Convoy.
Metro Talent Made Monster Hit.
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The song didn't simply capitalize on the CB radio craze of the 1970s: it started it. Truckers were already using the radios to find service stations that had gas and to avoid speed traps, but the song brought this largely unknown radio service into the national spotlight and cast truck drivers as maverick folk heroes.
How did a quirky local country song change the sound of Christmas music forever?
Chip Davis, the musical genius behind Mannheim Steamroller, had an idea. As the coming decades proved, it was a really good idea. But in the early 1970s it was a tough sell. His style-- which has been described as 18th Century classical rock-- didn’t neatly fit into the cookie cutter niches record labels, music stores and radio station were used to. It was great music, but if a record label wouldn’t take a chance on it, radio stations didn’t play it and record stores didn’t know where to file it, how would anybody discover it? The huge success of “Convoy” freed Davis to pursue his vision and develop Mannheim Steamroller. Using his own record label he released several successful albums and in the mid-1980s branched into Christmas music, becoming the top selling Christmas artist of all time.
What's worse than expensive gas?
What's worse than expensive gas?
No gas.
No gas.
At various times in the 1970s there were actually no service stations in the entire city of Council Bluffs that had gas to sell. This impacted public safety, deliveries, and tourism, besides just being incredibly inconvenient. It also brought an end to trading stamps. Stations that didn’t have gas couldn’t make sales, stamps or not; the stations that did have it had customers lined up for blocks. Incentives were no longer needed, and stamps, along with free maps and window washing attendants, largely vanished from the landscape.
It wasn’t law enforcement officers that created the Arab oil embargo nor set the speed limit the embargo fostered. They were just mandated to enforce it. But the speed limit was costing truckers big bucks and in the short focus, those with flashing red lights and sirens became the bad guys.
In the fall of 1973, in response to the OPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo, President Nixon issued an executive order mandating a 55 mph national maximum speed limit in an effort to reduce fuel consumption. The federal government passed the National Maximum Speed Law the following year, establishing the 55 mph speed limit as the law of the land.
This hit independent truck drivers- who profit by miles driven and loads delivered- hard in the pocketbook. What’s more, many said the law’s premise wasn’t even correct: While an automobile driver may conserve gasoline at 55 miles an hour, truckers claimed the 12‐ and 14‐speed gear boxes on diesel trucks were designed to propel them at top speeds with fewer engine revolutions than at geared‐down lower speeds.
Using citizens’ band radio to swap speed trap sightings and other information, truckers were willing to go 70 miles an hour and over if the‐highway “was clean and green,” meaning free of Smokey Bear, a C.B. term for state troopers.
To make the issue even more complex, in a parallel to the Prohibition era’s wide-spread contempt for the law among even otherwise law-abiding citizens, many prosecutors and judges in some states and individual counties declined to bring cases to trial if the offender didn’t exceed the old speed limit. But cross country drivers were never sure which states and which counties, leading to lots of fines paid out by truck drivers, further eroding their already declining profit margin.
"The Rest of the Story" by Troy Stolp. Mr. Stolp is a graduate of Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs and holds degrees in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Iowa State University (BA) and History from Buena Vista University (BA) and University of Nebraska at Omaha (MA). Mr. Stolp serves on the board of directors of Preserve Council Bluffs and teaches at Lewis Central.
Local history by Richard Warner. Dr. Warner is a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School, Creighton University (BS, DDS), University of Nebraska at Omaha (MA) and serves as president of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County.
The 1970s Energy Crisis was the result of a few main factors fitting neatly together to cause the United States and the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro populace significant problems leading to the start of reducing dependence on foreign oil by increasing US oil production, initiating alternative energy research, and policies designed to limit national oil consumption.
In 1948, the Allied powers had carved land out of the British-controlled territory of Palestine in order to create the state of Israel, which would serve as a homeland for disenfranchised Jews from around the world. This led to nearly constant violent struggle between Israel and its neighbors, including the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In this Cold War-tied conflict, the United States backed Israel and the Soviet Union backed the Arab States. The Arab states that produced oil formed the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC reduced their petroleum production and proclaimed an embargo on oil shipments to the United States and the Netherlands, the main supporters of Israel. Though the Yom Kippur War ended in late October, the embargo and limitations on oil production continued, sparking an international energy crisis. Despite the increased oil consumption in the U.S. lawmakers had long believed that OPEC would never cut oil to America because it needed the US market.That proved false since the increased price per barrel made up for reduced production and the Soviets also bought OPEC oil.
In the three frenzied months after the embargo was announced, the price of oil shot from $3 per barrel to $12. After decades of abundant supply and growing consumption, Americans now faced price hikes and fuel shortages, causing lines to form at gasoline stations around the country. Council Bluffs, state of Iowa, and national leaders called for measures to conserve energy, asking gas stations to close on Sundays and homeowners to refrain from putting up holiday lights on their houses. In addition to causing major problems in the lives of consumers, the energy crisis was a huge blow to the American automotive industry, which had for decades turned out bigger and bigger cars and would now be outpaced by Japanese manufacturers producing smaller and more fuel-efficient models.
The oil embargo was lifted in March 1974, but oil prices remained high, and the effects of the energy crisis lingered throughout the decade. In addition to price controls and gasoline rationing, a national speed limit was imposed and daylight saving time was adopted year-round for the period of 1974-75.
Environmentalism reached new heights during the crisis, and became a motivating force behind policymaking in Washington. Efforts were also made to stimulate domestic oil production as well as to reduce American dependence on fossil fuels and find alternative sources of power, including renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power, as well as nuclear power. However, after oil prices collapsed in the mid-1980s and prices dropped to more moderate levels, domestic oil production fell once more, while progress toward energy efficiency slowed and foreign imports increased.
You can dine at Dave's Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep On Truckin' Cafe in Pisgah, Iowa, amidst autographed photos of C.W. McCall and right in the heart of the Loess Hills Scenic District. Insiders tip: the tenderloin is huge and the Philly is awesome!
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