Dave Nemo (3:52)

Well, I'd like to meet that guy. Thank you. Scott. That was. You went overboard. Thank you so much. That was a beautiful introduction. Not so much deserved, but I appreciate that. That's like the 30,000 foot feet. But you know, you just made me think about something. I always make these references to you never know. Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? If you take a look at the smart watches on our cell phones and everything, you go Back to the 1930s of Chester Gold and his Dick Tracy gizmos and the wrist radio, I mean he built that up and now we have. So I started off on AM radio. FM really got started the year I was born and I was on FM for a little while too. And then the satellite radio thing, that wasn't born and now the Internet wasn't born in my half century. I mean, when you think about civilizations, well, you know, they did this for 500 years, 2,000 years. We restored for 20 minutes and it's gone. And these things are almost related because it's electronics and it's all of that stuff, but they're disassociated too. Like you can't hear an AM radio on a computer station on a smartphone.

Scott Lewton (5:17)

Well, Dave, crazy stuff it is. And we're going to talk about all of it because even though in the grand scheme of things we're all here for like 20 minutes, you certainly have made the most of your 20 minutes in the grand scheme of things. And we really appreciate what you do. And I would argue, Tony, I'd love for you to weigh in here before we move forward with Dave Nemo. You know, there's a plethora of content, digital and otherwise, related to global supply chain, related to trucking or warehousing or, you name it, manufacturing, what have you. And all those come from trailblazers like Dave that made it interesting and important and cool and valuable to do it. So Tony, we, we, we got a trailblazer here, huh?

Tony Shirota (5:58)

We have a trailblazer and it's important to think about this because there's so much content these days that overwhelms us. We can't keep up with it all. But the trailblazers had a good sense of what's important and find ways to communicate that to people and entertain at the same time. And that's a delicate balance. Right. It's a challenge of entertaining and communicating important stuff. And I love that Dave's done that for so long. It's a natural talent, I believe. I'm not sure I have much of it, but the two of you, Scott, I'm really proud of what you've done, of course, and Dave, what you've done. And there's more people like you all, it's just hard to find them.

Scott Lewton (6:37)

So folks out there that are either tuned in, watching us or maybe they're listening to the podcast, this is going to be a unique and a special show. But especially given what Tony and I were just talking about, the plethora of content, it's even more important to go back to folks that were doing it in the earliest of days because that's what really has inspired us all. So Dave, before we get into your broadcasting career, because that's where we're going to, going to focus a lot of our time here today. You are well known for many things, but you're a big time music lover and as is Tony. So I want to explore that a little bit with a little fun warm up.

Dave Nemo (7:07)

Question.

Scott Lewton (7:08)

You're part of a band called Jedi Mind Trick. So any of our Star wars fellow lovers out there know exactly what we're talking about? Tell us about the band.

Dave Nemo (7:17)

Oh, well, the band. We're a six piece band. My daughter Amy is the lead vocalist and a bass player and I'm on a Latin percussion. I play congas and bongos, bells and whistles, literally speaking. And my license, she gave me a license plate holder a few years back. She's more cowbell. So that's.

Scott Lewton (7:37)

Love it. Little SNL reference there.

Dave Nemo (7:39)

As well.

Scott Lewton (7:40)

And I want to ask you one more thing before I get Tony to put chime in here about music. When you think about whether it's part of the influence that drives Jedi mind tricks, I mean, what. What y' all play or just your longtime love of music, what are some of your top musical influences on drums.

Dave Nemo (8:00)

Regular drums, where you play stick. You know, I switched to Latin percussion. I tell people that. Well, I just didn't want to hit things with sticks anymore, you know. But Joe Morello, the drummer with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, was my icon in drumming. And I had the chance. My mom, when I was in high school, my mom took me to concert at Municipal Auditorium here in Nashville. I'm in New Orleans, and it was a totally memorable experience. But, yeah, here's my musical influence in terms of the drums. I would say that. Oh, I don't know, there's so many musicians. And then I love classical music. And back in the late 50s and such, if you went to the grocery store, there was always something there that was on subscription, so to speak. We had a set of Funkin Wagnalls Encyclopedia from the grocery store. Yeah, Tony, you guys probably don't remember. You're not old enough to remember. Every week they'd have volume one, volume two, and go out and buy. Or dishes. They had dishes. Well, they had records. And my mom came home with a three album set of the first three symphonies by Tchaikowski. Wow, A warm ink man. And I just loved them. So that kind of launched that musical thing. And then coming to New Orleans, when I was a kid in Mississippi, I fell in love with Al Hurt, the trumpet player. And I have a King Edward cigar box from one of the Mid America truck shows back from the mid-80s in my closet. And in it is a postcard from Al Hurt. I wrote him a letter. Me wrote me back. My next door neighbor, Sid Castang here was Al's longtime guitar player. When I moved in, we met. Couldn't believe it. Couldn't. Wow. Yeah. So there was a point to be made there. And I don't remember what it was, but anyway, well, so I came to New Orleans and moved to New Orleans. I couldn't believe that we were moving to New Orleans. It was like going. It was like Nirvana, you know. And we lived on the west bank of the river in Algiers, which is part of New Orleans itself, part of Arlene's parish, that's like a county. And we got there on a Friday night, went to bed and woke up. And I woke up Saturday Morning, and I heard music woke me up. We don't have a radio on. Who plugged in yet. And where's this music come from? I opened the front door and there is a funeral procession going past my house.

Tony Shirota (10:44)

Wow. Second line.

Dave Nemo (10:46)

Yes. And when they came back out, they were playing the uptempo stuff. And I said, I have arrived. I mean, just unbelievable. So that was my musical introduction to New Orleans, you know, and I keep a lot of the music thing, but I know that's not why we're here.

Scott Lewton (11:02)

Well, I want to pull something out, Tony, because someone that has been going to. I think your upcoming Jazz Fest attendance is going to be your 28th year in a row there in New Orleans. Tony, Dave mentioned, man, moving to New Orleans, if you love music, it is like going to Mecca. Tony, comment on that and any of those musical influences that they've just mentioned.

Tony Shirota (11:22)

There's some great music cities around the country, but nothing takes. Well, part of it with New Orleans, too, is. Is not just the music scene, but. But the food, the ambiance, the whole work that they do to keep going and keep doing more. The musical influences are literally on every street, every corner. In fact, buskers originated, I think, in New Orleans playing on the streets, and Jimmy Buffett started there playing on the streets. So you've got this not only musical selection in all of the bars, and Bourbon street is for amateurs. Go to Frenchman street, the discover the real classic venues and then walk down Royal Street. And I think. I don't know how they arrange it, but the buskers have every other corner, and they're amazing. And I've bought CDs there and listen to them and throw some money in the hat. It's unique. And as you know, Scott, I go to Nashville, I go to Memphis, I go to Chicago. All these other music scenes, you don't see that plethora of buskers who are just there because this is passion, right? And we share it in other areas. Of course, Scott, you know that I'm the dark side passion guy, but we. We share the passion, and music becomes a passion. And these people are doing it because they love it, not because they're making a lot of money on the street. So that's an amazing part about New Orleans to see that aspect.

Scott Lewton (12:43)

Lots of folks chasing the passions and maybe the paycheck hopefully will come, as I've always been told. And by the way, little. Little reference there. Most folks out there across our supply chain now, family, know Tony Shirota because he's very passionate about the reverse Logistics, the return side of global supply chain. So just, just connecting dots on that reference there. Okay, so, Dave Nemo, we're going to get into more of your 55 year broadcast career in just a second. But I'm curious, before you got behind a mic and started delighting folks, you know, around the world, how did you make a living long before your broadcast career?

Dave Nemo (13:19)

I started my. Okay. When I moved to New Orleans, my stepfather was on the river and so I went to work for Barnes Line here that he worked for a summer job in high school, in college, weekends and that sort of thing. So I did that for seven years. And really that was one of the reasons that there were a couple of reasons why I was accepted into the trucking community. And Orley Douglas, of course, who invented and originated trucking radio, told me. And going back to music, I played in the group here in New Orleans when I was in high school and college. And we played everything, rock, rhythm and blues, country music. So I knew Conway from Twitty, if you know what I mean. And I was the only one there because you're in New Orleans and you're going to start playing country music for a bunch of truck drivers. I mean, come on, you know, that's crazy. When I came back from the army, he and I met and we came to the realization that, you know, I, I can work with you because I kind of know what you're doing here with the music. Because at that time the rules of regs had been in place since the motor carrier act. I think 1935 started the whole service and everything and all of that was in place. Trucking was regulated, so everybody had their lanes. And he told me that the only thing that I needed to be was myself. He said, if you tried to be something you're not, pretend you know something that you don't know, these guys will spot you in a second because they've been lied to, cheated, shortchange every day of their life. If you're just yourself, it's all you can do. They'll either like you or not. Well, I was, I came out of the army, didn't go to Vietnam, but I did go to Korea during Vietnam. I mean, that's, you know, the way that goes. But then, and then I worked on the river and there was an affinity between the road and the river. Not so much between the railroads in the river and the, I don't know, but the guys on the river and the guys on the roads. In fact, Johnny cash back in 1970 had a TV show and he had a big long medley. We played it a lot on the road gang. Talking about the sailor on the concrete sea. So there was that affinity with the, the army, the river, the music. And I followed his advice and I was just me and there I am to there it is going through under the radar. When you work at night at a radio station, you are under the radar, if you know what I mean. If you can keep things going and the program director doesn't get a call at 2 o' clock in the morning, you are golden. And when you're going to the station about maybe four times a year during the daytime, hey Dave, how you doing? You know, and if you're there every day, it's like, oh man, there's Nemo again. So it was the best of both worlds, you know.

Scott Lewton (16:15)

So Tony, I love the gen. We got a little bit of the Genesis story from Dave there and I love that life universal lesson about being yourself, right. And the power of authenticity. What'd you hear there? From his earliest days before his legendary.

Tony Shirota (16:31)

Broadcast career, Tony, I'm amazed that somehow music took him down that road. And that's interesting and amazing and of course it's hard to live in a city like New Orleans without music affecting your life somehow. But who would have thought it would take you to the radio station and the truck driving community and have them welcome you? But if you've got that drive that you, you're pushing yourself, being yourself and you're not bringing something artificial in. That's what worked for Dave. And it works really, that's a good basic rule for anyone in life is being yourself. And it's of course that's a great rule. But yourself comes from where you live, what you do. And Dave, I love that connection of music and the road.

Scott Lewton (17:13)

Agreed, Tony. So Dave, if I understood you correctly, because the next thing before we get into your AM radio days, the passion for serving our incredible truck driving professional community, which all they don't, they never get enough credit. It seems like part of it came from your days in the army, certainly your love for music, kind of some of the crowd you were in the rivers as you referenced a couple times. But also if I heard you right, you spent some of your summers at a trucking company. Is that where the part time you had a part time job at? Did I heard that right?

Dave Nemo (17:46)

No, no, I, I didn't. I never, I, I never had any connection with trucking. I think I may have told this story before, but my introduction to trucking was running out of gas. On my wave on Highway 90 from New Orleans over to Texas, me and a buddy were heading over to his hometown, and I had a 1958 Volkswagen. And it didn't have a gas gauge. They had a little lever. There are two gas tanks in one of those old Volkswagens. You guys probably know this. But very quickly, there's like a 10 gallon tank and there's a one gallon tank. And the one gallon tank is your reserve tank. So if you're driving down the road and you're driving and all of a sudden your car starts sputtering a little bit, you're running out of gas, there's a little foot lever that you just flip with your foot and the one gallon dumps into the big tank and there you go. You have to remember, though, is when you fill up the car, you need to flip that back so you close the little 1 gallon so it doesn't just flow on through. And of course, the only time I ever took a trip was the only time I ever forgot to do that. And I don't think we were stopped for this. I didn't even have time to start walking before a guy stopped. And this is the truth. It's true. I opened up that door and it was like, whoa. I've never seen so much tan Naga hiding all my life because it was a cab over. So you have the doghouse right there, and there was a beautiful truck. And I got in and I thought, wow, this is cool. Get to the gas station. Another guy brings me back to the car. So if that doesn't affect you as a high school kid 300 miles away from home in the middle of nowhere, right then, there it is. So, yeah. And then of course, the military connection there. My goodness gracious alive. 1941, when I came back from. Or I came back in 70. Now I came back in 71. And when did that come? 71 or 2? One of those 70s. And there were so many guys coming in and out, in and out. We get them, the phone calls and the letters and stuff like that. It was just a constant flow of just in and out of the military, either to the road or back on the road.

Scott Lewton (20:15)

I got to go back to the story because I can imagine, you know, my dad drove church buses as a volunteer, and we started with the small, really old school bus. And as the church grew, it'd get a turtle top. And then we had an mci. And I was. Man, I was infatuated with that thing and the CBs and the big steering wheel and just the air brakes as you came to a stop and all that stuff. So I can imagine Tony, as Dave is telling that story about run out of gas and having a great truck driver stop and pick him up and then have another truck driver take him back. No wonder the impact that would have on a 18 or 19 year old tundra. Is that what you heard too?

Tony Shirota (20:57)

I heard that too. And then I think about my son who does this as well, Scott. And I hope to think that he does the same thing for somebody walking down the highway like Dave and helps him out and connects with them. And somehow my son fell in love with the cab as well. He lives in it, right, Dave? You live in that almost 30 days straight. You stop and do your laundry once in a while. I can't imagine how good they smell sometimes in the cab. We need people like that, Scott. I mean this country runs on trucking.

Scott Lewton (21:27)

That's right.

Tony Shirota (21:27)

And it's such an important. And of course you know this well, but I thought about what Dave said and yes, not only an impression on an 18 year old. I remember telling my son the story about being in college and driving. It was not a semi trailer. It was just a big long bed and I got a thrill out of it. It's something that resonates just like other things in life. Right, Dave? That's amazing.

Scott Lewton (21:52)

So, all right, so folks out there viewing or listening, now that you understand the initial eureka moment that Dave had far earlier in his career, it's all going to come full circle here as we walk through his broadcasting career in three main sections. We're going to talk about the earliest of the radio days, AM and a little bit of FM radio days from WWL AM radio in New Orleans. Then we're going to talk about his days where he hit my radar and millions of others, probably with Road Dog Radio at XM Radio, which has continued to do big things and then now streaming. You heard Dave earlier talk about the technological evolutions. He's done it all. So Dave, I want to start back in the earliest days of your 55 year broadcasting journey where you were behind the mic at WWL AM radio in New Orleans. Tell us a little bit more about that.

Dave Nemo (22:45)

Okay, I'll back up a little bit. This is going to predate meeting Charlie. Predate the Army. Yep. So I'm in high school when I met the truck driver on the road. And then in college, I started college at Loyola here in New Orleans. And Loyola University is where WWL was invented or born. It was a science project in Bo Bay hall in the original quadrangle, which is still there, St. Charles in 1922. And by the 1930s they were a. What was known as a Clear Channel station. Now there is a company in broadcasting called Clear Channel. Don't anyone even think there is an iota of similarity there. It's totally, completely different. Clear Channel was a designation that the federal government, the fcc, the Federal Communications Commission gave to certain, what they call legacy stations or heritage stations to broadcast big city quality radio, to quote the far flung distant community. Because we're talking about the Depression years. If you had three letters in your Alphabet in your call letters like wwl, wls, koa, that meant you were around a little bit longer than most. And then they went to the four letter. Incidentally, in terms of radio, this is AM&FM. If you have a W as the first letter, like a WWL or wls, you're east of the Mississippi. If you have a K like KWKH in Shreveport or koa. And where's koa? Someplace Denver, maybe California or something. Yeah, well, it's. Yeah, you would know at least that it's west of the river. W's and K's. There are a couple of exceptions.

Scott Lewton (24:35)

I didn't know that. We were talking pre show Dave about Art Bell and who led Coast AM for a long time. And he had several phone. He had separate phone lines for different geographic listeners. And I didn't make that connection. You just shared between if stations begin with a W versus if they begin with a K and what that meant geographically until maybe last week. So I know, I know a lot of folks out there watching, listening, they're going to learn something here today, even if that's the only thing.

Dave Nemo (25:03)

So clearly big movement. Let me just interject something here for folks who may not know this, and you guys may already know this, there is a serious movement to reallocate AM now and do away with the AM radio stations. They're already doing it over in Scandinavia to some degree. They need the bandwidth, they just need the space.

Scott Lewton (25:25)

Okay, so with. With getting your start at one of the earliest radio channels out there, WWL Radio in New Orleans, is that right?

Dave Nemo (25:35)

Yes. Okay, so I interrupted my own story. I'm sorry. I'm going to try to stay on track here, Scott. Oh, good.

Scott Lewton (25:42)

We got a lot to talk about.

Dave Nemo (25:43)

Okay, so I don't go back as far as 1922, but I was a student at Loyola and I was in the Department of Communications, which is a brand new department. Anybody who learned radio, television or film in college before then Was in the speech and drama department. We had a television station, we had a radio station. We had film labs and the whole nine yards, dark rooms, everything really nice. Now it's in a world class. It was a nice facility in the basement of the Sutton center when I was there. It's a three story standalone building now, world renowned department. I was the program director of the radio station. And the people at WWL said, we now have this department of communications at the school. We don't have any kids here, we got to get a kid. So they put out a call to get air checks, sample tapes that over an air check resume. We all sent them in. And a year later, literally I was a sophomore then, I mean a junior then when I was a senior, the receptionist in the department said when I came downstairs, hey Dave, John Peeler called for you. And I honestly couldn't wonder why John Peeler would call me. Now. John Peeler was a celebrity here in New Orleans and he was the program director of the radio station. He also had a great television show in the late 60s called Saturday hop, let's Take On. And I know a lot of stations around the country had takeoffs on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. So Saturday Hop. So he was. And he called me and said, you still want that job? I said, yep. And so I started off doing some Saturday and Sunday mornings on 6am to noon. And then for a while, then my lottery number came up and joined the army. Wound up doing Nemo's Night Beat on AFK and Armed Forces Korean Network and Seoul Yongsan Armory Air Force Base. All of that's changed pretty much now, as I understand, and came back home. Then Charlie Douglas started the road gang who had been playing big band music all night long and came back and I said, wait a minute, there's a guy playing country music for truck drivers on WWL that. Whoa, if Seinfeld had been around, I would say, well, that's Bizarro world, right? You know, and then I entered that bizarro world. And here we are in this big bizarro world. So that's kind of the. That's kind of it in a sense.

Scott Lewton (28:19)

Yeah, I love it. All right, so you've referenced Charlie Douglas a couple times. We're going to come back to that. But Tony, really quick, Dave gave us a little bit of a beyond his story. He touched on, Gosh, Nemo's night beat. I love that while he was in the army, he touched on kind of the earliest origins of radio and kind of the different Genres and whatnot. What'd you hear there in that first chapter, that radio chapter of Dave's career?

Tony Shirota (28:45)

I think it's interesting that Dave submitted this tape. And it's that whole history of the Darth Vader voices of command. And that's the image that comes to my mind. And somehow Dave's voice carried that way to them, to whoever listened to it. And it's kind of like music. You have that earth. And those professors, those instructors, those leaders are like, that's the voice I want. And how they decide that is almost intuition, because it's not like you can measure it on a graph and say, oh, Dave's voice hits the right spots in the mid range and the uppers. And you didn't do that. It was just intuition. And somehow that intuition caught Dave into that cycle that became. And Dave, that's how life is sometimes, isn't it? Just you don't even expect it or know it, and it happens. And somebody made that decision about your voice. And that's so cool in many ways.

Dave Nemo (29:42)

Yeah. And the only guy that didn't hear that was me because I spent my early years trying to travel because John Keeler was a very slender, tall, slender guy. And if you sat in front of his desk and I did, and I felt it, and as he was talking to me, he was moving his head. You could feel his voice in your chest as he. And he told me, he said, look, he says you have a like voice. He says, you don't like that now. He says, but when you get to be older, you're going to like it. And I do.

Scott Lewton (30:21)

And he knew what he was talking about, clearly. I want to circle back. You mentioned John Peeler a couple of times. Of course, you've mentioned Charlie Douglas a few times. And I'm still piecing together your whole journey. It seems like he was a bit of a mentor. He gave you an early opportunity and eventually I think you would replace Mr. Douglas as the main host there at WWL. Is that right, Dave?

Dave Nemo (30:42)

Yeah. He went on to do his. His dream was to be with the Grand Ole Opry. He wanted to be. So that. That was his thing. And he got the call to go to Nashville and did, and I wound up getting the slot. I wasn't. It wasn't. Not an automatic thing by any means, but I did manage to hang in there. Well, I'm still hanging in. So there we are.

Scott Lewton (31:05)

After establishing yourself as that main host on WWL AM radio in New Orleans and playing great music over the night for our. Our Precious truck drivers and also addict folding in, as I understand it, information, history, trivia that interpling up the entertainment factor.

Tony Shirota (31:25)

Right?

Scott Lewton (31:26)

Because I, I've never driven. You know, I can't say I've never driven. I never even had a chance to drive one of those church buses I was talking about. But I have driven in some long road trips and gosh, if you're listening to the wrong thing on the radio, you're gonna Z and and take a snooze and park places you don't want to park. When did you get the call to join what I believe Road Dog, which is open road? I think when it first opened up. Once you get that call from, I think it was XM Radio.

Dave Nemo (31:54)

Dave. I was working for a company that folded after, let's see, we're trying to figure this out here. I was losing my position and I needed to find someplace else. So I called a friend that I had worked with before, Mickey McIntyre, she's passed away now many years and we got together and she said, you know, I just, I just started working for this company and it's called Driver Direct. And what it is is a short range FM signal and they broadcast at truck stops. So when you get to the exit at the truck stop, you can hear the signal. That is how the radio station at Loyola worked. You plugged in a radio into the wall socket and tuned to a weird frequency way at the end of the dial and there we were. If you were plugged in to the electrical system, it was a pretty cool system. It was sort of like that. So I said, hey man, let's do it. But then things changed and I wound up calling Sirius because Trucking Bozo and Bill Mack were already going to be on xm. So I didn't think there was any reason for me to call them because they already got those guys. And I called Sirius and they said at that time, this is early on. They said, well, we don't think we need a trucking channel.

Tony Shirota (33:20)

Wow.

Dave Nemo (33:21)

And I. Oh yeah, exactly.

Tony Shirota (33:24)

Amazing.

Dave Nemo (33:25)

I was told later on, well, you know what, those were a bunch of TV guys putting that together. They didn't know what they were talking about, but that neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that's what I was told. And then they said, yeah, we got Trucking Bozo and Bill Mac, we want you too. So boom, we all wound up together on the thing. It's like, wow. Could not believe it because, you know, we were all competitors. Dale Summers, trucking Bozo, he was out of Cincinnati wlw, which rolls off the tongue a lot easier than wwl. So, yeah, yeah, I listen to Nemo all the time on wlw. Okay, click. You know, and that bill's out of WBAP out of Dallas Fort Worth. And so we wound up. I mean, to me, it was. I'm in the picture. So this is a horrible way to save it. But there's an iconic photograph of the three of us on the Diaz there at Mid America, because the satellite radio brought all that together. Three competitors banging it out all night long on the AM radio. And the typical. The typical listener hit the typical experience. And the traveling salesman said, and then satellite radio, as I mentioned earlier, something that wasn't even in. Well, President Eisenhower made a satellite radio broadcast in 1958. And it is. You can't understand. I mean, it was just totally, you know, beyond unrecognizable. But, yeah, so all of that. All of these weird things, you know, bringing people together, pull people apart. This juggernaut that we're on, you know.

Scott Lewton (35:09)

It is so true. But the cool, the great part of that story, when y' all got your crew together, right? And I love how competitors can all of a sudden become Padres, right? And build really consequential.

Dave Nemo (35:22)

Yeah, we were friends behind the scene and, yeah, we were friends, you know.

Scott Lewton (35:25)

People and that whether you call Open road or a road dog, which is what it was when I would tune.

Dave Nemo (35:30)

In Open Road, which xm. Yeah. There is the Dark star.

Scott Lewton (35:35)

Ah, okay.

Dave Nemo (35:36)

All right.

Scott Lewton (35:37)

But y'.

Dave Nemo (35:38)

All.

Scott Lewton (35:38)

Y' all gathered a massive listing audience. Folks would tune in drivers and otherwise, clearly your trio there. You hit the right tune. Dave, I know you're a pretty humble guy, but you developed. You in the datrio, developed quite a following.

Dave Nemo (35:56)

It opened up the clock. Remember, those AM radio stations were only good at night. And the clear channel aspect of those radio stations were only good from local sunset to local sunrise. So if there was a station in Lenexa, Kansas, on the same frequency as 1wwl, that station would go off the air at sunset. We would take over. Then at sunrise, they'd come back on. And there was no take delay. There was no anything. You either heard it or you missed it, period. End of story. It's like Zig Ziglar's puffs of air, you know. So when we came onto the satellite radio, and then by this time, of course, Sirius all had a lineup as well. Mark Willis, who is still with them, was on. I'm real bad at remembering names off the top of my head, but you Know what I'm getting at? So people here and there, but now you could hear us not only between Kansas City and St. Louis, but in Kansas City and St. Louis in the daytime, at night, in the afternoon, didn't matter. It just opened up the entire world of trucking. It also opened up the world of, of trucking for the people who drove a desk, people who were in the terminals, who in the offices. And so there was an explosion of sorts. And that explosion was really a vast expansion into the rest of the day, nighttime. And then that was happening too. I think 25 years ago, ass trucking was really, really beginning, essentially becoming solar powered, as they say. And Tony, I want to ask Tony, what do you think about that solar powered thing? Well, that's sort of like a slogan, but you know what I mean. In other words, trucking to me lived at night. I'm talking long haul now, but I was there, so I didn't, I don't know what was going on during the daytime, but I think overall trucking did do a, of a solar change, you know, from moonlight to sunlight. Now because of the regionalization, the vast expansion of regionalization for one thing, if that makes sense.

Tony Shirota (38:19)

It makes sense, but I haven't watched that one enough, Dave, to really know. My son hasn't talked much about that either. But Dave, you're also talking about back in the day, the truckers could drive and did drive more hours than they should sometimes. Right now they're heavily regulated. So they're trying to put their 11 hour stint, which I think is the maximum hours they can drive a day. And they're going to listen to you. But, but they change. So it's not always the at night thing that it used to be, not as common. And so which is why your marriage with satellite also worked because daytime shows now had more attention than just the nighttime shows. And that was a good thing for you.

Dave Nemo (39:03)

Your responsibility is different to a degree. Radio and television are broken up into what are called day parts. There are certain type of programming in different parts of the day. Radio is broken up into morning drive, midday, mid morning, midday and then afternoon drive and then overnight. And you don't do the same thing at midnight as you do at noon. But you know, Scott, what you, how you opened up the show here. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whichever the case may be, because it doesn't matter anymore because people want to hear what they want to hear, where they want to hear it, when they want to hear it, and for as long as they want to hear it.

Scott Lewton (39:50)

You're giving me a great segue because that's where we're going next day.

Tony Shirota (39:58)

Perfect handoff.

Scott Lewton (39:59)

You've given us a great insight into the AM radio days. Gosh, I hope AM radio doesn't go anywhere because I still love. I listen to more AM radio than probably anything else. I hope it doesn't go anywhere.

Dave Nemo (40:09)

Yeah. But there is a certain look. They didn't think the penny would go away either, but that's true.

Scott Lewton (40:15)

It's a good point. That's been some interesting signs popping up at the checkout stand, huh? You've talked about satellite radio and I love lots of your observations and your story there. But one of my favorite parts of what you just shared before we get into streaming is how it broadened the tent. Right. No longer was it for a very spec as much for very specific demographic. But new folks could learn more trucking lingo, trucking information. They could piece together what was important to the trucking community. I love that. We need a lot more of that in global supply chain. All of that leads now to your segue with folks are tuning in on demand when they've got time or when they want to do it. That's the beautiful thing of streaming. So you have in this newest chapter with Nemo Nation, you've got a variety of shows. Tell us more about your new streaming chapter to your career.

Dave Nemo (41:09)

Okay. And it still is a learning process for me, Tony and Scott. I'd love to know how much you knew before you got into the podcasting and stuff like that. For me, on the surface, it seems like, oh, it's the same thing, only different. It's six of one, half a dozen of the other. You just on the radio here with a microphone. You're going to be podcasting with a microphone and that's it. No, the dynamic is totally different. The focus is totally different and the timing is incredibly different. We have nine to 12 guests in a four hour period in 10 minute, 15 and 30 minute segments. And it's all designed scientifically by Jimmy Mac, who is our program director. And it's fast paced. Now that I'm taking the training wheels off, I'm really loving it. I'm loving the energy of it all and the purpose of it because everything is then pulled out and posted up. So you have like TA Petro's Maintenance Matters page with Kevin Lindsay. There's a page, there's a page for Reefs Across America. There's a page for St. Christopher, there's a page for highway to Health, Tech Talk for TMC and so again, you can pick and choose and I understand, I was told early on said one of the things drivers have been doing now for a long time is at the beginning of their shift when they're ready to roll, they have their podcasts all lined up and they just click the button and they're set to go. And now we're part of that, which is so very cool because it's the latest, greatest and I guess if I'm around for the next 20 minutes from now, Tony, it'll be completely different. Hopefully we'll be on that platform too, right? I don't know. Have your brain talk to my brain.

Tony Shirota (43:04)

I think we're getting close to that, Dave. The, the cell is going to be inside the head next, right?

Dave Nemo (43:08)

Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Lewton (43:13)

So folks, if you learn more about this current chapter and connect with David the team radionemo.com Dave, I think that's the best where they can find out about all of the shows you mentioned, is that right?

Dave Nemo (43:25)

That is correct. That's our base radio nemo.com you can hear our programs@radionemo.com or on iheartradio, Spotify, Odyssey, YouTube and all of that stuff. We have a chat on YouTube so that's a lot of fun. But it's difficult to drive and chat on YouTube so we don't have a lot of folks there. Most of the folks are, you know, on the other platforms.

Scott Lewton (43:50)

Yeah, well, you know what, I think you had a great, you had a great market here in Atlanta of drivers that, that drive and chat at the same time. So maybe because they're doing it, I'll tell you, you drive down 25, everybody's doing everything but driving.

Dave Nemo (44:04)

Oh my goodness. Used to be 23 year old girls. Now it's 65 year old men up there doing this, you know.

Tony Shirota (44:11)

Oh God.

Dave Nemo (44:13)

All right.

Scott Lewton (44:14)

So you know, we could be here for six, 10, 20 hours, you know, kind of talking about those three chapters, what you hit at a high level. But I appreciate you walking us through that, Tony. Before I, I'm going to talk more about our overlooked or way too often overlooked professional truck driver community and ask Dave about some of his interactions there. But Tony, as we walk, as you heard those three chapters to Dave's career, again, very succinct based on the time we have here. What was your one of your favorite parts of between AM radio, satellite radio and of course now streaming your thoughts.

Tony Shirota (44:52)

My favorite part is that Dave had the flexibility as well as the vision to say, you know what, I'm not Going to stay in one place, I'm going to move with the world. And that is so important that you need to do that. I mean I come from an analog world myself. I remember being in college selling vinyl records and stereo systems with record players. You know, you've got to be willing to move on and move forward. And yet what you learned in those early years clearly comes through with Dave. With being on AM radio. It certainly teaches you a certain road to go down. And even though there's bypasses and cutoffs, you can stay on the main road and pick up things along the way. And of course, in a trucker's world, that's what you're doing. You pick up things along the way.

Scott Lewton (45:38)

You painted quite a visual there, Tony, a little driving analogy there. But to your big point that Dave illustrates into the one you're calling out in this ever faster velocity world, we're in supply chain and otherwise we got to learn something new at least every day, maybe six things new every day and not be fearful of moving into new chapters. Where to what Dave was mentioned earlier a minute ago. You know, when I started our digital media here, I didn't know anything. I knew I liked certain conversations, right. I knew this much. And of course we've learned a little bit over the years, but learning something new every single day. Dave, I want to switch gears here for a minute because I can only imagine all the interactions you've had with your, your fans and, and truck drivers and all the listeners and whatnot over the years when you think specifically to our wonderful truck drivers out there, folk good folks like James at Tony's son he mentioned earlier that are critical to our society, to global supply chain, to business, to our everyday lives. Can you share a moment or interaction with one of your listeners that may have either changed your life or maybe. And again, I know you're a humble guy but maybe change your view of the impact you've been making over the years in folks journeys.

Dave Nemo (46:56)

There's one particular story and I have told the story before, but it's the story. This is 1988. We went to Dallas for a truck show and it was at the Apparel Mart and It's right off I35. So if you. You can exit onto the parking lot itself directly. There's not even a street to get to the parking lot. Once you get off the highway, you're in the parking lot and it was ideal because you could get right back off again. But it was only there for one year because the the lot wasn't prepared for the tractor trailers. But at any rate, we were there, we had a booth, you know, and we're setting up and this guy comes in and he says, hey, you going to be here for a while? And I looked at my watch, says, yeah, yeah, we're going to be here until it's closed. He says, okay, well, I'll be back just before we fix it until the other show was closed. Now he comes back and he's got this old yellow piece of paper. It's a big piece of paper, like. Looks like a piece of parchment, you know that you've seen that stuff. It had black electrical tape all around it, framed around it. And it was a poem called I Am the American Trucker. It was about this long. It was. Well, it's about three minutes long. If you've read it right, there's a story there, too. But he says, I want you to have this. I said, well, what is this? And he gave me the story. He says, I found this. He said, I don't know who wrote it. And he didn't write. He says. And I said, I used to have it taped up on the headliner in the camp. And I said, well, thank you. So you leave the truck show, as everybody does, with all these bags of stuff. And I got cigar boxes full of stuff, as I mentioned, with Albert's letter in there, postcard. But it went into the music library on the bench where everything else went. And February of 89, I'm in the studio. We're on the third floor. This is on the North Rampart street location of the radio station. It's a restaurant now. Anything that closes in New Orleans will be a restaurant once it reopens, by the way. Right, sonny. I'm at the studio by myself Because John Parker hadn't come in yet. I'm just there a little early, and the phone rings. Well, we go on at 11. I. It's about, I don't know, quarter to 10 or something like this. And I don't know why I answered it, because you don't really answer the phones if nobody's calling you. And nobody would be calling me at that time. But I picked it up and it was the guy's wife. Carl Fry was his name. And he hauled bulk salt up and down I35. Mainly up through the Kansas area. And for those who may not be familiar with boat salts are big blocks of salt. And you may see them out in fields where cows, or they're sometimes called cow lakes because those animals need salt, especially in the heat. So this services those farm animals, the herd animals. And she said he was killed in the junk. Every cell in my body just went boom. Because he died, but because I never really recorded his thing. So I go into the library, I find it, I go over here. I remembered that the B side of Convoy by C.W. mcCall was America the Beautiful. And so I put that on, put the tape in and recorded it. And then I played it that night and then through the years have been playing it re recorded. In fact, it's interesting that I'm going to re record it again now because something happened to denigrate the recording we had. So yeah, that was exceedingly meaningful on a number of levels and for a number of reasons. Very recently, I'll tell you something, if you got time for one more story, a little bit more recent now, very recently, one of our dear friends and longtime listeners had a chance to hang with him a few, on a few occasions through the years, you know, because everybody's long distance. He's out in California now and his name is Dennis, but he had prostate cancer and came on the show and talked about it. And the next thing you know, Jimmy Mack has someone talking about prostate cancer on the show. On our highway to Health series, which is a 30 minute series we do weekly and have been for years and years. And the response that the drivers gave not only to Dennis but to the idea that yeah, we're talking about this openly and stuff like that, that is significant, that sort of thing. And those sorts of things happen throughout the decades and they just add up, add up, add up. You know.

Scott Lewton (52:03)

Yeah, I can only imagine just the two anecdotes you shared and the importance and, and it gives you a lot of clarity, at least to me as I perceived your stories about the importance, the importance of that moment in, in those in the truck driver's life or the importance of the more we talk about things, especially with like prostate cancer, the more hopefully light bulbs go off that hey, number one, this is okay to talk about openly. Number two, and I might need to go get checked and I mean you're saving lives. I think the more commonplace we can make those topics be talked about. Tony, I'm kind of thinking out loud because I'm still, I'm still processing that first story that Dave shared. But your thoughts?

Tony Shirota (52:46)

Tony, I don't have good stories like that yet. I'm still going to be doing this a bit and we'll see what comes around. I think from my side the similarity is when I think about the stuff that we throw away and that we dump. We're dumping on the planet. We're pulling it out of the planet, we're dumping it back. I share that concern that we should be trying to make a difference. And I know that sometimes we make a difference without even realizing it because we share these stories. And I think that's what has happened with Dave is to continue sharing that story does give people a thing. It's like we, we can all make a difference.

Dave Nemo (53:25)

Yes.

Tony Shirota (53:26)

And. And we should, we should be trying.

Scott Lewton (53:28)

And even, you know, Dave, I bet, to your point, Tony, I bet there's some days that, that you know, because I don't know about you, every day is a little different. Some days you feel it, every conversation, every segue, everything's hidden. And other days it's like, man, my brain's in a fog, let's just get through it. But on those la. On those days, like the latter, right. You're. You can be oblivious of the impact you're making. And I can't remember who said it way back when in history. And I'm a paraphrase, a quote because I'm also not good sometimes picking up names. But you never know it's something good, something like this. You never know whose sermon your words are going to be on any given day. Right. And it's just what someone needs to hear at the right time, the right place. And Dave, I know that's been a lot of that, your career. I'm going to shift gears. I wish we had a couple more hours with you, Dave, but I do want to pose. There's a couple things I want to pose to you here before we make sure folks know how to connect with you and the team. Jimmy the team radionemo.com but I got to ask this question I'm gonna ask you to Tony. If you were elected Dave Global Supply Chain czar and you could immediately fix one challenge or problem that truck drivers regularly experience with a wave of your wand or whatever a czar would carry. What would that be, Dave?

Dave Nemo (54:48)

You need the right tool for the job. And I've heard that ever since I knew what a tool was, you got to have the right tool for the job. And I believe one of the core reasons, and a lot of folks don't agree with this, but I believe that the electronic logging device has become the core reason and the catalyst for a lot of supply chain problems in terms of the drivers who are the motors of the supply chain. You know, forget what's under the hood, right? The drivers of the motors and the Engines of the economy. So the ELD is the right tool for the job if you are a regulator. It's a beautiful tool for the job if you are a regulator, because it boils it right down to the very Second, just like 55 years of broadcasting boils down to every second. Human beings and the environment of the highway does not allow for that in any way, shape or form in any universe. Bring the ELD back to the logging standards of the paper log. Run it in 15 minute segments. Let the drivers have some human wiggle room so humans can do the jobs that humans do. If you don't want the human there, you know, when the ELD came out, my little tag, you know, my tagline was, yeah, now all we got to do is get rid of these pesky humans.

Scott Lewton (56:22)

I love, I love it. You know, ELD for folks out there that may be new electronic logging devices, I think is what the acronym stands for. And Dave, it's the automated tracking systems that have been regulated and replaced. To your point, Dave, the manual logging paperwork that a lot of drivers would have previously. But Tony, you gotta weigh in. So Dave was a czar and he's doing away with the modern ELD and embracing the humanity in the cab and embracing the wiggle room that humans need. Your thoughts, Tony, Comment on that or comment on what you do as global supply chain czar.

Tony Shirota (56:57)

If I was the czar, I don't know if it's the ELD alone that's affecting it, but I remember this adage from a sustainability expert saying, you know, if you think about things like your cars and trucks, they're spending 90% of the time not being utilized. They're sitting somewhere, they're sitting, waiting somewhere. And if you could fix that and get rid of the weights, we would be running smooth. And that to me, and I know from my son listening to him, but I just reflect on it and think, yeah, I buy this really nice car and it sits unused 90% of the time. So we have to get a little more efficient if we're going to take it to the next level. Maybe the ELD modifications are an answer, but I just know that the wait times that these truckers, and they're not built to wait, they're built to move. And for them to sit in line, to get unloaded or to sit, and the unloading process takes twice as long for whatever kinds of reasons. That's what a czar should be working on, is let's get rid of the weights and let these people do what they do.

Scott Lewton (58:08)

I Like it. I like it. I'll tell you, if we all had to sit in front of a clothes washer or clothes dryer as our stuff was getting processed and just sit there and wait, not get paid, maybe we'd have more sense of urgency to fix this. What you're, you're pointing out, Tony, because we should. But we're going to bring you all back. We'll have some more czar discussions. Hate that. We're kind of running out of time here. But, Dave, I'll do this. I want to pick your brain, get some advice from you. There's so much more to your story than what we're able to get to here today, again, through those chapters, through reinventing yourself while still protecting the mission and who you are and all that authenticity, what advice would you give to that next generation of broadcasters or content creators, especially those that are trying to serve, you know, that specific community out there?

Dave Nemo (58:56)

I would say something similar to what you said, Tony, and that is always be looking for the next things that's coming up so you don't fall off a cliff or get swallowed up. So do what you do as well as you can, embrace it and make it yours. But always kind of keep your eye on that door over there, red door, opening or closing. And if it's opening, maybe you want to go through that and see what's next. Because, because if that opens, it may just blow this card away, you know, so. Yeah, but I also want to. Tony, I just want to also compliment Scott. This guy really listens when you talk. And Scott, I want to compliment you on that. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, yeah, you know, and I've been living in Boston most of my life and I really love it there. And a few minutes later, I understand you live over on the east coast, don't you, man? Sharp, you're the best, man.

Scott Lewton (59:58)

Well, hey, Dave, we try and sometimes on some days the ginkgo biloba kicks in and pay attention. But you've got a, you've got such a. I appreciate that, number one. But I love the storytelling and I love your advice and about especially keeping that one eye on the door and if it's closing or opening. But for me, this conversation with you here, other conversations we've had, Tony, over the years, I love that the art of storytelling, what's old is new again. And I think more and more folks coming into industry is starting to understand the immense value of storytelling, whether you do it like Dave Nemo, right or if you do it, you're making a business case in a boardroom. They all require stories that relate that people can relate to and pick up on. And folks remember facts and everything you're telling them much better if you put it into a story like Dave Nemo is a master of. So Dave, let's I want to double check, want to make sure that folks connect with your great programming now. Radionemo.com and of course you can find on all those platforms that Dave mentioned earlier. Dave anywhere else you want to suggest folks come and connect with you, whether it's your programming, your show, Nemo Nation or Jedi Mind Trick. Are you going to be playing at the Jazz Fest?

Dave Nemo (61:21)

Dave no, we'll be there but my field and we won't be playing. RadioNemo.com is a place to start. If you subscribe there, that'll be cool. And we have a new newsletter, Gauge Illumination says you know the gauge is on the truck. Gauge Illumination. Jimmy Mack is putting that together. The first edition comes out Friday. So go to radionemo.com and subscribe. And then we're also on iHeartRadio and Odyssey Live 365, YouTube, as I mentioned, Spotify and all of those. So we have we stream live Monday through Friday. These are central times, Central time as truck drivers used to call central real time back in the 60s and 70s because you have to pick one but your regular route carrier never knew where they were going to be. Right. So just pick a time and stick with it. So we're on from 7am to 11am Monday through Friday. Nemo Nation, that's me and Jimmy Mack on Mondays and then Road Gang Radio Tuesdays through Fridays. The first two hours is Jimmy Mack on How to Make a Living on the Road. The second two hours is Jimmy and Lindsay together on how to have a life on the road. And then on Wednesdays at noon Central it's We should write. And Lindsay talks to songwriters, book authors, all kinds of folks who write and the inspiration and the power of writing. It's called we should write. And that's an hour long thing on Wednesdays at noon. So I think that covers multiple bases.

Tony Shirota (62:59)

Love it.

Scott Lewton (63:00)

Radionemo.com you can learn more about all of what Dave just shared. And of course check out all those platforms you mentioned, include my favorite, which is YouTube. And and as David pointed out earlier, not only can you tune in and watch, you can chat if you're not driving. And that's always fun to engage that.

Dave Nemo (63:17)

Way we respond too.

Scott Lewton (63:19)

That's Right. They do. They do respond. They're really good at that. Tony, I'm going to mention National Truck Driver Appreciation Week in just a second, given kind of the main focus of our conversation here today. But get a billion dollar question because Dave has shared a lot, a lot here today. And there's so much more to the story. Maybe some chapters where Dave might have to kill us if he tells us. But honey, what was one of your favorite lessons learned from the Dave Nemo over the last hour? And some change.

Tony Shirota (63:50)

I relate to Dave as I approach the length of career he's had. I think to myself, Dave and others learn to change. And I think I referenced the fact that I used to be an analog record player guy and now I've had to learn to be digital. And that's the path of life, is you better find ways to change. And Dave showed how he changed successfully. And Dave, I appreciate what you said. The door opens. You might not want to be the first one through the door, but you don't want to be the last one through the door because you may not make it. I think that's the key takeaway today. Watch the doors open, go for it, take a look and don't be afraid to follow people through it.

Scott Lewton (64:33)

Well said. And I got to just add one more little musical analogy here. It's interesting, isn't it? We go from eight tracks to cassette tapes to CDs, of course, vinyl records first. I should have mentioned that first. Then to digital media streaming and now vinyl records are back. I think there's more vinyl records soldiers than CDs and many other mediums these days. Folks want that. All the pops and stuff.

Dave Nemo (64:57)

That's really cool. They've talking to a guy yesterday we were talking about the fact that, you know, records have been back, cassettes are coming back. Who would want their brain? Wow, man.

Tony Shirota (65:16)

Who knows?

Scott Lewton (65:17)

Maybe brain monsters come back too.

Dave Nemo (65:18)

We'll see.

Scott Lewton (65:20)

Folks, given the industry that Dave has served for decades now, it's really important to call this out. We try to be good ambassadors of the truck driving community as well. National Truck Driver Appreciation week for 2026 is set for September 13th through the 19th. Yes, there should. They should have 52 weeks, but at least that one week, add it to your calendar. Come up with a way of showing your gratitude to this critical part of global supply chain. As Dave, I think mentioned, the real motors forget what's under the cab. As he said, the real motors behind what makes supply chain happen. Okay, big thanks, Dave. Nemo, man, really enjoyed more of your story here today. I admire what you've done, really appreciate what you continue to do. And Dave, we look forward to having you back soon, maybe later this year. How about that, Dave?

Dave Nemo (66:12)

Listen, I'll make up some more stories, Scott, and we're blending them.

Scott Lewton (66:17)

But Dave, a pleasure. Thanks for being here folks. Make sure you tune in, learn more on everything we've touched on@radionemo.com Big thanks to my fearless and special guest, co host, Tony Shirota. Tony, admire what you've been doing for all things returns Reverse, you name it, Tony. Where would you where can folks connect with you?

Tony Shirota (66:41)

My name's a challenge, but if they can find me on LinkedIn, there's only one Tony Shirota out there. You've put it on the screen and you know that that old email address tonyla.org still works and sharotatnrf.com works and you can find me. Do a quick search with anything close to my name. I like this Reverse and returns guy. Put that into Google search and I should be there on the first page or two or three, you know. So thank you, Scott.

Scott Lewton (67:11)

You bet. You could definitely find Dave and Tony amongst many, many others at Jazz Fest and beautiful city of New Orleans. Okay, to our audience members out there, folks, you got some homework from this great show here today. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I have. I've got my 18 pages of notes as my dogs are going crazy just outside the home studio. But your homework is simple. Take one thing you heard here from Dave and or Tony. There's lots of actual expertise. They shared stories and anecdotes. Take one thing, put it into practice. It's all about deeds, not words, right actions, what drives all of our all the opportunities out there. So with all that said, Scott Luden, challenging all of you out there on behalf of the whole supply chain out team, do good, give forward. Be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time. Right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Tony Shirota (68:01)

Join the Supply Chain now community.

Scott Lewton (68:03)

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Tony Shirota (68:05)

And innovation, check out supply chain now.com.

Scott Lewton (68:08)

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Tony Shirota (68:10)

And follow and listen to Supply Chain Now.

Scott Lewton (68:13)

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