Episode 26 - Trucking Vibes and Media with Dave Coleman of Chrome and Steel Radio
This episode kicks off with a fun post- Super Game phone call between Aaron and Michael. The winner of their football game prop bet will be awarding the loser with a celebratory Gatorade bath on our Instagram @PDQAmerica
Then they get into some trucking news and chat about the USMCA deal, a Texas Flatbed Carrier shutting down, and Kobe Bryant's passing.
Then you'll hear an interview with Dave Coleman, owner of Jack's Chrome Shop and part owner of Chrome and Steel Radio. Dave has built a substantial audience on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
You'll hear about how Dave got into trucking, his passion for media and content creation, and more. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss part two where they dive deeper into the world of custom trucks and the truck show circuit!
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Michael:
Well, are you excited about the morning tomorrow?
Aaron:
I guess.
Michael:
Well, I thought it was a great Super Bowl. I mean, what a game man, right?
Aaron:
Yes, you know what, something did come up, we might have to postpone it. I might have to do something.
Michael:
You got some last minute plans before work in the morning?
Aaron:
Yes, I didn't expect it. I'm going to have to go somewhere.
Michael:
Man, I have a feeling I am going to see you in the morning. Before we get off the phone tonight, is there a special flavor you would like to have?
Aaron:
Oh, man. Water, I don't know. [inaudible 00:00:56]
Michael:
I'll find you something. I'll be sure not to get the extra sticky Gatorade.
Aaron:
Okay, appreciate it. How thoughtful.
Michael:
All right man, well hey, go choose.
Michael:
Welcome to Trucking for Millennials, where we engage with the future of freight happening now. My name is Michael Clements.
Aaron:
And I'm Aaron Dunn. And we're here to help trucking and logistics professionals stay up to date and ahead of the curve as our industry evolves.
Michael:
We're connecting with every step of the supply chain as part of our mission to increase transparency and provide world class freight solutions. Don't doubt your vibe. Is that what they're saying in the song?
Aaron:
You know [inaudible 00:01:52]
Michael:
You're going to be singing that all day long. Singing, don't doubt your vibe. We're voted, Trucking for Millennials.
Aaron:
Yeah. I don't doubt our Trucking for Millennial vibe. I don't doubt the trucking vibe. Ooh, maybe that's a good shirt. I've been trying to think of shirt ideas and stuff like, like March trucking vibes. I think that might be the one. Trucking vibes.
Michael:
Trucking vibes.
Aaron:
Trucking for Millennials.
Michael:
Let's get this show started. So we're starting today.
Aaron:
We got some good news and we got some bad news.
Michael:
Let's start off with a good.
Aaron:
Yeah.
Michael:
So Aaron, this week, good things happen in the United States, not the impeachment trial. Depending on whose side you're on, I could care less about science personally, that's wanting to get something done. But our government did do something good for us this week. The USMCA was passed and that is the new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. And this could be really good news. So the US Senate recently passed a major new trade deal and a move that is spurring optimism throughout the trucking industry, says this article from Transport Topics, the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement pass by an 89 to 10 vote January the 16th.
Michael:
And the news came as a relief to many within the trucking industry who saw how slow and uncertain the process had been. I think this was something that was on people's minds. If you go back to 2017 and 2018, we were always feuding with Mexico and Canada, the wall, just disagreements on the environment, all these different things collected.
Aaron:
[inaudible 00:03:29] NAFTA with [inaudible 00:03:30]
Michael:
You had all these things that were working against trade between our countries, but now you see it seems like the borders are going to once again, not be a problem. And we're going to have free trade flow in between the countries. This is a good thing, a good deal. I think it's a good deal for America and it sounds like it's going to be a good deal for the trucking industry.
Michael:
So a couple of quotes from some heavy hitters in the industry, Boston Transport CEO, Rob Pinner said, "We've heard from many in our manufacturing sector that until there is certainty in trade plant upgrades, new plants or new business lines are on hold. The signing of this deal will signal an end to that uncertainty and people will make informed business decisions." So what they're hoping is that basically by this deal kicking off, it doesn't like directly, it's like nothing in there for trucking, but what it does is it opens up the economy more. It's going to be more stuff that's going to need to be put on a flatbed truck, an open deck calling going from these countries coming into America or also being exported.
Michael:
So really good news for the trucking industry this week. I think some people are filling the heat right now, or the slow down, especially here in Texas. Oil and gas is lagging behind. It's not moving as fast out there. It's not moving up as quick as people thought it would. We're really regressing right now. So I think this is going to come as good news, especially people that rely on the borders and hauling things from Mexico into the States. Another quote that stuck out was, "Anytime that uncertainty is removed, that's good for business, there'll be reassured that business will flow between the countries into the future. What makes them want to invest? When they are investing in spending, that obviously means there are more commodities being produced that will need to be hauled on the back of a flatbed truck." So this is another quote in the article.
Michael:
I think this is a very indicative of what is going to be happening here soon, especially here in Texas. I think you're going to see some of these plants that are right across the border in Mexico. I think you're going to start to see a lot more stuff being produced. Like I said, upgrades, these types of things. Whenever manufacturers aren't wanting to make decisions on those things and they're postponing because of a regulation or government influence decisions, they really do hold back a lot. After being a part of a manufacturing business, I definitely know this is part of what drives the progress in a company and what makes you want to take those risks.
Michael:
I think that things are lining up right now for something good to happen. We'll see how much that will be effected also by being an election year, but not getting into that, just sticking with the trade agreement. I think this is a good deal for trucking overall and it's going to be good news for the trucking companies that rely on working with companies that are at the border.
Aaron:
Love it. Yeah. It's always good that when the restraints are off and the uncertainties gone. You can just move faster, so everything can move faster and that's always a good thing. So awesome.
Michael:
In other news we have bad news.
Aaron:
Yeah, that's bad news. Not good.
Michael:
The bad news today is flatbed carrier, TK transport of Clute ... It could be Clootie. Okay. Clute Texas has decided to shutter operations citing soaring insurance costs, government regulations and a weak spot market. Definitely caught my eye considering that PDQ America is a flatbed trucking company and in Texas, so of course I want to pay attention to that and what's happening. It definitely makes you a little uncertain about what could possibly happen, but as I was reading through, it seems as if these are all just factors that caught up to them eventually.
Michael:
It says, "In addition to government regulation and soaring insurance rates, a factor in the closing was the delay by brokers to pay TK transport for loads at halt. Kraus said, Kraus being the chief executive of the six year old carrier. He said, "The trucking industry needs to move toward a real time payment system like UPS, FedEx and Amazon have where they are paid upfront and don't have to wait more than a month to be paid." He said, "An attorney wouldn't pick up a pencil before asking for a retainer upfront, but carriers are expected to help loads with the promise of eventually being paid every day." The company known for its white Peterbilt drugs had 17 trucks and 17 drivers in February, 2019 and January, 2020 had dropped to around six company drivers and six owner operators."
Michael:
It's never good when a trucking company closes down. We had plenty of that type of news last year in 2019 and it seems as those effects, those symptoms, those problems continue, into the first part of this year. Maybe not to the same degree, but it's a sad thing to see. The company actually it's shut down by the new year. So this is really a 2019 closing, but just caught up to the news for this year. What do you think about what he said about the realtime payment system? I think it would be great to have that real time payment system, but the three that he named UPS, FedEx and Amazon, when you're a big funded company like that, it makes it a little bit easier to put in that type of process. Do think he has a point there, is that an issue? Do you see that as an issue as somebody who's been in the trucking industry for a long time, had a trucking company before a brokerage? What do you think about that?
Aaron:
I definitely think there needs to be some type of real time payment. I think it would be wonderful for the trucking industry overall. I think it would be really wonderful for the companies that work directly for brokers. I think one of the things you have to look at too in your operations is, are you surviving on brokers? Because if you're surviving on brokered loads already, you're not heading in a good direction. That is not a good place to be with your company. You need some direct shipments. I think you hear a lot of companies that they're going to start that not being paid by brokers, which also on the flip side, your broker, they may be waiting 30 days, probably minimum to get paid. I know some of the companies that we will broker for, it's as much as 120 days before we see the cash roll in for that load.
Aaron:
And typically we try to pay out, we have options. Now we have a prepay option of three days, two or three days. But then we also have free options that are 15 day payment. And our goal in our business is to move down to where we're paying out an invoice to a trucking company with no fee in three days or less, and that's a goal that we're trying to move to in our brokerage and I think all broker just should be looking to move in that direction, but we're going to have to figure out a way to help out trucking companies. I think they need help right now. I think your smaller ones are suffering. The ones that are really relying on the load boards. You've seen rates in Texas dropped substantially since the end of last year.
Aaron:
I think that's a product of brokers knowing that companies are searching right now for loads and that there's a lot of capacity out there, a lot of trucks available out there for the capacity. This isn't going to be something that's going to be solved overnight. I think you're going to probably continue to see some companies go out of business. What I'm hearing from other companies from other people is it's not good right now. A lot of people are struggling to get paid by brokers and these people that use factoring companies, these people that are waiting, it's causing a big glut in the system. And I got to agree with him. I think a realtime payment system would take care of that. But are you ever going to get shippers on board with paying the trucking company in 10 days, less than 15, 20 days?
Aaron:
There may be someone out there listening like, "Yeah, my customer does." And I think that's a good thing. But unfortunately I don't think that's a majority of customers. I think if you've got a shipper that's paying you in less than 30 days, you need to do everything you can to hold onto that customer right now. But if you're working for brokers are questionable. I think you just need to do your homework. How reputable is that broker? Go online, check out their website. If they don't have a website or they don't have something that you can see or connect, I wouldn't take a load from him, even in a desperate situation because a lot of times you take a broker load in a desperate situation and then you don't get paid, you're in an even worse situation than you were to begin with.
Aaron:
And I know that's hard to look at loads on the load board and knowing you need cash and knowing you need to run your truck and you're just, but sometimes you need to know when to say no and when to wait for something else. And although the time to wait may, it may not be the time to wait. It may also not be the time to go and get into a bad load with a bad broker.
Michael:
Yeah. Well said.
Aaron:
Yeah, something else that tI did note that they included in that was the signing insurance cost. And I think that's when we've already talked about on the show we're seeing in our business, this is a challenge for everybody. I think you have to be looking at how you're reworking your business, how you're going to be able to deal with these higher insurance costs, is something you can look at customers helping out with or how is your business built and is it impacting it that much? But one thing that I felt, I looked up this TK transport on Google and one of the things that stuck out to me was there are 2.8 rating and we have to also start asking ourself, how much of this is the insurance company? How much is it brokers not paying and how much is it is mismanagement by business? And not saying that TK transport was mismanaged.
Aaron:
Just saying that, on the surface when you look at their ratings, if that's what customers, brokers, carriers, employees, future employees, the people, the things it takes to build a business, if they're going and looking at that and seeing that and they're seeing that this is the reputation that this business has, did they not have other problems besides just the typical insurance and not getting paid by brokers. So I think that's everybody right now needs to reassess their customer service and how they're treating their customers and how they're building their businesses because just adding insurance and brokerage costs at this point. If you're in the trucking industry, you know these things, this isn't something new. You should be looking at how to deal with that. But also what are you doing on the customer service end of things to keep your customers?
Aaron:
Because if you're desperate every day of the week for loads, your customers can sense that. And I don't know if anybody's ever been to a restaurant, but I don't really appreciate it whenever the person that is serving at the restaurant is super stressed out while they're doing it. It doesn't make for a very enjoyable meal. And I think that's the same thing in the trucking industry. If you're super stressed out, you can fill those vibes from that person and that's going to cause a different reaction from the customer. So, halt that desperation stay strong, stay confident, and move your business forward. And let's all try to figure out how to get away from depending on brokers and how do we get straight to the shipper, and then maybe negotiate a better payment.
Michael:
Well said.
Aaron:
Yeah, this past week, the sports world got some bad news. We talk a little sports on here from time to time. And, my thoughts and prayers go out to Kobe Bryant's family and all the fans and the people around the world that had been impacted by the death that Kobe Bryant and I've just been thinking a lot about about work ethic, how things happen in the world and you see these individuals like Kobe, and not to discount anybody else in this world, but sometimes there's people that just rise up and they become almost immortal in our minds. And there was some, I think for the millennial generation, people around our age, we got to watch Kobe Bryant grow up and we got to watch him all the way through his career, 20 years.
Aaron:
And for that to happen the way that it did, I think it impacted a lot of people. And it makes me think to myself, you know what, with this happening, the life that he lived and seeing how many people he was able to impact, it just tells me, and I think he should influence a lot of us in the trucking industry, that work ethic is a real thing and how hard you work can take you very far in this world, but it also can influence a lot of other people to do great things. I think the trucking industry we can honor Kobe and the basketball world by just putting forward that same work ethic for this year. Let's try to work as hard as Kobe did on and off the court, in our jobs, in what we do in the trucking industry this year.
Michael:
I love that. Man, good. Well said. I wasn't a huge basketball fan until like recently that I started to get more into the sport, because Mazur doing so well. But, it's undeniable how great Kobe was. And even though it wasn't in watching, Kobe play all the time, he was always what they say, top three of all time. And, just seemed like a genuine person, highly competitive spirit. But that's how you get where he got, with a highly competitive spirit and just a strong work ethic like you said. So, well said. I think that trucking industry can learn from people from outside the industry and should. So yeah, it was sad news. We're on this sad news, from closing a trucking companies and losing Kobe but to brighten things up, Elon Musk came out with a song today at the time of recording. So if you haven't heard that, somebody else with a strong work ethic putting some stuff out and influencing the trucking industry as well.
Aaron:
He's laying the tracks down.
Michael:
Elon Musk put out a track today called Don't Doubt ur Vibe. It's a four minute track, written and recorded by Elon Musk and he's got a vocoder over his voice and stuff. And, it sounds pretty uplifting, so if you're down still about the Kobe situation, losing Kobe maybe you're uncertain about what's happening. Just remember Trump got USMCA done, that's good. And we shouldn't doubt our vibes. Don't doubt the vibe.
Aaron:
Doubt the vibe. Don't doubt your vibes because it can take you really far. Trucking vibes. Anyway, enjoy the show. Fire that truck out. The interview that you're going to do today is with Dave Coleman, owner of Jack's Chrome shop out of Lafayette, Indiana. He's also part owner of the very popular Chrome and Steel radio. He has a large Facebook presence, large Instagram presence and they have multiple podcasts. It's not just, the Chrome show that Dave posts, it's also a Daily Dose of Hope, with Hope Zvara, which you've heard, longtime listeners of the podcast have heard her on the show before. Also, they've got Bull Holland BS, another one with Bill Weaver, who's a famous country singer.
Aaron:
They've got a lot of different shows, a lot of different media. So, this conversation spans media and trucking media and how he's innovating in that space. Also we dive deep into the niche of truck shows, custom trucks, the future of custom trucks. So, hope you enjoy this. This is going to be the first part of the episode and then, we'll continue the second part of the episode later on in the week. So enjoy this conversation with Dave Coleman and give them a like, a follow, a shout out, a subscribe and let them know that we sent you. Any other details you want to add to that Dave?
Dave:
Man, no, that's probably it. Like Aaron just said, we're doing Jackson Chrome shop here. You can see the sign right here. We're actually in the office and we do our podcast directly from the Jackson Chrome shop facility here. Me and Mr. Bill Weaver are the two owners at Chrome and Steel radio. And, actually we just did a rebranding for our podcast. It was the Jack and Dave show and now it's called The Chrome Corner, with me and our producer Mattie, who's sitting right over there. And, we do the shop, we do a lot of custom stuff here, for the show truck circuit and that's a lot of what we talk about on our show here. The Chrome Corner, is just the show truck world.
Dave:
I go to between, I would say 10 and 20 truck shows a year, and that's been my specialty for a long time now is just going to truck shows and getting media from that. And then, Chrome and Steel radio has been around for a year and a half or something like that, I think November of 2018 and I don't know if we're the first, but we're definitely one of the biggest live podcasting platforms, especially for trucking. So those two things keep me pretty busy. And then, we have a YouTube, for the shop itself where we do a lot of, I don't even know what to call it, like informational or history based YouTube videos that we really enjoy based on truck history and a lot of other stuff.
Dave:
So, we have a lot going on here, but media I would say is probably our biggest, strength and we do a lot of content creation and podcasting and stuff like that. Most of my job is doing content creation at the moment. So yeah, that's probably basically it.
Aaron:
Awesome. Well, one thing that, Michael and I were curious about is how you got into trucking period. You've been very public for what, a year and a half on the Chrome and Steel side. Tell us the story about how you got into trucking. Trucking for Millennials, it's all about trucking, it's about young people making an impact in the industry and the show exists to help people stay ahead of the curve about what's happening next. So a part of that is giving the platform to people making that impact. A chance to tell the story about how you got in. So just give us the origin, if you would, about how you got into the industry.
Dave:
I always have been a truck guy. We're based here in Indiana, which is just farm land basically. And I grew up on a farm and that's still what we do, all of our truck stuff here, we do it on the farm. We have a couple of buildings here where we do custom stuff and keep all of our parts and then do installs and a whole bunch of other stuff. But I grew up on a farm and just doing that is just, you're driving all different kinds of stuff, equipment of all different kinds, including farm equipment, trucks, grain trucks, all that kind of stuff. And then, as I got older, I got away from farming and just trucks in general, went to school and really enjoyed just the sciences, physics specifically.
Dave:
And I thought that's what I wanted to do with my life and I was totally wrong. So wasted like four or five years of my life at school, trying to do something else with my life. And I came back to trucks right after school. And a good friend of mine helped me start the shop here and then we started Chrome and Steel radio and added that on later. But it was something that I had a big interest in when I was younger and then came back to it later and then found a different aspect of it, which was the show truck world, which really got me interested in trucks more than anything. A lot of people are obviously interested in other aspects of trucking, like efficiency and freight and making money and technology behind, all that kind of stuff. But my passion has always been media in general, making content and then also the show trucks.
Dave:
I really enjoy doing content of really fancy world-class cool trucks. That's been my thing. I'm also a big car guy and so I think that relates together with show trucks and show cars, almost bringing them to car shows around, stuff like that. That's always been my passion and that's how I got back into the industry. And what I've been doing since is just mostly show truck stuff. That's about it.
Michael:
So man, I'll have to ask, what is your favorite show car or a classic model?
Dave:
I'm a big, [inaudible 00:24:49] 900A, guy. I've always loved A models and right now I'm actually looking for a used A model to redo for the shop. We're going to hopefully do a YouTube series of building a show truck for the shop here. And I'd like for it to be an A model. I'm trying to find a good donor truck right now. I'm trying to find something that's reasonably priced obviously, because all the classics now are, if you have one, people want to out price them to ridiculous amounts. But I'm trying to find a decently priced A model, from the era of early 70s, late 70s to redo and customize and turn into the shop truck. So always been an A model fan and then I really like needle-nose Peterbilts.
Michael:
Cool.
Aaron:
Given your history and how you got back into it, how long have you owned Jack's Chrome shop?
Dave:
We started the shop in 2017, like the summer of 2017. So it's coming up on three years. Two and a half, three years now. I think maybe it might've been June of 2017 so it hasn't been too particularly long, but we've just been busy the whole time and so seen a lot of growth in the past two and a half, three years that we did not expect. Here we are.
Aaron:
Yeah.
Michael:
Whenever y'all got into Jack's Chrome shop, that was the idea to build it on the back of media?
Dave:
Yeah, marketing has always been my background. I owned, actually I still own a couple other companies besides the shop and the radio station that are in the marketing world, web design and other things as well. So marketing has always been something I'm pretty good at. And photography is something that helped open up my interest in trucks and doing media for trucks. And so, when we started the Chrome shop, that was something that we knew we at least had, was the web aspect of it, the social media and so we built it off of that and built it off of creating a community basically.
Dave:
Jack's Chrome shop community, which I think we've done pretty well and those have been our pretty loyal customers that come back time and time again. So media I would say is definitely our strong suit and one thing that we based our company on for sure. And then Chrome and Steel radio was an extension of that because we knew what we were good at and it was another opportunity to take a brand that was already well known and take it to the next level basically. So, media is very important to us.
Michael:
Interesting. So given that, of course, I'm the media guy over here at PDQ America. I got into the trucking industry recently. So, it was in, what has it been, seven months or so, going from zero to 100 pretty fast to learn freight, we're freight brokerage and trucking company. So, I had to get up to speed pretty quickly. Definitely use media to do that, for you though, you have some home grown roots and at least an origin point of interest in-
Dave:
For sure. Yeah. I've been a truck [crosstalk 00:27:53]
Michael:
You've been a truck driver a long time?
Dave:
Truck guy. Just a truck guy.
Michael:
Oh, truck guy. Yeah. So, when you said, "Hey, I'm going to use media to grow this aspect of the business." How did you think about what would the interesting and serve that trucking community?
Dave:
Well, there's been a lot of media in the trucking industry for quite some time and when we came into the industry we wanted to do something that was either new or different than what was already happening. And two and a half years ago or whatever, when we started the shop, the media landscape for the trucking industry was a lot different. And, a lot of people told me that media and the trucking industry was dead and it was over and the ELD was about to come. And it was a really sad time for the industry when we started because everyone seemed really defeated. And one of our goals with the shop not so much but definitely with Chrome and Steel radio was to bring entertainment and a positive attitude back to the industry.
Dave:
That's why a lot of videos that we've done both on Chrome and Steel radio and the the Chrome shop YouTube have been. We've done some political stuff or maybe that's not political, but relating with the trucking industry and the changes that are going on right now, specifically like the ELD and automated trucks and stuff like that. But we found really quickly that people don't like talking about that that much because it's all over the place. And, people hear about it all the time. So our goal was to just not talk about the ELD, not talk about politics, not talk about anything except entertainment. And, for the Jack's Chrome show, YouTube was like history and informing people. So when we came in, a lot of things that were the way they were two and a half, three years ago are not what they are now.
Dave:
And we've always set out to try to entertain people instead of bring in a different more politically charged aspect to it. That's what media means to me, especially growing the business. We've just been trying to go off on our own and do our own thing and it's been pretty successful. We like what we're doing. Our audience seems to like what we're doing and I think it's refreshing to hear about something other than the ELD, basically.
Michael:
Since your beginning with Jack's Chrome shop and the time you've spent there and like you were mentioning the regulations changes and changes since 2017. How has your perception of the industry overall change since you started?
Dave:
When we started, like I said, people almost seem defeated by the ELD and that's one thing that we don't really like to get involved with in the shop and the radio station in general is just talking about the ELD and also when people come to us to do work for the Chrome shop and they want to do a truck or they want to do something custom on their truck, the ELD is not really a topic that we like to talk about with them in general. But I would say people have started to accept it more, for sure. Just because I think a lot of people have realized that it's going to be here and it's not going anywhere. And I don't think that's a good thing in general. I think there's a lot of things in the ELD got wrong. I understand where they're coming from, they want to increased safety in the industry and stuff, but there's a lot of things that they didn't get right.
Dave:
I understand why the truckers were so angry. But I think as time has gone on, that anger is slowly starting to temper. And, that's one thing that's definitely changed, is people have started to accept the rules. Some people are even starting to like more what the ELD is doing. But some other changes in the industry. Like I said, the media has definitely changed. We've gone from almost no media on YouTube and social media content creation to a lot more recently. I see a lot more, just individuals and other people that are trying to create more content for the trucking industry, which is really positive, that's a good sign to see because like I said, it almost looked dead when I first started.
Dave:
Other changes, music has gotten really popular, recently. I know that Bill's album that's coming out at MATS has had a lot of attention recently. Overdrive has done a really good job of promoting musicians recently. Media in general I think is going through, I wouldn't say like a renaissance, but definitely a second resurgence in the trucking industry. So that's definitely changed.
Aaron:
I tend to agree. When I was learning about the industry, of course, the first thing that I did was go to the media outlets and an overdrive online that's been around for a long, long time, landline media and some of the Aleida affiliated type of media outlets and then you think even about the very modern day freight waves and what they're doing. There is a lot of talk about regulation changes and a lot of the different newsy type of things that happened in the industry. Keeping up with almost like the Fox news or the CNN of freight. Just pick a news outlet, but what's really interesting about what you've done with Jack's Chrome shop and Chrome and Steel radio, is that you've found that niche that underserved people digging trucking.
Aaron:
Like people are just interested in learning more about Kenworth or learning more about Peterbilt or learning more about Mac or trucking as it impacts the nation today, which is pretty cool. It's good to always have somebody that's serving that part or at least, you're going out of your way to serve an underserved niche of the industry.
Dave:
Yeah, that's definitely our goal is, we don't want to be the mainstream media sources for people. Like news is really easy to get nowadays, especially in the trucking industry. And maybe someday we'll add a small new segment or something like that onto our website and stuff like that. But for the most part, new stuff like that and other updates, most people will see that already on other people's pages. Our goal is to be the alternative, source of entertainment and to stay away from that stuff in general. After so many outlets have said it so many times, and there's been so many articles on certain topics. It doesn't seem like a very interesting topic to talk about for most of us. And, we have four different shows and most of us are super busy with what we do outside of it, outside of Chrome and Steel radio with our own brands and stuff. So, just being politically active or even just active in the trucking regulations sphere is, it doesn't interest any of us.
Aaron:
Yeah. And that's something that Michael and I've talked about, quite often. Like, man, there's a lot of news out there and a lot of times it seems like it's beat to death on other podcasts or whatever. So that's why we try to bring in individuals a lot of times like yourself that really just give an alternate perspective and other example of how somebody can find a different type of success in trucking because, the industry, in general, it's so big, there's so much space, there's a lot of wide open space. It doesn't have to be confined into the cab of the truck as many people associate trucking with, it can be a lot of different things.
Dave:
Yeah, I agree. Because the industry and regulations have gone through so many changes. I understand why there's so much focus on the changes obviously, and that's really important for drivers because that rules they're alive, that's what they deal with on a daily basis. But our goal is to help them relax and maintain a healthy lifestyle and a healthy mentality towards life and towards their job in general. I think it's happening in not just the trucking industry and I think it's happening in our society throughout North America and the Western world in general, people are getting really focused on current events and news and what's actually happening.
Dave:
And it almost seems like they're getting overwhelmed by all of the news stories that are coming out. It seems like every day, someone's either dead or something happened or some huge current event or something like that. It's honestly just a really nice escape to get away and just enjoy some music or enjoy some history or whatever it is. And that's what we want to provide is, we just want people to get away from all of the negative, it seems almost all negative news stories and get towards just relaxing and having a good time and bringing back that spirit of the trucking industry and America in general. Bringing back that at home feel, that that was our goal.
Michael:
And do you feel like the younger generation, millennials and even gen X as the average age of a truck driver continues to go up eventually that age is going to have to come down. Do you see the younger generations playing a part in this renaissance of the media?
Dave:
Oh, for sure. Yeah. There's a lot of younger people. Like I said, when I started doing photography and media for the trucking industry, it was dead. It was dead, dead, dead. There's a good friend of myself named, Techs from Techs Sematic Media, I think it's a Texas media Foundry now but Techs is a good friend of mine and he was doing videos, crap like six or seven years before I even got into trucking media, and I had a discussion with him and he basically told me the industry as a whole, media is dead. And so as soon as I heard that it wasn't very encouraging, but it also made me think, "Well, if it's dead maybe we can revive this in a new way." And I don't want to say we've done that, but we've definitely been a part of bringing that back and that's opened the doors for other younger or my age as well, people to come in and do media for trucking and be successful at it and get a name for themselves.
Dave:
There's a lot people that have come in the past two and a half years that do amazing work, who really enjoy trucks and passionate about the industry. So I think there's no shortage of driven individuals, driven young people that are going to come into this industry over the next a couple of decades, hopefully in the next decade. And, guide the ship from the older boomer generation and bring that into the 21st century, now it's 2020. We're here and we need to embrace it as much as we can. And I think that most of the gen Z and millennials are taking advantage of that or they will at least.
Aaron:
Before we jump into, I want to ask you about gnats and gatz and the truck show circuit and learn a little bit about that before we go off the media, talking about the media and stuff. For our listeners that may not be aware of Chrome and Steel radio, could you break down like who and what kind of lineup you have for Chrome and Steel and what they could possibly expect?
Dave:
Funny thing is, you're talking to the least famous person at Chrome and Steel radio.
Aaron:
Yeah. One of them has already been a guest on our show, so.
Dave:
Yeah. I'm the least famous and the least known person at Chrome and Steel radio and I'm not ashamed to say that. All the rest of the hosts, that do Chrome and Steel radio already have a brand and have already been doing this, most of them have been in the trucking industry for decades. The other owner at Chrome and Steel radio is Bill Weaver and I'm sure most of your listeners will probably at least know who Bill Weaver is, but he's a pretty well known musician and he's actually coming out with his third album at MATS this year, at our booth, Chrome and Steel radio booth, which will be 61076, so 61076 is the Chrome and Steel booth and we'll be in the West wing, but, Bill is the other host. And he has a show called, Out On The Road with Bill Weaver, where he does live performances in his truck basically wherever he's at. I think he's in Wisconsin today, but he travels all over and pulls a tanker for Hanif and so he's performing live.
Dave:
He does it on his music page. He does it on Chrome and Steel. He does it everywhere. But, Bill Weaver is the glue that keeps us all together and a great guy and I'm sure you all know who he is and you'll see him at MATS. But you definitely watch his show and his life performances, the other person that we have, and one of my favorite shows is, Jerry Novak, his show is called Bull Holland BS. Jerry and his son Tyler Novak, they host that show on Monday night and the whole show is just about their adventures as they both work in the livestock industry. Jerry hauls cattle and Tyler, he just turned 18 actually, so he's going to school. I believe he's going to school for animal science, at Ohio state.
Dave:
They just riff back and forth, just talking about stuff that happens at the barn and hauling cattle and trucking in general. Jerry is a veteran, I believe he was in the air force for 20 plus years, so he talks a lot about mental health issues also on the show. But Jerry's been known for a really long time and very well respected in the industry. And, so that's his show, Bull Holland BS, that's every Monday. And then, the last person is Hope Zvara.
Dave:
She's the host of The Daily Dose of Hope, which happens every Thursday and she's a 25 plus year yoga instructor. Yogi, I think is how you call that. But she's really, really good and she focuses on driver health and yoga can seem almost impractical for a lot of people, but it's even more impractical for drivers because of the space, restrictions and she somehow has come up with a plan and a whole program on how to be healthy and stay active while on the truck. She's fantastic and like I said, I'm the least famous, least known host at Chrome ans Steel. Those three shows, Bill's, Jerry's and Hope's are much more informative and interesting. But-
Michael:
We think you are informative and interesting, Dave. Don't worry.
Dave:
Thanks. Mike-
Michael:
And now thanks to Trucking for Millennials, you're famous.
Dave:
Oh, yeah. I like to think that. I can't get people to like my show and my regular stuff, so it's whatever. That's not true. We have a really big audience that watches us every Wednesday at noon and our show it used to be called the Jack and Dave show, but it's now called, The Chrome Corner, and we just talk about trunk shows basically. That's basically it. We have a three grand slam hitters and then me. That's Chrome and Steel radio, but we started it in November of 2018 and we had a presence last year at MATS, but this will be our first year with the booth. So, very excited about that.