Drivin The Desk: Issue #1

Drivin The Desk

26 June

Drivin The Desk

G’day, and welcome to the very first Truckin with Kermie Blog, Web thingy, or whatever people (who know a lot more than me) call it. I’ve got a bit to say in this, my first post, so please bear with me. I promise not to ramble on in the future.

I’ve been privileged and lucky enough to work for two truck publications that are (were) bloody brilliant (and made a good quid or two), that were bought up by the Murdoch Empire. In both cases this was more by accident than design. Old Rupe wanted the food magazines that were in the stable that included TL. More recently he gobbled up Queensland Newspapers – of which Big Rigs was a part.

In Truckin’ Life’s case he castrated it by sacking all who worked on it, passing the workload onto another magazine group in the organisation, who knew stuff-all about trucks. That was never going to work so he then ‘rented’ the title to an outside mob who slowly destroyed it.

With Queensland Newspapers he acquired a heap of titles – and Big Rigs – giving him a hundred or so regional titles. Then Covid 19 hit, the Feds gave him $50 million or so to support those titles and the people who worked for them…. and then he closed them down – 70 odd totally, with the other 30 going on-line only. To date I’ve not heard that the $50 million has been returned.

At Big Rigs we all thought we’d be immune from the cull as we were national and making money. That’ll teach us to assume!

To be totally fair to Murdoch – and writing that irks me like you wouldn’t believe – Rupert himself probably has no idea that Truckin’ Life or Big Rigs even existed. No, it would have been one of his middle-ranking minions who decided that if the annual profit wasn’t in the millions of dollars, it was too small to worry about.

As a consequence, good - no, great people have lost their jobs to the detriment of their families and to the world of trucking. And in this Covid age many are going to find it difficult to gain new employment – in the short term at least.

Of course, I’m one of those and as I wrote in my last ‘Life with Kermie’ column for Big Rigs there’s not much work out there for busted-arse trucking scribes. So I figured I may as well give myself a job – even if it doesn’t pay.

As a one-man-band, for now at least, I can’t begin to emulate all that Big Rigs has brought to your trucking world over 28 years. But I can say my piece. I can still go to truck shows and bring them to you. I can still interview truckies and share their stories with you. I can still bring you some industry news and with a bit of luck and time, I can grow this site into something to be proud of, both for me and the Australian trucking industry.

As I wrote that last line I immediately thought of that little Irish bastard, Murphy who, as any of you who’ve read Life with Kermie over the years, know has played a large part in my life. Perhaps Murphy could go and play with bigger and much more deserving fish. Rupert Murdoch immediately springs to mind.

So, please come along for this new ride on the blacktop, and together – with your input – we can share the journey together. Because one thing’s for sure. After this column Rupert ain’t ever going to employ me again.

So please tell all your friends to subscribe to Truckin with Kermie. It’s free! Go to the Truckin with Kermie Facebook page, click ‘follow’ and you’ll get this delivered to your phone as well. Thanks, and Stay safe!

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