Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to join the UAW, the first American workers to unionize a non-union car company in decades. This is a big victory for the autoworkers union’s Southern organizing campaign, and the first for a foreign-owned US factory. The win came despite the usual anti-union efforts by management. A More Perfect Union video.
Fun fact: Volkswagen workers in VW’s hometown of Wolfsburg, Germany belong to IG Metall, Europe’s largest industrial union, are represented on the factory’s works council, and negotiate well-paid apprentiship positions at the plant.
More:
“UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory,” Nora Eckert, Associated Press
“VW Workers in Tennessee Vote for Union, a Labor Milestone,” Neal E. Boudette, New York Times
“UAW presses deeper into the South with victory at Volkswagen,” Nathan Bomey, Axios
“White Ford Bronco,” written by Dennis Amero, Joe Bryant, Brad Cash, Terry Gangstad, Spike O’Neill, Rob Oxford, Michael Picozzi, and Bob Rivers, recorded by Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio, 1994. A stirring ode to the infamous O.J. Simpson Low-Speed Chase of June 17, 1994. Based on the 1950s song “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
The white Ford Bronco in question was owned by another ex-NFL player; the identical one owned by Mr. Simpson had been impounded by police due to traces of blood found during the double murder investigation.
Fun fact: a Wikipedia search for “white Fold Bronco” links directly to the entry for O.J. Simpson.
More:
“OJ Simpson’s Bronco chase riveted America. The memory is haunting, even after his death” Marco della Cava, USA Today
New electric-powered cars don’t have AM radios. Some auto makers say it costs too much to shield them from motor interference. What’s the problem with that? In emergency situations — floods, hurricanes, earthquakes — smart phones don’t work, and FM transmissions only reach a limited area, at best 65 miles. AM radio broadcasts have wider coverage, sometimes up to 1,000 miles, and are often the only source of public information during disasters.
It’s no wonder that GOP presidential candidate-apparent Donald Trump told the National Religious Broadcasters’ convention that he favors the AM radio act, just like Sen. Ted Cruz and others on the Right. Don’t touch that dial!
More:
“The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act will help protect our emergency infrastructure,” Pete Gaynor, The Hill
“Donald Trump Pledges to Protect AM Radio in Rambling Speech to Christian Broadcasters,” Matt Novak, Gizmodo
Ford Thunderbird, 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington DC.
It’s summer, and classic cars have migrated to the streets of the Mid-Atlantic states. Spotted on Capitol Hill: this 4-door, 1971-ish Ford T-Bird, with its chrome bumpers, big old Bunky Beak, suicide doors, and gangster whitewalls. Crank up Jean Knight on the tape deck!
Americans used to smoke cigarettes, and they smoked them while driving, so cars had ashtrays and cigarette lighters. The lighter’s electric elements would broil cigarette ends, filling the car with a toasty aroma. Your car probably has a vestigial lighter today. A video by Zack Pradel explains.
Coachmaker and blacksmith Charles Richard (“C.R.”) Patterson of Greenfield, Ohio founded C.R. Patterson & Son coachworks in 1893, producing buggies, buckboards, phaetons, surreys and other horse-drawn carriages, about 500 each year. After the death of his son Samuel, his eldest son Frederick Douglas Patterson moved home to help Patterson senior with the business. C.R. died in 1910, and Frederick Patterson added automoblie repair to the company’s services.
The first C.R. Patterson and Sons automobile was assembled in 1915, a two-door coupe, the first motorcar produced by a Black-owned company. Of the 100 or so autos produced by Patterson, none are still in exsistence. The firm couldn’t compete with the Ford assembly line, so the company switched to producing trucks and buses. There was brisk demand for the latter, especially schoolbuses, and Patterson manufactured 500 buses a month, producing as many as 7,000 between 1921 and 1931. One-third of the school buses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania were thought to be Pattersons. Although the Depression closed the business in 1939, some Patterson buses were still on the roads as late as the 1950s.
In the 1930s, dashboard AM radios (Audio Modulation) became a standard feature in US cars, and drivers could change stations safely with push-button tuning. In the 1950s and early 60s, teenagers cruised the streets listening to Rock n’ Roll from radio DJs like Murray the K, Alan Freed, Robin Seymour, and Wolfman Jack. AM radio became part of driving for these baby boomers.
1970s car radios included the FM (Frequency Modulation). FM delivers music with less static and greater sound range, often in stereo. Music broadcasters (and listeners) moved to the FM band. AM stations are fine for voice transmission, and can be heard over greater distances. AM became the kingdom of talk radio, often religious or conservative political opinion shows.
So: talk radio, mostly conservative, is largely broadcast on AM to conservative and older listeners, prone to listening to radio in their cars. Works all the way around, right? Except that tomorrow’s electric cars likely won’t have AM radios. It costs too much to shield them from motor interference. Yet another reason for conservative oldsters to hang on to their gas burners, no matter how right-wing Tesla boss Elon Musk gets.
If a reasonably-priced workaround isn’t found, talk radio broadcasters will have to transition to FM, or teach old-timers how to use podcasts.
More:
“Will Electric Cars Kill AM Radio?”, Jim Motavalli, Autoweek
“In a Future Filled With Electric Cars, AM Radio May Be Left Behind,” Michael Levenson, New York Times
“The End of Terrestrial Radio? Electric Cars and AM Radio,” Jim Flammang, Consumer Reports
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