Six Ways to Entertain Yourself on Your Next Road Trip

Ah, the glory of the road trip. I’m one of those weird people who like driving, especially at night. I can’t think of a better way to start a road trip than five hours alone in the car while it’s dark. I enjoy the solitude, the lack of traffic, and the chance to be alone with my thoughts and my music.

And there’s nothing cooler than driving on the highway on a summer night with Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” blasting on the stereo. (Click the video below and listen while you read this. Tell me I’m not right about that.)

But if you’re taking a many-mile drive, listening to the car radio is going to be frustrating — too many commercials, poor range, and cookie-cutter playlists that are identical from town to town. Plus, not many of us listen to an actual radio anymore; we get our music from other sources.

Still, if you’re still punching buttons and twisting knobs, give some streaming audio a try the next time you find yourself in the car. There are many dozens of choices and channels, but here are a few ways for you to get started with mobile audio.

1. Podcasts

If you’re not listening to podcasts yet, you’re missing out. We’re in the Golden Age of Podcasting right now, and there are shows about nearly any subject you want to know about. These aren’t just amateur productions made by someone shouting into their computer’s microphone. There are plenty of radio stations and professional podcasters with studio-level equipment producing some exciting content.

Just do a basic iTunes search for your favorite hobby or subject you’d like to learn more about, and pick a few of the ones that interest you. I listen to several writing and language podcasts (Grammar Girl, A Way With Words), business podcasts (Business Of Story, Marketing Over Coffee), special interests and collectors (I Hear Of Sherlock Everywhere, The Eephus Baseball History podcast), interviews (Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, How to be Amazing), and audio theater (Decoder Ring Theatre, Girl In Space).

There are also several different podcast listening apps available. I’m not a big fan of the Apple Podcast app, because it’s too clunky and hard to use. But I like Overcast, and I keep hearing great things about Stitcher. Plus, if you’re a Stitcher paid user, several podcasts like Grammar Girl have special bonus content available only to Stitcher subscribers.

2. Spotify

A lot of people use Spotify, but they don’t pay for the service. That’s understandable. Why pay $9.95 to stream music when you’ve got other free options like Pandora or the radio in your car?

The one benefit of Stitcher is that you can search for your favorite music, test out new music, and create different playlists to suit your mood. Plus you can find the music your friends are listening to, because Spotify has a social aspect to it. You can see what they’re listening to, and make some interesting discoveries. And best of all, the paid option is ad free. You just don’t get that on the appropriately-named “commercial radio.”

I also like Spotify because you can find individual artists and do deep dives into their discographies without cluttering up your musical mood with other artists like Pandora does. Listen to Tom Waits’ early work, find Arcade Fire’s latest album, or re-discover that one-hit wonder band you liked in the 90s, only to discover they’ve been making music for the last 25 years.

3. Pandora

On the other hand, there’s something cool about discovering new music at random, based on your musical preferences. Are you a big Prince fan? Just enter his name on the Pandora app (or their website at Pandora.com) and see what comes up. You’ll hear other pop-rock artists he played with, artists he produced, or similar artists who were around at roughly the same time.

It’s also a way to find new genres you might never have considered. One of my favorites is Balkan Beat Box, which is actually an Israel-based band that plays a combination of Jewish, Southeastern European (mainly Balkan), Gypsy punk, and electronica. And while BBB may be a band, I’ve come to think of their style as a little genre unto itself. (Pop that onto your Pandora app as you’re headed down the road, and you won’t need caffeine for a couple hours.) Just find an esoteric band whose music you might like, enter it, and see what Pandora finds for you.

4. TuneIn

Do you have any favorite radio stations around the country or even around the world that you just can’t listen to anymore? Are there any Internet-only radio stations you enjoy while you’re on your computer, but can’t get on your phone?

Enter TuneIn, the Internet radio broadcaster. Years ago, my only option for Internet radio was iTunes on my laptop, and I had my three favorite radio stations: WFPK (Louisville), KCRW’s Eclectic 24 (Santa Monica, CA), and CelticRadio’net’s Highlander Radio (online only). Imagine my joy when I discovered I could get all of these on TuneIn in my car. I can stream all of these stations on TuneIn, as well as pick up other radio stations from around the world, as well as different podcasts and on-demand radio shows.

TuneIn also offers sports broadcasts for the different sports and leagues you may like. Some of these require a TuneIn subscription, like listening to the NFL. But if you left your favorite college or pro team behind when you moved across the country, TuneIn is a great way to keep up with your favorite teams.

5. Sports Radio

When I was a kid, I loved listening to the Cincinnati Reds on AM radio, especially at night. And I can recreate the feeling with the MLB TV app which gives me access to (nearly) all MLB games on TV (nothing in-market, so it doesn’t help if you live in or near your team’s favorite city), as well as their radio broadcasts. I can drive in my car, listening to the home broadcast of a Reds night game. And when the game is over around 10 pm, I can pull up a broadcast of a West Coast game and listen until 1:00 in the morning. (Just don’t try to watch the games while you’re driving!)

As an added bonus, I can watch MLB games on my laptop or Apple TV (as well as other streaming TV devices). I can even listen to the radio broadcast while watching the TV broadcast (laptop only). I can do the same with the NFL app, and the NBA and NHL have similar options for their fans. You can even get a Minor League Baseball subscription if you love small-town baseball. Of course, some minor league teams even broadcast their games on their local radio stations, which you can pick up on TuneIn.

And if you’re a sports talk fan, the ESPN radio app lets you listen to radio streams from 15 of the largest markets, as well as all their big sports talk shows.

6. Old-Time Radio

I’ve been a fan of old-time radio (OTR) ever since I was a kid. (And yes, it was called “old-time radio” back then. I’m not that old!) The detectives, superheroes, space fighters. The comedies and “scary” stories. You could imagine what was happening because they told you but never showed you. They were movies for your mind.

Thanks to U.S. copyright laws, many of these OTR shows are available for download, or you can get an old-time radio streaming app for iPhone and Android. You can download the stories for offline usage, so you can use your wifi instead of chewing up your data. (Keep in mind, apps like Spotify, TuneIn, Pandora, and sports radio apps all use data; podcasts and downloaded OTR do not).

You can also find episodes of your favorite show on different websites and download them to your regular MP3 player. I made a whole Ellery Queen playlist this way and burned through it on a recent road trip to South Florida. You can find your favorite genres, shows, and characters through a simple Internet search and then use the apps to pinpoint the shows you want to hear.

Best of all, OTR shows are all family friendly so you can let young kids listen to it without worrying about anything inappropriate. Even the scary stories aren’t that scary, although you may want to preview a few of them before you let little kids listen.

Thanks to today’s broadband technology, there’s no reason you have to suffer through today’s commercial radio on the road — constant commercials, short broadcast ranges, and suffering through songs you don’t actually like. Try one or two of these apps, explore them while you’re still at home, and then get ready for your next road trip or plane trip with hours of entertainment to accompany you while you travel.

How do you listen and keep yourself entertained on a road trip? Where do you get your favorite music or talk radio? What are some apps, programs, and genres you would recommend? Share your tips and ideas on our Facebook page, or in our Twitter stream.

Photo credit: Bru-nO (Pixabay, Creative Commons 0)