Originally Published by the SBTC on August 31, 2018
Yesterday, I did something I rarely do. I listened to Kevin Rutherford on Sirius XM's Road Dog Channel after hearing about his online infatuation with a group on Facebook called "United Driver Association America." The first thing I heard Kevin complain about is why the word "of" doesn't appear in the group name.
I have a history with Rutherford dating back to 2007. When my company DOTAuthority.com invited him to speak at the trade show we produced in Orlando that year called the Orlando Truckers Conference (you might remember the catchy "Meet Me at the OTC" jingle), he willingly attended. My company name didn't bother him then when he decided to work with us as a speaker. However, a decade later, he was quick to join the bandwagon when the FMCSA asked the FTC to make a case against my then 16 year old company speciously alleging we were "government imposters." My legal team shut him up in 2017 with a cease and desist letter the moment the defamation started. Apparently, he has now moved on to targeting a trucker who leads an advocacy group on social media that I assume he figures does not have the resources that I do to fight back. That's exactly what bullies do. Pick on somebody they think is not their size. Well, nobody likes a bully. Especially me.
While some of what Rutherford said yesterday on the air appears to be reasonable and fair game as a matter of public policy such as the issue of whether brokers should be limited to a 12% commission, it is his decision to belittle a group leader who is trying to do something positive --and dedicate an episode of his show to this topic-- that I question. One angry caller seemed to share what I assume is the sentiment of most listeners... and if that is the case, I would think that poses a real problem for Rutherford, Sirius XM's management and their advertisers.
When you host a trucking radio show, with that, comes a certain degree of responsibility. You're supposed to discuss issues that are of concern to the industry. The industry is interested in issues, not the drama of ripping a Facebook group owner's spelling, grammar, and writing skills apart. And when a caller tried to do just that-- talk about his ideas regarding improving hours of service regulations-- Rutherford just shut that caller down and essentially said we don't discuss the details here; you know, we don't have time for that. But he has time to talk about why the word "of" was missing from the Facebook group name?
I have been interviewed on nationwide trucking radio programs on numerous occasions by the likes of Mark Willis, K.C. Phillips, Eric Harley and Gary McNamara over the years. And on blog talk radio programs like Allen & Donna Smith's "Truth About Trucking" show. We talk about real issues and serious problems plaguing the industry. Sometimes they are matters of life or death as in the case of the Trucker Lives Matter movement we started (
http://www.TruckerLivesMatter.com
). And, we discuss and explore possible solutions in detail. If pointing out the mistakes of someone trying his best to do something for his fellow driver is "good radio" these days, well then... this industry is in a lot worse shape then I thought.
Kevin Rutherford might consider switching to a kinder, gentler approach and give truckers who are trying to make a difference a little credit rather than belittle them and unnecessarily highlight their imperfections and exploit their weaknesses. That doesn't make you good radio. It makes you a bully. And we all remember from junior high that usually, when you act like a bully, there is a bigger pissed off guy around the corner who's friends with that guy you're bullying.
JAMES LAMB,
Small Business in Transportation Coalition President
