Tag: public image: Page 4

Business

Getting loaded with the laypeople

“I think if the general public had a better idea of what actually goes on in getting their Oreos to the Kroger, they might just reconsider cutting that truck off in traffic.”

January 16, 2013

Life

‘Shipping Wars’ season 3 features refused load, Evel Knievel truck

“Either it’s legal, safe and compliant or I’m not going to do it.” –owner-operator Marc Springer, who refused a load he’d won the bid on during filming of Shipping Wars’ third season.

December 27, 2012

Channel 19

Four-wheeler scare-quotes ‘professional’

A letter writer to a Minnesota newspaper, contending there’s an epidemic of big-rig drivers’ speeding on the nation’s highways, is suffering from tunnel vision when he mocks drivers’ “professional” badge of honor.

October 8, 2012

Channel 19

More O/O challenges: Image, health, parking…

After primary reporting on owner-operators’ top five challenges, sources offer their personal sixth — from parking, training standards and health to driver image and industry unity to influence public opinion and regulatory direction.

August 16, 2012

Channel 19

Would the professional drivers please raise hands?

At a fueling station in Dayton, Ohio, Kevin Burch, President of the Jet Express truck line, saw a decal (pictured) on the side of a flatbed as he was fueling. The message, “This truck helps build homes for our troops,” was on a flatbed in the operation of a Volvo Rents delivery fleet. Burch took […]

June 13, 2012

Channel 19

Driver for Landstar-leased fleet in Oprah magazine

Cleveland-based Shannon “Sputter” Smith (pictured, courtesy of Women in Trucking), a driver for a Landstar-leased small fleet, got into on-highway hauling as the youngest child of a father who worked on trucks for a living. As told by Jeanne Marie Laskas in Oprah magazine, her story is an inspiring one for any woman thinking of […]

June 11, 2012

Channel 19

‘7 deadly lot lizards’ infographic raises image questions

A satirical infographic detailing the so-called “7 Deadly Lot Lizards” from the folks at Trucker to Trucker.com has me pondering the dynamics that make just this sort of thing possible. I won’t repost it here, but you can take a look at it on their site (or click through the truncated thumbnail at right). Among […]

June 7, 2012

Channel 19

‘Shipping wars’ TV series starts tonight on A&E

The Austin American-Statesman reminds us that the latest in the phenomenon of truck-driving reality-TV series debuts tonight, with back-to-back half-hour episodes of ‘Shipping Wars’ occupying the 9 p.m. (ET and PT) hour on A&E. The debate over whether the show will be a boon to the image of drivers in the public imagination has already […]

January 10, 2012

Channel 19

Truck Stop Missouri redux; American Trucker GATS episode tonight

Truck Stop Missouri a ‘trucking ambassador’ in reality? After my interview posted yesterday with Joe Bechtold, General Manager of the Midway Truck Stop and Travel Plaza that is the subject of the Truck Stop Missouri TV show on the Travel Channel, a longtime commenter on the Channel 19 blog took issue with Bechtold’s characterization of […]

October 6, 2011

Channel 19

A trucking ambassador: Interviewing ‘Truck Stop Missouri’ star Joe Bechtold

The Truck Stop Missouri series on the Travel Channel has been running for a couple of months now, featuring the goings on in and around the 12 business that make up the Midway Travel Plaza between St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, I-70 exit 121. Midway General Manager Joe Bechtold (pictured) has seen his […]

October 5, 2011

Channel 19

‘Truck spotting’ takes off in England to industry image benefit

Remember the oft-described “good ol’ days” of the 1970s? When truck drivers were portrayed by the movie stars of the day and lionized by the public as hardworking heroes of the American way? The image of drivers and public interest in trucking may never have been higher on this side of the pond, it’s certain, […]

April 5, 2011

Channel 19

‘Personal and poetic meditation’ on American trucking

The creators are art photographers Frank Tribble and Tracey Mancenido, a husband-wife team who a couple years back, NPR reported last week in their “Picture Show” feature, took up the trucking life for a time to get a clearer understanding of the world. The result, a photographic exhibition at the Sasha Wolf Gallery in New […]

October 7, 2010