Overdrive Radio

Thanks to the Tompkins Square record label and the man behind the voice you hear in the song at the top here, Will Beeley. Beeley's new “Highways and Heart Attacks” record is the singer-songwriter and hazmat pressurized tank hauler's third. Today, Beeley lives in New Mexico, with roots in Texas. His story in music reaches back to his youth in the late 1960s, runs through an iconic record label in Jackson, Mississippi and extends on up into the present day, with his new record following 40 years after his last, called “Passing Dream.” Nashville-based music writer Edd Hurt views that 1979 slab as an overlooked classic in the American songbook. On this edition of Overdrive Radio, take a run through parts of Edd Hurt’s and my own interviews with Beeley attendant to a special treat in the day to day of this trucking-business writer back in September. Beeley was in Nashville performing attendant to Americana fest.

Thanks to the Tompkins Square record label and the man behind the voice you hear in the song at the top here, Will Beeley. Beeley's new “Highways and Heart Attacks” record is the singer-songwriter and hazmat pressurized tank hauler's third. Today, Beeley lives in New Mexico, with roots in Texas. His story in music reaches back to his youth in the late 1960s, runs through an iconic record label in Jackson, Mississippi and extends on up into the present day, with his new record following 40 years after his last, called “Passing Dream.” Nashville-based music writer Edd Hurt views that 1979 slab as an overlooked classic in the American songbook. On this edition of Overdrive Radio, take a run through parts of Edd Hurt’s and my own interviews with Beeley attendant to a special treat in the day to day of this trucking-business writer back in September. Beeley was in Nashville performing attendant to Americana fest.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

Pam Wilson hired on with Utah-based large fleet C.R. England about a year ago as vice president of process development. That’s something of a fancy way of saying she was brought in with hopes of improving parts of the company that support those who make the it tick – that’s truck drivers, of course. At the time of Wilson’s hiring, as Aaron Huff wrote in Overdrive sister fleet publication CCJ earlier this year, among the large number of company-employed drivers that make up the over-the-road division (accounting for around 80 percent of the entire company’s drivers), “the large majority of its OTR drivers are in the process of completing the company’s 90-day training program after they have earned a CDL.” That represents a lot of turnover. Figuring out how to better set those new drivers up for success could pay dividends long-term, no doubt, company executives knew. The goal, as Wilson puts it, is to be a better safety net as a company, particularly important for those who are jumping into trucking for the first time and a situation where they don’t know quite what exactly to expect. Aaron Huff’s story turned heads for another reason, though. Wilson, in her 40s, didn’t immediately publicly come onboard as management upon her hiring. Rather, she called C.R. England’s training academy and started the process of getting her CDL – undercover, as it were, within the training program. Also: Voices from 10-4 D.C. last week with point of view on the issues from Germann Soeth of Frederick, Md.; Kit Spanfellner of Northwest Ohio, leased to Davidson Trucking; Generations Express owner-operator Bryan Hutchens of Oklahoma; independent Rueben Carrion of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Iowa-based Mike Jellison, also running independent.

Pam Wilson hired on with Utah-based large fleet C.R. England about a year ago as vice president of process development. That’s something of a fancy way of saying she was brought in with hopes of improving parts of the company that support those who make the it tick – that’s truck drivers, of course. At the time of Wilson’s hiring, as Aaron Huff wrote in Overdrive sister fleet publication CCJ earlier this year, among the large number of company-employed drivers that make up the over-the-road division (accounting for around 80 percent of the entire company’s drivers), “the large majority of its OTR drivers are in the process of completing the company’s 90-day training program after they have earned a CDL.” That represents a lot of turnover. Figuring out how to better set those new drivers up for success could pay dividends long-term, no doubt, company executives knew. The goal, as Wilson puts it, is to be a better safety net as a company, particularly important for those who are jumping into trucking for the first time and a situation where they don’t know quite what exactly to expect. Aaron Huff’s story turned heads for another reason, though. Wilson, in her 40s, didn’t immediately publicly come onboard as management upon her hiring. Rather, she called C.R. England’s training academy and started the process of getting her CDL – undercover, as it were, within the training program. Also: Voices from 10-4 D.C. last week with point of view on the issues from Germann Soeth of Frederick, Md.; Kit Spanfellner of Northwest Ohio, leased to Davidson Trucking; Generations Express owner-operator Bryan Hutchens of Oklahoma; independent Rueben Carrion of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Iowa-based Mike Jellison, also running independent.

There's been more chatter about the old "two-check" system of pay for owner-operators contracted to carriers in the last year and more as fleets of all shapes and sizes in California or with California-based independent contractor owner-ops ponder what approach to take to preserve relationships with business relationships with owner-ops in the wake of the state's codification of the so-called "ABC" independent contractor classification test. California's newly passed bill establishes that test as the go-to one when determining the appropriateness of the independent contractor classification for workers in all manner of sectors and operations, trucking included. Unless there’s clear action in courts or something else that happens legislatively in the state, that will become the law of the land there the first month of next year. Though the two-check employee/contractor hybrid system for owner-operators is something a "dinosaur" in trucking today, some believe it could hold promise in a manner of areas. OOIDA board member Monte Wiederhold speaks to possibilities and his memory of the system when he started trucking in the late 1970s, up through the 1990s.

There's been more chatter about the old "two-check" system of pay for owner-operators contracted to carriers in the last year and more as fleets of all shapes and sizes in California or with California-based independent contractor owner-ops ponder what approach to take to preserve relationships with business relationships with owner-ops in the wake of the state's codification of the so-called "ABC" independent contractor classification test. California's newly passed bill establishes that test as the go-to one when determining the appropriateness of the independent contractor classification for workers in all manner of sectors and operations, trucking included. Unless there’s clear action in courts or something else that happens legislatively in the state, that will become the law of the land there the first month of next year. Though the two-check employee/contractor hybrid system for owner-operators is something a "dinosaur" in trucking today, some believe it could hold promise in a manner of areas. OOIDA board member Monte Wiederhold speaks to possibilities and his memory of the system when he started trucking in the late 1970s, up through the 1990s.

The need for greater parking capacity, well-managed, throughout the nation is no secret. The need along Texas lanes was the subject of the lively discussion Overdrive held at the Great American Trucking Show last month, devoted to parking. In today’s podcast, you’ll get a full window into that discussion, aimed at engaging with Texas DOT freight planning branch manager Sherry Pifer and others from the agency as they re-evaluate their own approach to marshalling public resources and create partnership with private companies toward parking improvement. The discussion could well provide a model toward engaging with other states, too.

Along the way you’ll hear from a multitude of owner-operators, drivers and other drivers in attendance, as well as owner-operator Ingrid Brown, Clark Freight Lines driver Jack Smith and former owner-op Scott Grenerth, who moderated the discussion. Grenerth, as regular listerners will know, is part of the Truck Specialized Parking Service company.