Truckers and Trucking in Old Time Radio

Many historians feel that the History of Civilization can be best expressed as the History of Trade, and the History of Trade leads us inexorably to the History of Transport. After all, no one is going to buy the stuff you have to sell unless there is some way to get the stuff from where it is to where the buyer is going to use it.

For centuries, the most important way to move bulk items was by boat. Cities and other trading points had to be located on the shores of a harbor or river, and the further upstream you wanted to settle, only smaller boats could service your trade. Eventually, roads were built to supplement waterborne traffic, and a limited amount of freight could be hauled by animal-powered wagons. Eventually, railroads began carrying freight overland, but the fixed path of a railroad track had many of the same limitations as rivers and streams.

In the early decades of the Twentieth Century, there were major developments in technology which led to a proliferation of gasoline and diesel-powered trucks. Road building increased apace until goods could be delivered via truck as cheaply and with greater convenience than railroads.

Many casual observers mistakenly equate operating a freight truck with driving a very big car. Even today with fully powered systems and computer-operated driver aids, piloting a Big Rig is a skill which requires a great deal of training and even more miles of experience to master.

More than a few agricultural workers have gone into trucking wanting to improve their station in life only to discover that truck driving is hard work! The long hours are nothing compared to the cargo some truckers are called to handle, like when Frank Sinatra as Rocky Fortune pilots a rig full of nitroglycerin to Los Angeles. Lum and Abner also have a boom on wheels when a bottle of nitro is loaded on a soda pop truck.

There are a few bad apples in radio dramas. Calling All Cars, Philo Vance, Richard Diamond, and Dragnet all have stories of hit-and-run crimes involving truck drivers. More often, it is the drivers and their loads being victimized. Dragnet has three stories about hijackers, an armored car robbery, and a mail truck heist. John Steel, Boston Blackie, Dick Tracy, Counterspies, Nick Carter, and Police Headquarters each get the call to track down truck highjackers.

Sometimes the trouble is not who is driving the truck or what it is carrying, but where the truck is going. On Escape, a team of Allied agents hitches a ride across the desert in a Nazi truck convoy so they can blow up the enemy base. A young boy is killed when he falls off a newspaper truck on 21st Precinct.

It is hard to imagine a stay-at-home guy like Fibber McGee ever having trouble with trucks or truckers, but he has to help a driver figure out how to handle a 350-pound crate. Another time, our friend in Wistful Vista has the bright idea to take all his friends to the drive-in movies aboard a flatbed truck. One of his worst experiences happened after winning a contest where the prize is a ride in the town firetruck, how could Fibber manage to dent the vehicle?