In the car, I mostly listen to Sirius for music (although I do find myself playing Pandora more frequently) and then play podcasts for the radio shows I follow so I can hear what I want when I want.

Music:
I typically keep the dial between 29-36 for a mix of adult contemporary, accoustic, alternative and jam, with The Coffeehouse-31 (accoustic) being my go to. I occassionaly listen to R&B on 47-50 and jazz on 66-67.

News/talk programs:
NPR-122, BBC-118, Bloomberg-119, but I usually tune into NPR on my local public station instead of on Sirius both in the car and at home, especially during morning and evening news hours (i.e. Morning Edition and All Things Considered). NPR also offers the radio shows I enjoy via podcast such as Fresh Air, This American Life, Radiolab, TED.

Have you listened to the current phenomenon Serial? It's an offshoot of This American Life and has become a huge hit. Google "Serial NPR" for more info. Did Adnaan really do it????? ;)

Anyway, I'd search a podcast app for shows you might be interested in (looke through the most popular listings) and then download or stream and also see when they might air on a Sirius channel.

Thread hijack about public programming: has anyone watched To Catch a Comet or The Rise of Isis on PBS? Fascinating reports! I watch PBS on the ipad app, and I'm a longtime fan of Frontline. Oh and The Roosevelts, too. I could go on ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sirius channel guide for reference

My car came with a free 3 month trial of Sirius. I'm into about 3 weeks of the trial and just can't get into any of the programs. Maybe because my trips are usually short?

After hearing the recent AmEx ad playing Simon and Garfunkel's 'America', I copied my very old CD of The Central Park Concert to my iPod and have been enjoying it. Over and over again.

ML

ML

Only when driving, which I don't do too terribly much of since DH is very chivalrous about that and he ferries the kids a lot, and since we have consolidated from 3 schools down to 2!

DH always has it on NPR, but I like music when I drive, not talk, though I must admit I usually get hooked on whatever is on NPR and end up sitting in the driveway for 40 minutes. It reminds me of the New Yorker in that way. No matter what they write about and how disinterested you are, once you start, you go "oh hey, that IS interesting..." Except we all groan at CarTalk.

So for music, I like the Pulse and the Blend. I like hearing new music. DH likes "oldies" ; eg 90s/80s/70s, but we listened to the 70s once on a very long ride and well, of course, they kind of run out of music IYKWIM.

We rented a car once and the kids did not understand tuning, static, and commercials. Ahh, the life.

Got myself another XM trial-period...2 months this time!!
As you ALL know...
The Music stations are for me!
60's, 70's, 80's, Ozzy's Boneyard-XM38, Hair-Nation XM39, & many others.
Country stations? Dear God NO!
Lots of sports stations...yay!
Religious stuff? Ugh, no. I'm a laid-back Lutheran.

Faron

My new car came with a 6 months trial. I did not renew. Someone told me that they'll keep sending me cheaper offers so I might renew if it's cheap enough.

I find the music stations to be pretty terrible and talk radio is just inane. I've cultivated a few Pandora stations that I love listening to and I listen to my local NPR station. I guess the only thing I liked was being able to listen to NPR while traveling. Oh, and I also liked the "Travel Link" that came came with Sirius thru my navigation system. It gives info on weather and traffic, etc.

mtn, like you, I find myself sitting in my car, waiting for the end of an interview!

The Serial NPR sounds very interesting though.

I also like the Elvis channel (I know, my friends make fun of me) and like faron, I like the 70's, 80's music and force my son to listen ever so often LOL! I mean, he has to know really good music! Except for the hard rock-gives me a headache and to me, is just loud noise!

I wish they would make a hiphop/rap channel that didn't have such bad language-my son is a serious basketball player and has taken hip hop dance for the last 4 years and he loves hip hop and rap-but very limited due to the content. I know he sneaks it though.

This post was edited by olliesmom on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 9:54

Mostly I listen to music that I like and comedy bits.
I've discovered some good comedians I'd never heard of.
Laughter is the best medicine.

It came with my new car, but it's not user friendly in my car, the way my radio is set up, so I rarely use it. It mainly gets used on road trips. It does come in handy though if we are in the car and there is a sports game on that is important to dh or my boys b/c we can almost always find it broadcast on one of the many sports channels.

Jujubean, what a coincidence that you mentioned Serial. My neighbor just told me about it yesterday and I listened to the first installment this morning while weeding through email on my computer. I actually live just south of Baltimore, and was living here at the time of that murder but I don't remember it at all. The journalist does raise interesting questions in first installment about whether people can honestly account for their time on any particular day, especially one that occurred many weeks prior.

I really should acquaint myself better with what is broadcast on Sirius as I spend a lot of time in my car and probably would enjoy many of the channels.

No. Refuse to pay extra for that kind of stuff.

Too many commercials on regular radio!

DH and I have been subscribers since Howard Stern came over in 2006. We have no plans to give it up. It is the only thing that makes my commute bearable. We don't do any other talk shows other than Howard.

it is also great for the NFL games and also some college football.

Faron, we listen to pretty much the same rock stations: Boneyard, Lithium, First Wave, Rockbar--which I do get on my new receiver, Classic Rewind, Pearl Jam, Underground Garage, Octane, etc.

I don't have a way to listen in my Mustang, which is a bit of a bummer because it uses a lot of data to stream the app without wireless or in-car radio.

Wish I had Sirius. But I listen to NPR for talk and news (BBC) or music.

No. But I am a radio person, so I love my ipod. I download the shows I want (a lot of NPR and BBC) and listen to them any time I want to. There's enough variety for me even without all of the Sirius shows.

GSK!
Yeah....I could "roadtrip" with you guys!!

I forgot about the XM-Comedy channels! I never think of them when I'm jammin' to some Glam-rock, or Hairband stuff...;-)
Others I love are Classic-Vinyl, Classic-Rewind, Deep-Tracks, Elvis, etc.
As I said...the BEST one is "Hair Nation"...;-)

My WORST ones?
Well, of course the Country-c**p, "The Coffee House", & the "religion-themed" ones....uggghhhh.

On TV...I've always loved "Frontline" & NOVA on PBS.

Faron

Faron, I love the Elvis one too!

I love satellite radio! Have had Sirius for several years now, and mostly listen to either my ipod (plays thru my car bluetooth) or Sirius. My favorite stations are Spectrum, Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, the Bridge, Deep Tracks, and a few others (including country and bluegrass now and then). I mostly listen to music as I find the talk shows distracting when I'm driving and trying to listen.

Hate to admit this....
but I listen to Studio-54 sometimes!
Also, a couple of the Soul and R&B Stations are a nice change.

Have to get my fix occasionally from the ESPN & similar stations! I'm hooked into Fantasy-Football, so there ya are!
I think if I ever needed heart-surgery, they'd find the NFL-Logo on it....

;-)
Faron

Yes, but not the talk shows, except for ESPN Radio, and sometimes Stern. 1st Wave, 'cause I love '80's New Wave music. Alt Rock, SiriusXM U, The Verge (especially when they play Canadian artists), BPM, Heart and Soul, the Groove, Litihum (mostly '90's grunge), MLB and NFL, Real Jazz, Bluesville, and the Venus channel to keep up with popular music.