Driver Lifestyles

Sounds on the road: What are you listening to?

By Jeff Jensen, Editor
Posted Sep 6th 2005 11:15AM

radio_dude.jpgWhat are you listening to?  In the truck, that is.

The professional driver is typically a devoted radio/music listener - he or she truly needs some form of audio entertainment to help conquer the boredom of the endless miles.  After all, you can only talk to the co-driver for so long about so many things and then it's time to turn on the radio or even the CB.

With the advent of satellite radio in 2001, it would seem that the expediter has a world of choices available now in addition to the standard AM/FM, tapes, CD's and CB radio, however, it would appear that the venerable citizen's band radio has lost much of it's classic appeal. 

We were curious about drivers' audio preferences, so we took a very informal survey of Expediters Online forum members to find out just what they've been listening to.

Leo Bricker
"I have both XM and Sirius satellite radios. I listen to the old time radio programs along with some talk programs. I also listen to assorted music stations in the rock and country sections." 
"I rarely turn on the CB unless there is a traffic problem I need to find out about or the shipper/consignee requires it or I need to call the scale operator. Other than that it's turned off to avoid the nonsense."

Nancy McBride
"We have Sirius Satellite radio and love it. We listen to oldies, rock, and talk shows. NO country, though."

Kraig Allen
"I listen to music and I am dying to get an XM or something with new speakers in my unit  with $700.00 I am saving for."

"It's a toss up between Oldies, Country and Rock. I still love it, but I'm just tired of it except when in Detroit - they've got some great stations there, same goes for Nashville and Country. I really enjoy all music except for Hip Hop, Grunge and Opera."

road_radio.jpgGib Goff
"You know, when we started, we bought a 'big' CB radio. Fancy antennas and big 'ol power mike. Growl your voice a little and get that 'pilot monotone' going, and you sound like you're kicking a 500 watt linear."

"Then we got Sirius, and barely turn the CB on at all. The real beauty of the satellite radio is going from Quebec to Laredo and never changing the channel. Crystal clear, all the time. The only drawback is the FM modulator being overrode by the local PBS stations, sometimes on all 4 of the available modulator frequencies."

"And if you've got satellite radio, you know there is suddenly no such thing as your favorite station. At least not for any period of time."

"Today, Wade Hayes and George Strait waltz you down the highway and tomorrow, Unchained Melody sounds fantastic at almost full volume.
Our tastes range from conservative talk radio (even though I listened to a whole lot more during the elections); to The Big 80's."

"We find our moods change about weekly, but it always seem to center around something we can sing along to! 60's to the 80's, some classic rock and Dire Straits every once and awhile."

"We like a lot of Prime Country and even some Phantom 309 Roadhouse in the wee hours of the morning."

"It's all good!"

Dave Corfman
"We generally listened to talk and 171 truckers channel(XM) when we were on the road. "Sometimes, (we listened to) music when the talk channels were repeating a show. Only ran the CB during traffic accidents, delays, and on the occasion of seeing another Panther truck."

Terry O'Connell
I usually listen to the CNN news in the early morning, then the Dave Nemo show followed by Fox news in the afternoon and evening.  All on the XM radio Rene' won in the Expediter Pride Contest last year."

Rich Moore
"As far as Radio listening goes, I am all over the XM dial. I like Dave Nemo in the AM, Extreme Live and Phil Hendrie in the PM.  I listen to Hank's Place for old country, the 50's station, CNN and so on."

"In the middle of the night I listen to George Nourie/ Art Bell for news of the weird spectrum. I also like Rollie James from 2200 to 0100."

Glen Rice
"(When we were on the road), our listening enjoyment was all over the chart. Janice loved talk radio and I would listen to the plays and dramas on XM as well as blues, oldies, and of course country! We also had the Left Behind series on CD to listen to through those long lonely nights! A little fire and brimstone will keep you awake!!"

Shawn Denny
"I have XM Radio.  It's rare for me to listen to music. When I do, it is Top Tracks. I do like some Country. I am a Rock fan. I listen to NASCAR, Playboy and lots of talk."

Rex Weaver
"I listen to music, news/talk, sports radio, but I can go entire trips without turning on the CB.
My musical tastes run to Blues, Classic Rock, Jazz, Swing, Reggae and R&B."
 
"I've got Sirius satellite because they've got the NFL and Howard Stern is coming soon. Also, there are no commercials and there's a large catalog of tunes, regardless of genre."

Mike Linthicum
"I'm a talk radio/CB person. Give me Glen Beck or Rush any day of the week! I will listen to music from time to time, but I always seem to drift back to the CB for some reason. I'm also not a satellite radio user. I haven't really decided if it worth the money, when I can listen for free."