 4 PM
Dave Nemo will also act as Master of Ceremonies at the trucking show.
A free concert will be presented 4 PM on Friday featuring the legendary Red Simpson, Joey Holiday, and all-girl group "Mustang Sally".
Another musical performance is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 PM. Gary Arhelger of "Breaker, Breaker, Sweet Jesus" fame will be performing for the first time in many years.
Nemo adds that many of his radio program's long-time sponsors will be displaying their products and services at this first-time event including:
Fikes Truck Lines Marten Transport Centramatics Gulf Coast Filters Turbo 3000D Vada Lucas Oil ProductsLong-time Dave Nemo friend and associate, Chaplain Joe from Truck Stop Ministries, will also be in attendance.
Tennessee Truck Show Information
Dave Nemo will also appear at the Expedite Expo 2004 in Woodhaven, MI on August 11-12.
Dave will meet with fans and listeners at his booth and will also provide live coverage of the Expo for his radio program.
Stop by and meet Dave at the Detroiter Truck Stop, Exit 32, I-75 in Woodhaven, MI!