By Michael D. Wynne
As many of my long time readers know, I have mostly devoted this column to honoring the great historians, history-makers and the history of CenLa as well as focusing on the preservation of our local, but largely ignored history. Well, the celebration and joy of our history comes in many forms. And one of the most important is the sharing of the knowledge of our history with others. One of the best local purveyors in the sharing the knowledge of our history is Brian Landrum of Alexandria, better-known as the “Mr. Classic Car Podcaster of Louisiana.” Here is his most original and enlightening story.
The son of an oilfield products operation manager, Brian was raised in Thibodaux. “We had a barn on our property,” Brian shared, “and every year, my brother and I would have a combined birthday. My dad would have someone come and sing at our party, along with a barbecue and swimming, with 200 plus people in attendance. This was one of the great memories of my youth.”
Also in that barn was where Brian’s love for classic and antique cars first started. “That is where dad and I first started working on cars including a 70s Chevy pick-up and a 68 Mustang.”
At this same time, Brian got into radio broadcasting. He started a radio broadcasting business at age 12 by building a radio station in that same barn with parts from Radio Shack and putting up an antenna on the barn roof. He broadcasted in a 2 mile range “whatever me and my friends could find to put on a record player.” This lead to a job at age 14 working at a local country western station.
I asked Brian why he was interested in radio broadcasting. He answered, “I have always been fascinated with how sound and video can travel from one place to another and can be heard and seen there”
All of this, not surprisingly, lead to a lifetime career in the broadcasting business, with most of his life either on the air or in radio station management. He’s worked all over the country, from Alaska to Tennessee, but is best known for his work at the legendary station, WSM, home of the Grand Old Opry.
Initially, he never thought of combining his two loves, classic cars and radio broadcasting. “I was sitting on the sofa one day binge-watching a car show of people washing and cleaning their cars and I thought, this is crazy that anyone would watch this. So I decided to do something about it – I created ‘Cajun Classic Cars TV’ in the spring of 2024.”
Cajun Classic Cars TV was created for car lovers around the Gulf South. On the website, cajunclassiccarstv.com, you can check out car show events, information about car clubs, interviews with the car community leaders, including specials about popular shows in the state, as well as celebrities like Jay Leno, former Tonight show host and an avid car collector. Plus, each week, “Flyin Brian” debuts a new episode of the program featuring some of the coolest cars in Louisiana, and their owners share the love and stories behind their rides. Brian is at no less than 20 car shows and events each year. Fans can find the network online via the website, Facebook page, YouTube channel, Tik Tok and a radio stream.
One of Brian’s recent interviews was with the legendary classic car owner Pete Vicari. Pete has five 1963 pre-production Corvettes. What makes these cars so special is that each car was hand-made and different in order to provide GM management a choice of what car to put out to the public. Astounding!
Brian is another fascinating and enterprising central Louisiana original and we are all proud that he is here creating history in our community.
