Driver Lifestyles
Expediter News Break Celebrates 5 Years!
Expediter News Break is having an anniversary!
Or, is that a birthday?
Either way, it's time to note that the radio program is celebrating five years on the air.
It was in 2002 that the first regularly-scheduled radio news program focused specifically on the expedite industry took to the airwaves on the Dave Nemo trucking radio show.
In those five years, the Expediter News Break (ENB) has presented news of interest to expedite owner-operators and drivers with topical information about expedite carriers, products, services as well as the regulatory issues that affect them.
Along with interviews with the movers and shakers of the emergency freight industry, ENB has also offered opinions and perspectives from a variety of sources within the business.
A little history
On Time Media's General Manager Lawrence McCord describes the beginnings of the Expediter News Break:
"In 2002, it developed that we had access to a small block of time on Dave Nemo's trucking radio show. We recognized the opportunity to present a show about expedite, a segment of transportation that had been ignored by the conventional trucking radio programs."
"Our web site's Editor, Jeff Jensen, offered to write and host the show, so we were off and running."
Lawrence continues, "We owe a sincere debt of gratitude to Dave Nemo. He has not only been an enthusiastic supporter of the expedited trucking community but he also gave us the chance to try something new with the News Break."
Lawrence failed to mention the fact that no one involved in the News Break had any experience or knowledge of the radio industry! Fortunately, the show established a relationship with a radio producer with many years in the business, a man who would mentor and guide the staff in the production of the program - Mr. Rob Williams.
Rob has been the Production Director for a major Cincinnati-based radio station for a number of years and he has the experience to deal with ENB's recording requirements. He is also a very talented voiceover artist and possesses the uncanny ability to recreate celebrity voices, from famous actors to cartoon characters. He made the ENB recording sessions a lot of fun, to be sure!
There were rough spots in those early days, but with Rob's able assistance, the staff was able to bring the expedited trucking audience a program designed just for them.
For the first year of Expediter News Break, the show was carried on the Dave Nemo Radio Network, a group of terrestrial stations located in disparate parts of the U.S. In 2003, the Nemo program found a new home on XM Satellite Radio, expanding the show's coverage to all of the U.S. and Canada.
Jumping ahead to 2006, the program experienced a change. Due to health issues, this writer reluctantly said goodbye to his News Break hosting duties, but the torch was passed to a true trucking radio news professional, Mr. Evan Lockridge.
Evan tells of his background:
"I've worked in radio since I was a teenager - playing music, doing news, writing copy and producing commercials. When I was attending the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, I worked for the National Public Radio affiliate there."
"When I got out of college in the early 1990's, I took a job in the sales department of a publishing company . After a time, they needed some help with their daily trucking news radio show, and I wound up doing that for three years."
He continues, "When I left that company in '94, I moved into television news as a news photographer and occasional producer. It was very good experience because the station had a real focus on politics. As a result, we spent a lot of time at the state capitol covering the state legislature. It was a great learning situation."
"In 1996 I decided to work as a freelance trucking writer. At the same time, I also returned to radio work with Overdrive Trucking News, in addition to writing articles for their magazine. That's where I met my future wife, Deborah to whom I've now been married for fifteen years."
From there, says Evan, one thing led to another. He began doing trucking news for Newport Communications under the Roadstar radio banner along with news stories for Roadstar and Heavy Duty Trucking magazines and on the web for TruckingInfo.com.
He tells us, "I still do some magazine writing, particularly a tire column for Newport's magazines, but much of my time is now occupied with my radio work. That includes the trucking news at the top of the hour for Sirius Satellite Radio's Road Dog trucking channel. I also do trucking news for a morning show called Open Road Cafe that's produced by ABC Radio."
Evan notes the differences between doing conventional trucking news and the Expediter News Break:
"It's interesting to focus on one segment of trucking - expediting - because it's probably the fastest growing sector of transportation."
"I find that it's a tightly-knit community of drivers and carriers that is ever-growing with some carriers having hundreds, and in a few cases, thousands of owner-operators leased with them."
"Something I've found is that expedited owner-operators have different needs that the typical long-haul, over-the-road trucker."
"With ENB, we work in conjunction with a lot of the trucking companies that serve the expedite industry as well as suppliers of products and services - both customers and non-customers of On Time Media, the parent company of Expediter News Break."
"We work with them to get the latest news about their companies as well what you do in any news operation, keep your ear to the ground by staying in touch with your regular sources and 'working a beat.'"
Evan says that technology allows him to work from the homestead:
"I have a studio in my house here in Birmingham that enables me to record interviews, edit them and produce the News Break. I then upload it to the Internet. Rob Williams is our Production Director in Cincinnati who does the post-production work by adding the sponsor spots and music bumpers. The finished product is then sent to the Dave Nemo show for broadcast."
"It would have been cost-prohibitive to do a show like this just a few years ago because it would have meant using commercial recording facilities and sending the tape of the show by courier to Rob and then to Dave Nemo."
"Now it can all be done over the web. Not only does it make it easier, but it keeps the show timely because we're able to add the latest information."
He adds, "I think it says a lot about the need for expediters to receive information specifically about their business as opposed to general trucking news. We are going to enhance what we've been doing so far by talking with even more expedited carriers and suppliers about what they offer the expedited owner-operators."
In conclusion, Evan says, "Thanks to all of our sponsors and our radio audience and...keep listening!"
The Expediter News Break with Evan Lockridge can be heard three times weekly on the Dave Nemo Radio Program on XM Radio Open Road Channel 171.
Air times are:
Tuesday - 10:30am
Thursday - 10:30am
Saturday - 10:30am
You can listen to Expediter News Break on the web! Visit ExpediterNewsBreak.com and enjoy ENB online.