A History of CB Radios and Truckers

Truckers had been using CB radios long before the 1970s, but they were more of a novelty than something people felt they had to have. That changed very quickly with the 1973 oil embargo.

All at once, fuel prices soared, and even worse for the trucking industry, stations ran out of gas and diesel and closed their doors. For truckers who get paid by the mile, this was a catastrophe. Trucks don’t run without fuel.

Truckers began using CBs to notify each other of where they could find fuel. They discovered that sharing information made their lives easier and more profitable. Traffic problems, such as which scales were open or, more importantly, closed, began flooding the airways.

To disguise their identities and avoid repercussions from officials, truckers adopted handles or nicknames to identify themselves on the radio. This practice carried over when other people began using CB radios, and even if they had never been in a rig, almost everyone had a trucker handle by 1975.

As further means of hiding what was being discussed, truckers also developed their slang or language.

A few of the more colorful trucker slang terms included:

• Bear – Policeman
• Super skate – Sports car
• Seat cover – Pretty girl
• Bear bite – Traffic citation
• Brush Your Teeth and Comb Your Hair – Police with Radar Ahead
• Chicken coop – Weigh station
• Evil Knievel – Motocop
• Stay loaded – Good wishes or luck
• Choke and puke – Restaurant

There were hundreds of these terms, and complete conversations could occur without a word of plain English.