I'll get back to The Weekend 34 Road Trip next week with a post about your choice of transportation to get from point A to point B. We'll be talking motorcycles, four-wheelers, and RVs while I keep my fingers crossed a few of you have dreams and suggestions for three-wheel options. In other words, start thinking hard about "how" you're going to travel. It might affect your "why."
I thought I would take an exit ramp from trip planning to talk about how RadioNemo handles programming for the weekend and how you can be a part of it. Dave Nemo conceived "Dave Nemo Weekends" as a way for listeners to stay focused on the road while remembering it isn't just about the business of trucking. What you eat, what you listen to, and what you do in your time off open up the possibilities for different kinds of guests and deeper conversations.
Given the demographic of our audience, sometimes planning the show is simple. Gearheads, grill masters, and guys and gals who like guns are what many folks outside the industry would imagine to be of interest to a trucker. But they'd only be half right, because it would only be half the story.
If those outside trucking talked to our listeners on a regular basis, they'd recognize it isn't just country songs, NASCAR, and Guns and Ammo. They would see a thirst for a deeper knowledge of history, a passion for music of all genres, and a love of not only stories but how they are told.
And that means books. Lots of books. Both to crack open and listen to. There are over 600 book titles in our Sleeper Cab Library, and we have numerous friends of the show who have clocked thousands of hours on Audible. Those books start conversations, suggest more books, and open the show up to unexpected adventures.
It isn't just a roving ring of rowdy rednecks. No, sir. Although "The Roving Ring of Rowdy Rednecks" is a hell of a name for a back-up band, it is not a catch all for trucking. The people behind the wheel are far more diverse than that.
In many ways, trucking is the ultimate job for grown boys and tomboys. Building a lifestyle show for truckers should not begin with the premise that its audience is only a 50-to-65 year old man named Walt who, after being born in the Texas Panhandle, grew up on a farm with oil rigs, listened to Toby Keith perpetually, and learned to hunt feral hogs through his crackshot grandpappy.
Okay, not entirely. Yes, that guy does exist. Yes, he is a friend. And, yes, I am planning to take out hogs with Winchester Walt when the weather cools off at his ranch in November. So, we do keep the-man-with-the-pig-plan in mind when booking guests.
But Walt is not alone. The better way to view our listeners is as a group of folks who works an incredibly dangerous job while keeping the spirit of a kid. In fact, if I was going to give someone a book to read that gives a good profile of our audience, I would suggest "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and follow it up with "The Daring Book for Girls." Among many other things, our audience are former Boy Scouts, former Girl Scouts, Once and Future Farmers of America, whoopensockers for watersports, avid golfers, widespread wanderers, and a whole lot of military veterans who still want to serve. It's a far more complete picture than a vision of Walt taking out the trash with purpose and then taking out the hogs with a little lever action.
Although, once again, I want to point out Walt is a friend. He got us tickets for Aaron Lewis in November. Can't wait.
The previous description of those tuned-in doesn't even include the drivers who are out there in the hopes of a second chance at experiencing a world they feel they missed. Floor salesmen, high school teachers, accounts receivable associates, and fast food workers are among the many who jumped behind the wheel later in life. From all 50 states, they bring their own set of interests into the world of 18 wheels. I have heard from enough video gamers, recovering grunge rockers, storm chasers, greasy spoon aficionados, terrifying toy collectors, and movie maniacs to book guests and create segments that appeal to all their interests. All the links in that previous sentence attach to a guest we've booked based on those interests.
Even the folks you think you got pegged can surprise you. In fact, it turns out that ol' Walt's got himself a playlist that includes not Marty Stuart but also Ben Tricky and Charles Ives. That dude can also quote Hemingway's "Across the River and Into the Trees" at will. Nobody puts Walt into a box. Unless it's a hunting stand. Safe from the hogs up there.
All of this is to say that The Weekend 34 has got options. It goes a long way to explaining the excellent programming of August 9th-11th.
If you look closely at our scheduling, you'll see that the shift away from the rules, regulations, and routes begins in the final hour of Friday's show. Revolution Road, The Last Empty Places with Peter Stark, and Friday Football with Florio, along with an occasional new addition to our Sleeper Cab Library, remind our audience it's time to take a break. For RadioNemo, that's where the weekend begins.
On the 9th, Matthew Hulbert ended our show with the history of one of bushwhacking's most notorious sociopaths. Saturday blew in with the author of a Gulf Coast thriller, had an in depth discussion of possible strategies for enjoying EA Sports College Football 25, and ended with an Academy Award nominee discussing rites of passage rituals for veterans healing from PTSD. Sunday began with a mad dreamer entrepreneur building a secular shrine to the history of soda before welcoming two women who sit at the center of a couple of America's great cultural institutions.
From a certain perspective, you could make the case that the weekend was the intellectual equivalent of a childhood matinee double-feature complete with cowboys and aliens washed down with an ice cold pop. We tossed in a good book, threw a football with some friends, and spent time around a campfire telling stories.
"The Dangerous Book for Boys," indeed! You know Walt was listening.
But going to the movies, starting a game of touch football, and roasting marshmallows around the fire requires full participation. That's where our audiences come into programming. We're not talking about calling the show or engaging with social media. Dave Nemo Weekends wants and needs your suggestions for topics of conversation, locations to visit, or potential guests. A caller named Indian Russ created our annual tradition weekend celebration of Native American culture. Numerous phone calls are why we can be found at the truckers lounge for Wreaths Across America before the convoy to Arlington. Finally, in a coup of programming, trucker Deane Mansfield not only suggested acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns, but he also went out and booked the segment himself.
If you've got an idea, don't hesitate to reach out to us at @Dave Nemo Weekends or contact our programming coordinator Meredith on Facebook. We can't promise you that you'll get everything you ask for, but we'll try our best.
XBox Ambassador and Weekends' contributor Nick DiMeo has a saying that I just love, "when everybody plays, everybody wins."
