I'll always remember when I heard CB radio for the first time in the mid to late 1990's. And it wasn't a nice conversation. It was an argument between two guys. One of them was definitely from Castle Vale, and I'm not sure but I think he was in a tower block which was called Concord Tower [now long demolished]. I can't remember his name, but he went by the callsign / handle of either silver rod, silver star, silver bolt, or silver something. If I could take a guess I would go with silver rod. These two guys were arguing over who had better equipment in their homes, and who owned better stuff. Comparing stereo separates, clothes, scanner radios, all types of stuff. I couldn't believe how materialistic that "silver rod" guy was.
Over the weeks / months of listening it became clear that this silver rod guy was a complete idiot, arguing with anyone and everyone about having better stuff than everyone else, like it was a competition. It was all he ever talked and argued about. Bragging about his CB setup, his Bose separates and speaker systems, His Armani Jeans, how he has loads of money and only uses things he buys a few times and then throws them away etc. He literally only went on the CB frequencies to argue with people about how much money he had and start trouble.
Not sure what happened to him. But I think trouble may have found him. I remember a few times him having arguments with people and arranging to meet up and fight it out. Maybe someone took him up on his offer. This isn't out of the realms of possibility either, it does happen. I've heard people on the CB's in the UK arrange to meet and duke it out a fair few times. And sometimes it has happened. There was something similar recently, where someone was shouting his mouth off.
He is well known on the CB radio circuit in the Birmingham area. I do know his name but I won't say it. Anyway, he started giving it the big one and said something quite bad about someone's family member. And because some of the CB community in the Birmingham area is quite tightly knit [they know each other in real life and meet in person regularly, go to each others houses etc], people knew where this loud mouth guy lived. So the person he was arguing with went round to his house and punched him in the face.
Did he deserve it? Possibly. However, he is a total pisshead and sounds harmless really. All talk. A fragile alcoholic that most people would be scared to hit in case serious damage was caused. So most people wouldn't have bothered. It wasn't worth it. But sometimes you get one that's young and / or stupid enough to take it to that level and not think about the consequences. Thankfully the guy who got punched was OK afterwards. He tried to save face by coming straight back on the CB chatting away like he was unfazed by it all. But I think that encounter shook him up and taught him to have a bit more respect.
Anyway, I wonder if something similar happened to silver rod... I listened to him for a while back in the mid to late 90's, then I was busy with other things and never listened to CB radio for quite some time after that. You have to remember, scanners were much more interesting in those days with the Police, Ambulances, the Police helicopter, cordless phones etc. CB radio seemed quite boring in comparison. When I returned to CB radio some years later he was nowhere to be heard.
Although I have to admit, I never stuck around for long as I was always so busy in those days. Always outdoors living life. Does anyone remember "silver rod" [I think] from Castle Vale and what happened to him. I would love to hear if he ever grew up, became a better person and looked back at how much of an idiot he was. Hopefully he did. I wonder if he's still out there, still listening in after all these years...
