The 5 Best Podcasts for Epic Road Trips
Summer’s on the horizon, which means it’s almost time to take a long weekend and hit the road for the city, the beach, the mountains, and everything in between.
Here at Podcast App, we specialize in the in-between, those long drives through prairies and corn fields and sweeping deserts that are at once both energizing and relaxing. Nothing makes the time fly and the memories stick like a great podcast, so if you’re taking a road trip anytime soon, check out some of our top pods to make it a trip to remember.
If you can never get enough true crime… Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
Crime Junkie
For anyone with the sneaking suspicion that they missed their true calling as a detective, and everyone who just can’t get enough of the chart-smashing true crime sensation, there’s Crime Junkie. Your hosts, Ashley and Brit, are the ultimate true crime junkies themselves. They don’t claim to be experts, but if there were a PhD in true crime fandom, they would have it. They’ll take you through real life mysteries in forensic detail, laying out the facts of each case with calm, devoted poise. The best part is that they’re fans just like you! So along the way, they’ll laugh, obsess, and freak out over the cases they cover. With over 500 million downloads in just five years, Crime Junkie is incredibly bingeable, a perfect companion for the road.
Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. Deep questions and investigative journalism to get the answers.
Radiolab
Radiolab says they’re “on a curiosity bender.” Well it just so happens that Podcast App is too, and Radiolab is one of the podcasts that piques our curiosity the most. Hosts Jad Abumrad, Lulu Miller, and Latif Nasser keep us guessing with the wildest array of topics from science, law, history, and art to explore and explain our world’s biggest mysteries and quirkiest curiosities. In addition to zooming in on bizarre, one-in-a-billion stories, Radiolab also zooms out to a more grandiose, universal perspective, and it always makes for a gripping car ride listen. Plus, you can count on the very best sound and music editing in the business.
Daily topics, guests, and fun will make this your new favorite sports talk show.
Pardon My Take
Calling all sports fans! If you’re looking for bright color commentary on all the latest goings-on in sports, you’ve come to the right place. Pardon My Take hosts Big Cat and PFT are without a doubt the funniest people in sports broadcasting. They deliver the outrageously creative takes you wish you got on TV, instead of dull play-by-play. In fact, they’ve garnered so much attention with this show that now, they occasionally are on TV, with ESPN and other networks. For a show that makes you feel like you’re recapping the game with your best friends—if your best friends were brilliant and hilarious comedians—take a ride with PMT.
Get inside the mind of a rogue taxidermist.
Love and Radio
Flash back to the now-strange world of the 2010s with Love and Radio, an uncategorizable show from multi-talented host/producer/musician/sound engineer Nick van der Kolk. Nick interviews a disparate range of subjects, from an at-home strip club manager to an internet investigative journalist turned glam metal star. But the hallmark of the show isn’t its eclecticism, it’s the stunning intimacy underpinning each interview. Nick sketches unflinching portraits of his guests, capturing their realness and depth in a way that would make any painter proud.
A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire
The History of Rome
Consider yourself a history buff? Feel like you have a good grasp on Ancient history? Well there’s always more to learn, like, for instance, the entire history of Ancient Rome in 180 half-hour episodes. There’s certainly enough quantity here to fill a road trip or twelve, but it’s the quality that keeps us hooked. Host Mike Duncan is the foremost podcast historian in the world, featured often on the History Channel and in several documentaries. His book on the end of the Roman Republic, The Storm Before the Storm, was a New York Times best seller, and his current podcast, Revolutions, is making history for its downloads and run-time.
