The Crude Life & Frequency 66 Sign On from the Hometown of Route 66

The Mother Road has gotten a multimedia studio dedicated to Route 66 news, events, colorful personalities, travelers, businesses and Americana archives. Frequency 66 is a media engagement studio and experience center at 601 Main Street in Galena, Kansas — right on Route 66, kitty-corner from Gearhead Curious and the Kansas Visitor Center.

The studio will produces a range of Route 66-focused audio and video programming out of a single Main Street location. According to executive producer Jason Spiess, the neon “On Air” storefront window is now up and will become part of the Mother Road’s shine that will let passersby watch shows being recorded live.

“We are very excited for Frequency 66 and look forward to engaging and interviewing Route 66 travelers, business owners and enthusiasts who feel a connection to the Mother Road,” Spiess said. “I’ve spent the past several weeks talking to travelers off the record, taking in the general energy of Route 66, and I’ve already spoken to five continents, 40-some states and countless countries.”

The studio’s flagship production is Daily Drive, a straight news-hour morning show, alongside shorter themed series exploring different corners of Route 66 culture — from Route 66 After Hours to interviews with travelers passing through on their Route 66 journey. The Pier to Pier Podcast and the Route 66 Americana Archive content will be picked up and syndicated through Frequency 66 starting in October.

Frequency 66 has even given a voice for those who are concerned about the next 100 years on Route 66.

“We’ve been sporadically working with some local high school students and leaders since July on a weekly Student Podcast recorded on Route 66,” Spiess said. “I am excited to announce we will be recording our pilot program this month and big thank you to Casey’s General Store for providing pizza for the students to eat during the recording session.”

Spiess added the program’s intent is to educate and connect students with Route 66 and travelers so it increases awareness and interest for the next 100 years.

“Our working title since July has been ‘Live on 66: The Next 100 Years,’” Spiess said. “Although originally The Next 100 Years was a stand alone weekly program, so several of these parts are still moving as we fine tune the details before production, release and roll out.”

In addition to students in Kansas, Spiess has been working with several local leaders in Oklahoma City for a college student campus version of Live on 66 as well.

“I anticipate the college version of Live on 66 will debut in later October or early November,” Spiess added. “We’ve gotten great response and interest from the students already, it’s just finding enough time in the day to answer calls, emails and organize all the global excitement for Route 66.”

Other independent programs will be added to the 24-hour broadcast schedule at a later date. In November, listeners will have an option to “listen live” to the scheduled programming or on-demand. The link will bring you to a “real-time radio” audio feed.

Beyond programming of the entire Mother Road, Frequency 66 is built to tell the ongoing story of Galena as the Hometown of Route 66 — the “official unofficial” hometown, adopted rather than born, in the spirit of Radiator Springs from Cars.

Galena was a town long before Route 66 was a road. Decades before the pavement came through, this was mining country — lead and zinc pulled from the ground, and a community built by people who came from somewhere else to work it.

Miners, families, tradesmen: most of the people who built Galena weren’t born here. They arrived, they stayed, and the town took them in and made them its own. That’s the pattern Galena was founded on, and it’s the same pattern Route 66 stepped into when the road finally reached town in the 1920s.

That history is what makes Galena the official unofficial Hometown of Route 66. A rusted 1951 International boom truck sitting on a corner garage today — the same truck whose beat-up, hardworking look helped inspire Mater in Pixar’s Cars — tells the same story the mining days did: something arrives here worn and ordinary, and Galena gives it a place to belong.

The road didn’t create Galena’s identity. Galena already knew how to be a hometown, long before the Mother Road ever needed one.

That’s the heart of it — Galena isn’t the hometown of Route 66 because everyone here was born on it. It’s the hometown because almost no one was, and the town claimed them anyway. Miners, travelers, a battered tow truck that became a movie legend — all of it arrived from somewhere else and found a home in Galena.

That’s not a coincidence. That’s just what this town does. It’s the same welcome Route 66 travelers find today, and it’s why the road feels like it belongs here as much as anyone else who ever rolled into town.

Frequency 66 is built for the road — whether you’re behind the wheel somewhere along the Mother Road, packing the car for your own Route 66 trip, or just want a little piece of the highway wherever you are.

“There’s no wrong way to enjoy Route 66, and Frequency 66’s programming is designed to meet you however you’re listening,” Spiess said. “As background for a long drive, research for a trip still ahead of you, or simply a daily connection to the road and the small towns that built it.”

The early shift starts off with The Daily Drive for some basic news of the day, then hand off to the Pier to Pier Podcast for some Mother Road mayhem and magic through the midday.

Frequency 66 afternoons bring Mother Road Meals, The Main Street of America, and Route 66 Round Table discussions, with the evening turning to Jukebox on Route 66 and Route 66 After Hours to close out the night.

It all originates from the recording studio in Galena, Kansas — the Hometown of Route 66 — with additional hubs and studios set to open in 2027, extending Frequency 66’s reach further down the road.

Anyone interested in more information, visit Frequency66.com