![]() Breaker, breaker. This is 7080: GenX Pop. Have you got your ears on? If you’re a GenXer, you probably remember the ubiquity of CB radio culture in 1970s media. Back then, you could find it in music, movies, television, and even children’s cartoons. CB slang permeated everyday conversation, and some of it remains embedded in our language today. Breaker, breaker. This is 7080: GenX Pop. Have you got your ears on?
If you’re a GenXer, you probably remember the ubiquity of CB radio culture in 1970s media. Back then, you could find it in music, movies, television, and even children’s cartoons. CB slang permeated everyday conversation, and some of it remains embedded in our language today. Before we get into the pop culture phenomenon of the CB radio, let’s touch briefly on the history of the device. A Citizens Band (CB) radio is a mode of person-to-person communication using two-way radios. CB services, regulated by the FCC, opened to the American public in the 1940s, but the equipment didn’t become affordable for the average consumer until the late 1950s. Generally used by businesses, truck drivers, and enthusiast clubs, the CB (and long-haul trucking culture) first seeped into the collective consciousness around 1975 with the popularity of the song “Convoy” by C.W. McCall. C.W. McCall was a country music persona created by William Dale Fries, Jr. (Fun fact: Fries later co-founded Mannheim Steamroller.) A novelty song, “Convoy” used CB slang to tell the story of a group of vehicles violating traffic laws and outfoxing state troopers on an interstate trek from California to New Jersey. The trucker known as Rubber Duck leads a few semi-trailers east and is soon joined by all kinds of drivers, including a Volkswagen bus full of hippies. The rebellious convoy manages to elude state highway patrols, a “bear in the air” (police helicopter), and the Illinois National Guard, eventually ramming through a toll gate near the Jersey shore. It was a silly song but so much fun that it spent sixteen weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, including a week in the number-one spot in 1976. In 2014, Rolling Stone named it one of the 100 greatest country music songs of all time. Similar CB-themed or CB-adjacent songs found success, including “The White Knight” by Cledus Maggard & the Citizen’s Band (Jay Huguely), “Me and Ol’ CB” by Dave Dudley, “Breaker-Breaker” by The Outlaws, “Once Piece at A Time” by Johnny Cash, and the heartrending ballad by Red Sovine, “Teddy Bear.” That last song still makes me shed a tear. A few years later, Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, and Sally Field were “East Bound and Down” in Smokey and the Bandit, hotly pursued by foul-mouthed Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) and his dim-witted son. Directed by former stuntman and Reynolds stunt double Hal Needham, this movie became the second-highest-grossing film of 1977, only falling behind the surprise juggernaut that was Star Wars. It spawned two terrible sequels. Rumor has it that it was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite movies and the last one he screened before he died. I can’t overstate the popularity and influence of Smokey and the Bandit on popular culture. Sales of the Pontiac Trans Am doubled after the movie’s release. A slew of pale cinematic imitators hit drive-ins and movie theaters. And CB slang started finding its way into homes, classrooms, and workplaces. Driving to vacation destinations, we pointed out Bears (state troopers), looked for Bird Dogs (law enforcement radar), stuck out our tongues at Bumper Stickers (tailgaters), and urged our law-abiding parent driver to Put the Hammer Down (go faster). From the countryside to the suburbs into the cities, people bought CB base stations and mobile units for their vehicles. We had CB handles long before we had usernames, screen names, gamer tags, and avatars. These pseudonyms might reflect one’s vocation, hobby, or geographic location. Sometimes, they were risqué or downright filthy. Television networks also capitalized on trucking culture and CB radio’s popularity, from modestly successful shows like Movin’ On to outright hits like B.J. and the Bear and The Dukes of Hazzard. But the love affair had already started to cool when the children’s cartoon CB Bears debuted. The ever-fickle public was turning its attention to the next big thing…whatever that might be. Before I boogie on out of here, here’s next week’s title: “CH-CH-CH: Look at me! I’m bionic!” I’ll be talking about pop culture in GenX imagination and play. If you enjoyed this post, share the link with a friend. Please give me a holler, and until next time, keep the shiny side up! Over and out.
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AuthorNeva Bryan has published over 70 short stories, poems, and essays in literary journals, online magazines, and anthologies. She lives in the Virginia mountains with her husband and their dog. She also writes a series of essays about GenX life in the 1970s and 1980s. |