Popular radio truck show host Bruce Dale Sommers, known to trucking listeners as “The Truckin’ Bozo,” died Friday, Aug. 24, in a hospice facility near his home in Hernando, FL. He was 68.
Sommers was known for his radio career than spanned more than 50 years and was geared toward informing and entertaining over-the-road truckers. He suffered from Addison’s disease and was an insulin-dependent diabetic. Ill health had forced Sommers into retirement in the spring.
According to Land Line magazine Editor-in-Chief Sandi Soendker, Sommers was a lifetime member of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. In August 2010, OOIDA Executive Vice President and “Land Line Now” Host Mark Reddig traveled to Cincinnati to present Sommers with an OOIDA Lifetime Contribution award. The framed plaque commended Sommers for his career during which he “stimulated, amused and motivated thousands of long-haul truckers, making him a valued friend of truckers and someone who made the miles less lonesome.”
Sommers is survived by his wife, Sharon Sommers; three sons, Dave Sommers, Steve Sommers and Sean Compton; one daughter, Krissy Sommers, and three stepsons.
Services are scheduled Sept. 8 at Christ Church Mason, 5165 Western Row Rd., Mason, OH. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. Services will begin at noon. According to OOIDA, the church has parking available for big rigs. The phone number for the church is (513) 229-3200.
