The Channel 19 Experience Trucker Podcast, hosted by Tony, was born to recreate something amazing he thinks we’ve lost, Channel 19. Tony grew up in trucking and started driving himself in the mid 1990s. The 1990s were sunset of an era, the era before the internet and cell phones took over. Channel 19 thrived in that time between the 1970s and 1990s and created an experience like no other for truck drivers. Truckers were actually more connected then to each other, than to most anything else in our lives. And it was a helluva lot of fun. Truckers are a hilarious diversity of characters that is truly representative of every group in America. And yes we bickered and insulted and not all of it was great, but it was something special and we miss it. Come join the community, listen to others stories on the podcast, share your stories with us and the audience. Channel 19 on the CB is pretty much gone, but the Channel 19 Experience can live on as a community.
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The Channel 19 Experience Trucker Podcast, hosted by Tony, was born to recreate something amazing he thinks we’ve lost, Channel 19. Tony grew up in trucking and started driving himself in the mid 1990s. The 1990s were sunset of an era, the era before the internet and cell phones took over. Channel 19 thrived in that time between the 1970s and 1990s and created an experience like no other for truck drivers. Truckers were actually more connected then to each other, than to most anything else in our lives. And it was a helluva lot of fun. Truckers are a hilarious diversity of characters that is truly representative of every group in America. And yes we bickered and insulted and not all of it was great, but it was something special and we miss it. Come join the community, listen to others stories on the podcast, share your stories with us and the audience. Channel 19 on the CB is pretty much gone, but the Channel 19 Experience can live on as a community.
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.”
⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro from Birmingham04:00 – Song: “Birmingham” – Broken Witt Rebels06:00 – Quotes: Upton Sinclair & Socrates11:00 – UK vs. US healthcare math (shoulder surgery)14:00 – “Non-Domiciled CDL” emergency (and who really profited)18:00 – LinkedIn Math Circus (Fuller/Miller/Miller)27:00 – Drive Line: Externalities explained30:00 – Notes from Underground (the consciousness problem)33:00 – The Crystal Palace (autonomy, AI dispatch, surveillance)36:00 – Socratic method as resistance: define your terms41:00 – Post Trip: Villa train story & collective voice47:00 – Next week preview (UK ride-along, Magna Carta, Kodiak)
🔎 TOPICS COVERED• What externalities really mean (McDonald’s trash example)• Underground Man’s “curse of knowing” vs. men of action• Craig Fuller’s admission about deferred maintenance & what it hides• The LinkedIn math circus: undefined terms everywhere• How Uber perfected trucking’s exploitation model• The Crystal Palace they’re building (and why we’re the support beams)• Non-domiciled CDLs & chameleon carriers (features, not bugs)• Birmingham train ride: collective voice vs. American isolation• Kodiak IPO timing (Diesel Damus called it)
🗣️ KEY QUOTES“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” — Socrates
🔗 LINKS & RESOURCESWill Cook — A Driver’s PerspectiveFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570019885862
TJ Graff — Star Behaviors AssessmentStar Behaviors → https://starbehaviors.comStar Advisor (FREE self-assessments) → https://starbehaviors.com/staradvisor.html
“Big Cal” — Trucking with Coffee and CalFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564967548222
Chris Barber — Fighting for FreedomWebsite: https://cbtruckingltd.ca
Mike Ritzema — Superior Trucking Payroll ServiceWebsite: https://truckingpayroll.com
Deb LaBree — A Woman TruckerWebsite: https://awomantrucker.com
Bobbi McGee — A Hard Shell LifeBlog: https://hardshelllife.blogspot.com
🚚 UPCOMING TRUCK SHOWS• Barry Trahan’s Louisiana Truck Show — Rayne, LA — Oct 24–25• Lee Owens’ American Truckers Jubilee — Searcy, AR — Oct 24–25Full calendar: https://thetruckshowlist.com
🤝 SPONSORSTrucker’s Wealth — Financial strategies for drivers & owner-opshttps://truckers-wealth.com
Trans Carolina Permits — Permits, IFTA, compliance since 1977https://transcarolinapermits.com
True TMS — Cloud TMS: planning, rating, invoicing, reportinghttps://truetms.com
📬 CONNECTEmail: inbox@channel19experience.comWebsite: https://channel19experience.com
🎵 MUSIC“Birmingham” — Broken Witt Rebels (support the artists)
#️⃣ TAGS#Trucking #TruckingPodcast #Externalities #NotesFromUnderground #Dostoevsky #CrystalPalace #OwnerOperator #FreightWaves #CraigFuller #GigEconomy #Uber #SocraticMethod #DefineYourTerms #Channel19Experience #CDL #DriverShortage #NonDomiciledCDL #ChameleonCarriers #KodiakIPO #DieselDamus #Birmingham
Channel 19 Experience Trucker Podcast
The Channel 19 Experience Trucker Podcast, hosted by Tony, was born to recreate something amazing he thinks we’ve lost, Channel 19. Tony grew up in trucking and started driving himself in the mid 1990s. The 1990s were sunset of an era, the era before the internet and cell phones took over. Channel 19 thrived in that time between the 1970s and 1990s and created an experience like no other for truck drivers. Truckers were actually more connected then to each other, than to most anything else in our lives. And it was a helluva lot of fun. Truckers are a hilarious diversity of characters that is truly representative of every group in America. And yes we bickered and insulted and not all of it was great, but it was something special and we miss it. Come join the community, listen to others stories on the podcast, share your stories with us and the audience. Channel 19 on the CB is pretty much gone, but the Channel 19 Experience can live on as a community.
