Route 66 On The
Air
W6A - Santa
Monica and W6B - Los Angeles
9 - 17 September 2023
The 24th Anniversary of this Amateur Radio Special Event
Celebrating the 97th Anniversary of Route 66
Route
66 History
US Highway 66, established in 1926, was the first major improved highway
to link the west coast with the nation’s heartland. Through stories,
songs, and TV shows, the highway came to symbolize the spirit of freedom
of the open road, inspiring many to see America. However, the demise of
Route 66 began in the 1950s as the US began building its interstate
highway system, and the highway was officially decommissioned in 1986.
Nonetheless, small portions of Highway 66 still exist in towns and rural
areas in several states.
Ham Radio Special Event
The first
occurrence of Route 66 On the Air took place in the fall of 2000,
generating more than 14,000 QSOs in the process. Read all about the
history of the special event from the
May 2001, QST
article "Get Your QSOs on Route 66" (Requires Adobe PDF)
Music
from Route 66 Route 66 has been
popularized in numerous versions of the popular song from the original
Bobby Troup version to the later hit by Nat King Cole.
"Get Your Kicks On Route 66" by Bobby Troup
If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66.
It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2,000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66.
You go through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66.
Nat King Cole hit with "Route 66" in 1946
Western swing band, Asleep at the Wheel pays homage
to a timeless
classic, "Route 66"
Another Asleep At The Wheel version - "Get Your Kicks (On Route 66)"
[Live from Austin, TX] That's Leon Rausch sharing the vocals with Ray
Benson. Rausch was part of Bob Wills Texas Playboys.
The Route 66 TV Program aired 116 Episodes From
October 7, 1960 through Septemb18, 1964. The
hour-long drama starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and George Maharis
as Buzz Murdoch, two young guys who travel around in a 1960 Corvette
convertible in search of adventure and enlightenment. Along the way they
encounter a host of outcasts and ordinary people entangled in conflicts
- eventually traveling to almost every city along the run of Route 66.
Burma-Shave One of the
joys of driving Route 66 back in those good 'ol days was reading the
Burma-Shave signs by the side of the road. One after another, they told
a little upbeat story, all with the punch line "Burma-Shave."
