''Red Eye Radio'' is a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history through several predecessors, beginning with Bill Mack's overnight truck show in 1969.

History

Bill Mack

Bill Mack was the founder of WBAP's overnight program, the ''U.S. 1 Trucking Show''. Mack started the show in 1969. The show, as the name implied, was geared toward the American

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

and featured a lot of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

. The show briefly attempted an excursion into Mexico on

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...

XERF, but that arrangement ended after it was clear that Mack would not be able to host the show from his home in Fort Worth. Eventually, the show's name changed to the ''Midnight Cowboy Trucking Show'' and the ''Midnight Cowboy Radio Network'' and was syndicated by ABC Radio, who carefully selected the affiliates to give maximum coverage of the country. Mack left the show in September 2001 to join the Open Road channel on

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM, Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable televisi ...

Midnight Trucking (ABC)

After Mack's departure in 2001, ABC changed the name of the show to ''Midnight Trucking Radio Network''. The network tapped WBAP producer Eric Harley, along with Joe Kelley, to host the show. In addition to Mack's old network, MTRN absorbed Dave Nemo's old ''The Road Gang'' network when Nemo left for XM as well.

Midnight Radio Network (Jones/Dial Global)

ABC turned over syndication of the program to Jones Radio Networks in 2005, and Kelley left the show. Jones turned to Gary McNamara, a conservative talk radio host, to fill Kelley's seat. With the change in focus from solely truckers to a more general purpose program, the show changed its name yet again, to the ''Midnight Radio Network''. Under Jones, the number of affiliates grew from about a dozen stations, mostly 50,000-watt clear-channel "flamethrowers," to 38. Seven clear-channel stations - WBAP,

WJR WJR (760 AM) is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by Cumulus Media, with a news/talk format. Most of WJR's broadcast studios, along with its newsroom and offices, are in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center area. A ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

; KXL in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

; KXEL in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Fall ...

;

WLS WLS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * WLS (AM), a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, US * WLS-FM, a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, US * WLS-TV, a television station in Chicago, Illinois, US * DWLS, a radio station in Metro Manila ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

; KBOI in

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ...

; and KOKC in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

, as well as regional station WMAL in Washington, D.C. - front the network, which claims to reach all 48 contiguous states plus

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

. The show now also broadcasts on XM Satellite Radio ( channel 171) after a long run on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...

( Road Dog Trucking) ended in 2007. With the change, the Midnight Radio Network joined former host Bill Mack along with Dale Sommers and Dave Nemo on the channel. By 2007, many references to "Midnight Trucking" had returned to the show, and by early 2009, to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary, it reverted to the "Midnight Trucking" name. In April 2008, parent syndicator Jones Radio Networks was sold to

Triton Media Group Triton Digital, LLC, formerly Triton Media Group, is a digital audio technology and advertising company based in Los Angeles. The group was formally owned by E. W. Scripps Company which sold Triton to IHeartMedia in October 2020. The company work ...

, which integrated Jones into Triton's

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

network. Some changes were made in the months following. One of the first was the removal of the show from satellite radio, as Open Road merged with Road Dog Trucking.

''Red Eye Radio'' (Cumulus/Westwood One)

The name ''Red Eye Radio'' came from

Cumulus Media Networks Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

' existing overnight talk show, which at the time of Cumulus's acquisition of

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia ...

was hosted by Doug McIntyre (who originated the name and had previously used it on a local Los Angeles-based show prior to changing time slots) on weeknights and Marc Germain on weekends. Upon Cumulus' acquisition of Citadel (and, by extension, WBAP and the rest of the former ABC Radio assets), Cumulus also reassumed syndication of Harley and McNamara, reassigned McIntyre to a local show in Los Angeles, and rebranded Harley's and McNamara's show under the ''Red Eye Radio'' name. As a result of the reorganization, the show also gained several major market affiliates, including New York City and Los Angeles, where ''Red Eye Radio'' had established itself, and refocused the program as a competitor to

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. ...

's ubiquitous ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in ...

'', eventually moving towards a generic

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enoug ...

direction, though trucking news and content remains a major part of the show. On December 21, 2012, just before the first anniversary of the Harley-McNamara version of the show, the hosts announced on air that they had signed a new multi-year contract to host the show.

Format

The show runs five hours each night, from midnight to 5 am Central Time. Harley and McNamara primarily address political issues, most commonly promoting libertarian and conservative viewpoints. The show is available seven days a week, but usually a "best of" program airs on weekends.

References

External links

* {{Trucking industry in the United States 1969 radio programme debuts American talk radio programs American country music radio programs Conservative talk radio Libertarianism in the United States Radio programs on XM Satellite Radio Westwood One