The year is 1976 - U.S. President & Mrs. Gerald Ford are manning the White House. Bi-centennial celebrations are in full swing. The electronic hand calculator is gaining popularity. Microsoft and Apple Computer are being born. Star Wars® is coming soon. The Cincinnati Reds are leading the New York Yankees in the World Series, and […]
Written by Darrell Hagan on March 10th, 2007 with
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The year is 1976 - U.S. President & Mrs. Gerald Ford are manning the White House. Bi-centennial celebrations are in full swing. The electronic hand calculator is gaining popularity. Microsoft and Apple Computer are being born. Star Wars® is coming soon. The Cincinnati Reds are leading the New York Yankees in the World Series, and the disco era is just about to form. In the midst of all of this activity, an entire sub-culture is asserting itself across the nation. Most of the participants in this sub-culture don’t use their real names.They call themselves by some strange-sounding terms such as “Chicken Hawk” and “Polecat” and “Rubber Duck”, along with many others. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about a little phenomenon called CB, or Citizen’s Band, Radio.
Long before cell phones and the internet as we know it today, hundreds of thousands of people were talking to each other via CB Radio. On the CB, you could act. You could be popular. You could be a local celebrity. You could be a hero. You could be whoever you wanted. You could have fun. But we all had to look out for Uncle Charlie. It was Uncle Charlie’s job to keep everything clean; to make sure that we all played nice and didn’t interfere with other radio services. To say the least, Uncle Charlie had a big job to do.
What with having to investigate interference complaints and keep an ear on up to 40 different frequencies or CB channels at a time, all across the USA, he had his mighty hands full, and he was one bad dude. Nobody on CB wanted a visit from Uncle Charlie. Now some of you might know Uncle Charlie by his full given name - The Federal Communications Commission, aka the FCC. Of course, we were always tempting ole’ Charlie; we used our CB nicknames or “handles” instead of our FCC assigned CB radio callsigns. Who wanted to say something formal like “This is KEN-8751 Unit 1 calling KATP-5847 base, over” when it was much more fun and way cooler to say “How ’boutcha there Rubber Duck, ya gotch’er ears on? This here’s the Chicken Hawk callin’ fer ya!”. Yeah. Way cooler. In fact, the CB radio culture created an entire lingo of its own which is still somewhat used today on CB.
We also messed with Uncle Charlie in lots of other ways such as cussing on the radio, transmitting music and other entertainment, 
making all kinds of wacky noises on the air, getting into fights, modifying our radios so as to operate on unauthorized frequencies(”Freqing”) and to transmit with higher power than allowed by law(Using a “Linear”), and of course the never ending strive to get more “Talk Power” and to talk ever farther(”Shooting Skip”). After all, having the strongest CB radio signal on the planet was just the manly thing to do, and pretty popular with the ladies to boot!.
Poor Charlie never saw the explosion coming. Literally millions of Americans bought and used CB radios in their homes, cars, and workplaces. Truckers were quick to grab onto this way to socialize and share information, and no self-respecting Semi-Truck driver would be without a CB in his rig. Lots of traffic tickets were avoided and many a new romance was launched via CB. Large and small gatherings of CB folks (called “Breaks” or “Jamborees”) were very common, especially in the summer. Movies and TV embraced CB. Hollywood got into the act with “Smokey and the Bandit“. Songs were written and recorded. Uncle Charlie really did try to keep all things CB on the up-and-up but it just wasn’t possible. The phenomenon was so popular and rule violations so common that by about 1980 or so, Charlie just kinda threw in the towel. CB Licenses were no longer required, and FCC enforcement efforts became minimal. But as time passed and new technologies started to emerge, interest in CB Radio slowly began to fade. I was
caught up in the CB action myself in the 1970s in the Northwest. It was truly a wonderful time, and I wouldn’t trade having grown up in that time period for anything. The sheer Americana of it all is something that will likely never happen again. For the most part, CB operators of the time were friendly and very caring of each other and close knit. Strangers quickly became friends on the radio, and People
were glad to help one another. For example, if you needed something from the grocery store and couldn’t get away from the kids to get it yourself, then a call on the CB radio would usually get someone to help, maybe even a complete stranger. Ditto if your car broke down on the highway. Most police patrol cars were equipped with CB radios, and a wonderful nationwide organization called REACT International provided teams of volunteers to assist you if needed. And all of this was free, except for the meager costs of a radio set and associated antenna. No complicated calling plans or per-minute charges here. You just can’t get that on a cell phone or via a chat room. My, but the world has changed. People are very afraid these days, and with good reason. Too much liability. Too easy to file and win frivolous lawsuits. Too many choices. Too many language barriers. Too fast. The cell phone is one-on-one communications whereas the CB Radio is many-on-many. There is no sense of friendship and community on a cell phone. Except for a few phone numbers, you are alone. CB Radio is still in use, but is a mere shell of its former glory. So is Uncle Charlie still around? Yep, he sure is. But he’s pretty old and feeble and doesn’t get out much these days.
Written by Darrell Hagan on March 10th, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Memories.
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