# What do you generally listen to when you are in the car **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886 "2019-01-16T18:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/1 "2019-01-16T18:58:39Z")
When my car radio crapped out a few weeks ago I became attuned to how addicted I had become to having NPR droning in the background while I made my commute, which got me thinking about what other people listed to when they drive. In the past it would usually be top 40 radio, but now with the digital revolution (which I have largely avoided) tuning the radio might be a thing of the past. So satisfy my curiosity and let me know what (if anything) you listen to when you drive. Multiple answers on the poll are allowed but concentrate on your main, say any one you do more than 30% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/2 "2019-01-16T19:00:58Z")
Road noise, generally. Except on trips of hundreds of miles of interstate freeway, when I listen to audiobooks. Ian MacKellen reading the Iliad got me from Saskatchewan to California once. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/3 "2019-01-16T19:01:46Z")
NPR, sports radio, and CDs. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/4 "2019-01-16T19:03:07Z")
64GB USB drive with my favorite music on it, set to endless shuffle. There are about a thousand albums on there, give or take, so it takes a while to get a repeat of a song. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/5 "2019-01-16T19:05:23Z")
Sirius/XM. Mostly listen to music, but will also tune into the live feed of MSNBC on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/6 "2019-01-16T19:17:03Z")
NPR ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/7 "2019-01-16T19:31:16Z")
Podcasts and Spotify playlists, mostly. Silence is often chosen as well. mmm ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/8 "2019-01-16T19:40:53Z")
Whatever possible breaking-down noises my car might be making. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/9 "2019-01-16T19:46:43Z")
Rock-n-Roll, very loud. Most all the cars have something to plug in a USB stick. Radio annoys me with the constant commercials. Oops. Didn’t see the poll. Went back to vote. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/10 "2019-01-16T19:59:22Z")
I listen to the local NPR stations (WBEZ) during my weekday commuting trips. However, weekends and weekday nights are classic rock music stations. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/11 "2019-01-16T20:01:21Z")
Usually news radio. Sometimes baseball. Sometimes rock. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/12 "2019-01-16T20:25:13Z")
I’ve got a flash drive with a small subset of my music collection on it (\<1000 out of 10000+ tracks). It’s mostly focused on lively fun songs that one can bop to, for maximum distraction while driving. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/13 "2019-01-16T20:34:45Z")
If I’m listening to something and my wife is not in the car, it’s generally an audiobook. If the wife is with me, music (SiriusXM) or silence. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/14 "2019-01-16T20:37:30Z")
Depends on which car and when. When we drove around the country in my wife’s new car we listened to music on Sirius and sometimes music from my phone - which was ripped from my CDs. When I commuted I listened to traffic then to the classical music station and then often to music from my CDs. Now I hardly drive long enough to make a CD useful. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/15 "2019-01-16T20:38:41Z")
SiriusXM Radio, and pretty much always one of two channels - Entertainment Weekly Radio (I wouldn’t call it “talk/news radio,” which is why I voted “other,” although it does have the occasional lister call-in segment), and Fight Nation (boxing, MMA, professional wrestling - I listen mainly for the wrestling) ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/16 "2019-01-16T20:43:54Z")
Almost exclusively podcasts now. Many of them are podcasts of NPR news and current events shows, though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/17 "2019-01-16T20:44:37Z")
Primarily SiriusXM – I alternate between news (BBC World Service, CBC, NPR, and MSNBC) and music (mostly rock), with an occasional football game thrown in on Sundays. Otherwise, it’s music from my iPhone (via Bluetooth), and occasionally the local newsradio station. I’m usually by myself in the car, but if I have company along, we’ll be talking, as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/18 "2019-01-16T20:46:11Z")
Most often, silence. Sometimes NPR or music, usually KCLC, a college station here in the St. Louis area. For long trips, I might do audiobooks, like **Ulfreida**. If my kids are in the car for any longish trips, I’ll put on one of the kids channels on Sirius. Last spring. I took a T-Top car on a drive up the Great River Road. My hearing is crap, and I couldn’t hear the radio over the wind noise when I had the top out, so I just turned the radio off. I realized that it was nice to have space from all the people/things trying to cram stuff into my head. It became sort of a little meditation. So when I got back from that trip, I turned the radio off in my car and have only rarely turned it on since then. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/19 "2019-01-16T20:52:38Z")
AM talk radio. It’s good to know what the other side thinks, or what their talking points are. At night, I fall asleep to NPR. The dulcet tones really help me fall asleep, and when I wake up early, I can lay in bed and listen to the latest stories. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886/20 "2019-01-16T21:05:55Z")
NPR and CDs [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-generally-listen-to-when-you-are-in-the-car/827886.md?page=2)