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After weeks of radio silence and cryptic outlaw posts, Tony breaks format completely.
This isn't your usual Channel 19 Experience.
The sun split. Two worlds collided. Everything changed.
Featured: Norris Beren on second chances, courage, and why first movers win.
The Money Line: "I found my whistle again, villains. Turns out I couldn't whistle while I was smiling... or crying."
Answer to no one. Build what matters. Deliver what you promise.
It's all logistics and communication. Everything else is just complexity we've layered on top.
The Whistlers are multiplying. The tune is changing.
We've got work to do.
🔗 Links:
#TheChannel19Experience #TruckerPodcast #TheWhistlers #WeveGotWorkToDo
🎙️ Episode 33: You Can’t Whistle When You’re Smiling... or Crying
Then — buckle up — we haul some sacred cows to the slaughterhouse:
And we wrap it all up with Lee Owens, organizer of the American Truckers Jubilee in Sealy, Arkansas — talking cabovers, Make-A-Wish, and why trucking still has heart.
Don't for get to visit Lee Owen's Page over at American Truckers Jubilee Facebook Page
🎵 The White Buffalo Songs Mentioned
“I Got You” → https://youtu.be/eHX8seULg58?si=Bnlwv1bFy4cTTha-
“Set My Body Free” → https://youtu.be/egpWRloyz44?si=g8XtNPjVwP5FtZYx
“The Whistler” → https://youtu.be/-hVuZEVtq1g?si=jjGps9cN1jEotsql
“Come Join the Murder” → https://youtu.be/jXwgShqzVas?si=cSBnTd43ggyo-_vV
👉 Website with links to all your favorite podcast platforms – https://channel19experience.com
👉 YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@Channel19Experience
👥 Also Mentioned in This Episode:
• Will Cook
💡 Sponsors
🚛 TrueTMS - https://truetms.com
🧭 Channel 19 Resources - Try the free HOS Logbook Legality Checker and browse Tony’s curated Trucking Bookshelf under Trucker Resources.
From Villa Park to Lincoln Cathedral, from Ironbridge to Runnymede, Tony crosses the pond for a ride-along with UK lorry driver Matt Rayner—and discovers that what keeps trucks (and relationships) rolling isn’t contracts, it’s covenant.
This episode blends 800 years of history with the rhythms of modern trucking:
📺 YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/@Channel19Experience
“I Can’t Lose You” – Frozen (Broadway Version)
Ride-Along with Matt Rayner (UK lorry driver, Cutts Transport)
Pre-Trip: When Covenant Beats Contract
Money Line: Magna Carta & the Math of Power (1215 → 2025)
Drive Line Parts 1–4: Lincoln Castle • Cathedral • Ironbridge • Runnymede
Post-Trip: Why we still celebrate elite agreements and forget the people’s charters
Will Cook – A Driver’s Perspective → https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570019885862
Deb LaBree – A Woman Trucker → https://awomantrucker.com
Magna Carta (Lincoln Castle Vault) → https://channel19experience.com
“The oak sleeps in the acorn.” – James Allen
Patterns, memory, and seeds that take centuries to grow — from 1215 to 2025.
#Channel19Experience #TruckingPodcast #UKTrucking #TruckersLife #FreightTalk #MagnaCarta #Ironbridge #NeurodivergentTrucker #Dieseldamus #MattRayner #CuttsTransport #BigFucksSmall #DriverShortage #TruckingCommunity #TruckingCulture #OwnerOperator #FreightEconomy #CovenantNotContract #HistoryRhymes #TruckersOfYouTube #LongHaulLife #CBRadio #WeveGotWorkToDo
From Birmingham, England — 3,500 miles from American trucking — Tony breaks down the word that explains so much industry nonsense: externalities. Costs they create but you pay. While recovering from shoulder surgery that would’ve been ~$30K in the U.S. (and £500 in the UK), Tony lays out how trucking’s “bad math” hides the real costs on drivers.
Using Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground as a backbone, we dig into the LinkedIn math circus, deferred-maintenance shell games, gig-economy exploitation, the coming Crystal Palace of automation/surveillance — and why drivers are treated as the externality in everyone else’s equation.
“Every question you ask is a nail driven up through their floorboards. Keep driving nails. Keep asking. Stay conscious, villains.”
⏱️ CHAPTERS
🔎 TOPICS COVERED
🗣️ KEY QUOTES
🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES
TJ Graff — Star Behaviors Assessment
“Big Cal” — Trucking with Coffee and Cal
Chris Barber — Fighting for Freedom
Mike Ritzema — Superior Trucking Payroll Service
Deb LaBree — A Woman Trucker
Bobbi McGee — A Hard Shell Life
🚚 UPCOMING TRUCK SHOWS
🤝 SPONSORS
Trans Carolina Permits — Permits, IFTA, compliance since 1977
True TMS — Cloud TMS: planning, rating, invoicing, reporting
📬 CONNECT
🎵 MUSIC
#️⃣ TAGS
Interview with Will Cook
This week Tony sits down for a two-hour deep dive with Will Cook — 🚛 35-year driver, 🏆 ATA Million Mile Award winner, and 📚 author of The Driver Shortage and The Machine Behind the Wheel.
Together they peel back the layers of the so-called “driver shortage,” exposing how mega-carriers, visa mills, and false freedoms fuel a system built on churn and set the stage for autonomous trucking.
From Birmingham’s 🎸 Black Sabbath to America’s highways, the theme is the same: workers turned into disposable parts.
Tony also talks about how “flexibility” pilots are really permission to exploit yourself longer, why cheap labor paves the way for automation, and Will talks about how truck-on-demand could change freight forever.
“Paranoid” – Black Sabbath (1970)
Will Cook – A Driver’s Perspective
🔍 The real story behind “driver shortage” claims
🎭 Dispatcher Appreciation Week thought experiment
🏛️ OOIDA’s role in trucking advocacy
🤖 Autonomous trucks & the future of linehaul
🌎 How mega-carriers use visa programs
⚖️ The disconnect between regulators and drivers
📏 Why training standards matter more than ever
✍️ Bobbi McGee’s Blog – A Hard Shell Life
🏛️ OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association)
🌟 TJ Graff – STAR Behaviors
🚛 CB Trucking Ltd – Chris Barber
💰 Mike Ritzema – Superior Trucking Payroll Service
👩🦰 Deb LaBree – A Woman Trucker
💵 Trucker’s Wealth
📑 Trans Carolina Permits
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
📧 Email: channel19experience.com
📱 Facebook: facebook.com/channel19experience
Tony heads to England 🇬🇧 to ride with UK lorry driver Matt Rainer, explore Birmingham’s industrial history, and gain perspective on the American trucking crisis from across the pond.
#Trucking #TruckDriver #DriverShortage #OOIDA #WillCook #TruckingPodcast #Channel19Experience #18Wheeler #SemiTruck #CDL #TruckingIndustry #OverTheRoad #OTR #OwnerOperator #TruckingLife #TruckingNews
🎧 S1E29 — Running Water Instead of Rain
👤 Guest: TJ Graff — Star Behaviors → https://starbehaviors.com
📣 Bulletin Board
⏱️ Timestamps
🚨 Upcoming Shows
👥 Friends of the Show
🎵 Music
Brent Cobb — "Down in the Gulley" https://youtu.be/r81io6k8Dm8?si=9jYccjeG96D6Uxia
📚 Coming Next
Key Topics: Behavioral assessments • 10,000-hour reality • Second Chance drivers • Driver Appreciation Week • Running water vs rain metaphor • Charlie Kirk • Socratic method • Driver shortage narrative • Predictive hiring • Star Logic platform
#DriverShortage #BehavioralAssessments #TruckingLife #StarBehaviors #TJGraff #DriverAppreciationWeek #TruckingPodcast #Channel19Experience #PredictiveHiring #SecondChanceDrivers #TruckDriverRetention #TruckingIndustry #CDL #OwnerOperator #FreightRecession
We take the red pill on trucking’s “driver shortage” narrative. Tony goes underground with Dostoevsky and Orwell to ask why drivers accept equations that don’t add up—why 2+2 can feel like 5 in this industry. From bankruptcy to Key West to accounting classes in Minnesota, this is a story about cages we call freedom, laments we call songs, and the splinter you’ve felt your whole career.
👤 Guest: Mike Ritzema (Superior Trucking Payroll Service) brings receipts on payroll, per diem, and what the numbers actually say in 2023–2025. If there’s really a shortage, why haven’t wages kept pace—while operating costs keep climbing?
📣 Bulletin Board: an all-pro rideshare driver named Angela; voices you’ll hear throughout the series (TJ Graff, Will Cook, Gord Magill); and PBS’s Driver (POV) featuring Desiree Wood / Real Women in Trucking.
🎬 Bonus: Morpheus does the scene better than I ever could → https://youtu.be/DRnr3MiGWmo?si=6OkVsOYLOGFD1wan
Stay for the 💰 Money Line and the 🧭 Post-Trip: Morpheus, Metallica, and modern math.
👥 Guest
Mike Ritzema — Superior Trucking Payroll Service → https://truckingpayroll.com
🎙️ Podcast: Driven for Success
🔗 Sponsors & Friends of the Show
💰 Trucker’s Wealth — Financial tools for truckers → https://truckers-wealth.com
📝 Trans Carolina Permits — Compliance, IFTA, mileage & permits → https://transcarolinapermits.com
📊 True TMS — Cloud-based transportation management system → https://truetms.com
✍️ Deb LaBree → https://awomantrucker.com
🚨 Upcoming Truck Shows
🚚 Louisiana Truck Show — Oct 24–25, Rayne, LA → https://louisianatruckshows.com
🎪 American Truckers Jubilee — Oct, Searcy, AR (Lee Owens) → https://www.facebook.com/groups/912050416849260
🗓️ Full schedule → https://thetruckshowlist.com
🎵 Music Referenced
Metallica — “Bleeding Me” • Audioslave — “I Am the Highway,” “Set It Off”
📚 Resources
🎬 Driver.film — PBS Documentary → https://driver.film/index.html
👥 Real Women in Trucking → https://www.facebook.com/REALWomeninTrucking
⭐ Star Behaviors (TJ Graff) → https://starbehaviors.com
✍️ Will Cook — A Driver’s Perspective → https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570019885862
📰 Gord Magill — Substack → https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com
📬 Connect
✉️ Email: [email protected]
🌐 Website: https://channel19experience.com
🎤 Book a Guest Spot: https://channel19experience.com/be-a-guest
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 — Intro: Adding spice to the “shortage”
04:00 — Quote of the Week: Morpheus & the splinter
09:00 — Bulletin Board: Angela, the precision driver
11:00 — Voices in the Series: TJ Graff, Will Cook, Gord Magill
15:00 — PBS film Driver & safety in trucking
18:00 — Pre-Trip: Trucking as battleground
22:00 — Money Line: Going underground with Dostoevsky
29:00 — Learning the math: Why 2+2=5 in trucking
33:00 — Interview: Mike Ritzema — the payroll perspective
1:13:00 — Post-Trip: Healthcare & Orwell’s ghost
#DriverShortage #TruckingLife #OwnerOperator #TruckDrivers #FreightRecession #TruckingIndustry #CDL #TruckingPodcast #Channel19Experience #TruckDriverPay #SuperiorTruckingPayroll #DriverAppreciationWeek #TruckingMath #TwoPlus2Equals5 #Matrix #RedPill #TruckingReality #FreightRates #DriverRetention #TruckingCrisis
This week on the Channel 19 Experience, we’re loading up with dogs, demons, and the start of something big: the Driver Shortage Series.
🐾 Bulletin Board – Connections matter. From LinkedIn shout-outs to the quirks of cab-riding pets, we talk about what really keeps us grounded.
We’ll also shout out our friends, sponsors, and truck show family keeping this industry moving.
🕒 Timestamps
03:37 – Quotes of the Week (Oscar Wilde)
🔗 Sponsors & Friends of the Show
💰 Trucker’s Wealth – Financial tools for truckers → https://truckerswealth.com
📝 Trans Carolina Permits – Compliance, IFTA, mileage & permits → https://transcarolinapermits.com
📊 True TMS – Cloud-based transportation management system → https://truetms.com
🧾 Superior Trucking Payroll Services – https://truckingpayroll.com
✍️ Deb LaBree – https://awomantrucker.com
🚨 Upcoming Truck Shows
Louisiana Truck Show – Oct 24–25, Rayne, LA → https://louisianatruckshows.com
American Truckers Jubilee – Oct, Searcy, AR (Lee Owens)
Full schedule → https://thetruckshowlist.com
📲 Connect & Be a Guest
Website: https://channel19experience.com
Email: [email protected]
Book time: “Be A Guest” link on the site
🔥 Hashtags for YouTube & Social
#TruckingPodcast #DriverShortage #OwnerOperator #TruckDrivers #TruckingLife #TruckShow #PetsInTrucks #MoneyLine #Channel19Experience
This week lives up to its title: one minute I’m down bad from truck stop food poisoning, the next I’m fielding a life-changing job offer. From the gut-punch of sickness to a reflective Money Line about growth, forgiveness, and trucking wisdom — this episode walks the tightrope between the worst kind of week… and the best kind of change.
📍 Timestamps
🔧 CVSA Brake Safety Week: August 24–30
🚸 Back to School Reminder
🎶 Music This Week:
📢 Friends of the Show & Featured Resources:
• Barry Trahan – Louisiana Truck Shows → https://www.louisianatruckshows.com
• Lee Owens – American Truckers Jubilee → [Facebook Event Page – Searcy, AR]
• Truck Show Listings → https://www.thetruckshowlist.com
• TVC Pro-Driver – CDL Legal Services & Fuel Card → https://www.prodriver.com
• Mike Ritzema – Per Diem, Tax, & Payroll → https://www.truckingpayroll.com
• Mike Barbour – Trucker's Wealth → https://www.truckers-wealth.com
• TrueTMS – Tanker Dispatch Software → https://www.truetms.com
• Deb LaBree’s Blog – On Femininity & Freight → https://www.awomantrucker.com
• I-95 Truckers – Photography by Al → https://www.instagram.com/i95truckers/
📬 Be a Guest on the Show
📣 Support the Show
From freight market headwinds to the scent of slow-smoked brisket in the backyard, Episode 25 delivers a full plate. We kick things off with a profit calculator comparison, dig into English Language Provision enforcement, and look at a rail merger that could shake up lanes. Then we ease into a Money Line that connects patience, timing, and Kawanna’s brisket to trucking economics. Finally, my co-pilot of over 20 years jumps on the mic for some laughs, memories, and a taste of her perspective on our mutual trucking lives.
📅 Timestamps:
🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned:
Channel 19 Experience website: https://channel19experience.com
Be A Guest page: https://channel19experience.com/be-a-guest
Profit Calculator (Tony’s version): Email [email protected] for a copy
Overdrive Profit Calculator: https://www.overdriveonline.com
YouTube Tutorial – Tony’s Profit Calculator: https://www.youtube.com/@channel19experience
Podcast Partners:
Trans Carolina Permits: https://transcarolinapermits.com
TrueTMS: https://truetms.com
Truckers Wealth: https://truckers-wealth.com
Superior Trucking Payroll (Mike Ritzema): https://truckingpayroll.com
A Woman Trucker (Deb LaBree): https://awomantrucker.com
Louisiana Truck Shows (Barry Trahan): https://louisianatruckshows.com
Truck Show Listings: https://thetruckshowlist.com
🎤 Contact the Show:
#trucking #truckerpodcast #truckerslife #freightmarket #brisket #truckingindustry #truckdrivers #overdrive #railmerger #truckinglife #dieseldamus #channel19experience #owneroperator
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