Do You Listen to Terrestial Radio (2026)

Yup! Mostly the adult R&B station.

Yeah, in my car.

DAB radio in my kitchen, sometimes play live radio thru the TV or PC. Mostly sports, a bit of Radio 3 or 1 Extra

I'll listen to Radio 1 on my way home from work if the podcast I'm listening to has finished. I'm on a bus and listening to the FM radio on my mobile but I think that still counts.

I'll only listen to R3 and get grumpy when there are news intervals because I don't accept any news coverage from the bbc post-Gaza. Radio 4 is a toxic wasteland. It's barely even recognisable from the version of it from 30 years ago that I used to like.

on short drives, yeah

Yes. I will never not listen to the radio every day.

60/40 CDs/radio in the car.

In the car only. Greatest hits radio/ghr 70s/ghr 80s/hits 70s/hits 80s/smooth/radio 2 - whichever is actually playing music, not adverts or stupid dj chat.

All the time. I have a clock radio in the kitchen and another in the bathroom. A clock radio alarm clock that Ive had for 25 years wakes me up. Also in the car.

no, not since i stopped driving a Car

I love being able to press one button and then in the radio.

Oops *listen to the

I listen to the local college station all the time. It doesn't even matter if I don't happen to like the particular program, I just like the fact that it's college folks playing music they like live and that other people are out there listening to the same thing at the same time.

There's something about that sense of "other people are out there" which is a big part of the joy of radio for me

Very rarely, I'll listen to the local classic pop/rock/oldies station, maybe an hour per year total.

Nv otm — literally nothing keeps me company quite like radio, always has.

I love being able to press one button

There's something about that sense of "other people are out there" which is a big part of the joy of radio for me

No disrespect to my dogs who also keep me company but they don’t have a lot to say tbh

I listen to my local listener supported jazz/roots music station in the car (Jazz88 for you Twin Citians.) Never at home though.

local sports radio and baseball games on the AM

^ this

also occasionally local NPR and college stations

almost always in the car but sometimes while folding laundry or doing dishes

I do in my car. Listen to lots of broadcast stations via the internet at home, but I know that's not the question.

In the car my saved local stations that I rotate through: college rock, NPR, a couple of classic rock, a fantastic "throwback" hip-hop/r&b station (covers late '80s-early '00s), top 40, contemporary r&b/hip-hop, independent Americana. I just kind of flick around until there's something I want to hear.

Does 6music count?

(My answer is yes either way, just asking for the boys and girls)

I listen to a bit of AM (live sports, some stupid talk) and a bit of late night Pacifica and I listen to my local NPR affiliates in LA but the reception is spotty so those I often listen to using a tabletop wifi/FM radio that I live so much I bought 2 of them. it can play any station that has a stream on the Internet, as well as local FM. all done at home, mostly in bed while trying to sleep.

Car companies hate AM radio and want to stop including it

Not since the oldies hip-hop station got killed. I would listen to baseball on the radio but my drive times don’t line up with games.

I mostly listen to a local community station (Portland is blessed with several of these). During the holidays I listen to a high school station when it switches to an all-xmas playlist which is infinitely better than the commercial stations which do similar. Also occasionally listen to sports, the more local the better... Love hearing the likes of high school football etc.

Was an NPR regular for years until Trump's first term... just couldn't bear to hear him anymore.

ie. Didn't want to hear him on the news everyday.

Oh I also listen to a local high school station, with the weirdest playlist/format. It's basically oldies of the '70s/'80s, but a lot of it is not stuff I hear otherwise. Like, forgotten soft-rock and smooth r&b hits of the mid-'70s, that kind of stuff.

That's exactly what the station here is like, though with some modern stuff thrown in depending on the time of day. And school board meetings.

When I first moved to Montana and got a driver's license and a new car, I listened to terrestrial and satellite radio a bit, kinda testing it out after not listening to the radio at all for literal decades. But it's just not for me. These days my driving music is DJ mixes bought on Bandcamp - the Fabric Presents or DJ-Kicks compilations, mostly.

Anyone else have MeTv radio? It’s heavenly to turn on the radio and potentially hear a series of actual oldies that I feel like singing along with. Pure bliss in this hellish world.

I still listen to the local NPR station all the time too — they have good programming most of the time and local news I don’t get elsewhere. I can’t tolerate The Moth or a variety of other shows, so I don’t listen to them.

Portland has an unusually wide variety of on-air non-commercial radio. There's the local NPR station which has a local news operation as well as the standard NPR fare from the national feed(s). We also have a classical station that is programmed by knowledgeable DJs who are allowed to range beyond the classical 'hits'.

Beyond those two, we have a jazz station that casts a wide net into blues, gospel and stuff that straddles the line with pop. But the premier non-commercial station is the catch-all, volunteer-run station KBOO that has been on-air since about 1970. I listen to all of them at various times, usually while in the kitchen preparing food or in the car. KBOO is deeply knit into the community and its programming is 'whatever people won't hear elsewhere'.

We send money to all four stations to help keep them going. Commercial radio gives me the shudders.

i listen to the local NPR affiliate the most for the usual stuff. they switch to a music format at night that is strictly whitebread indie rock hits of the 00s which i often hate but at least its music on the radio thats not the usual clearchannel stuff. theres also a college station that continues to survive, plus a listener supported jazz station thats not great but better than nothing. i would kill for a legit classic rock station if there was still one on the dial where i am, but no such luck.

I gotta admit I am pleased that there's a radio station in Missoula that plays my label's releases (I send one of the DJs CDs).

I have been on the radio more often* than I have listened to it on the VHF and HF bands this year. Where do we draw the line?

Does linear radio broadcast on UHF over the TV count? Because, if so ABC Jazz and ABC kids get a lot of play.

*OK only once but it is ridiculously easy to get interviewed for 10 minutes on ABC local radio. I spoke about electric trucks last week on ABC Ballarat.

only in the car on my commute. mostly radio 4 skipping to radio 3 if it's smthg I really can't stand on 4.luckily I don't start work until 11am so not subjected to the worst of radio 4 ie the today show. always catch the first 10 mins of 'add to playlist' on my way home on fridays and enjoy it but can never be arsed to catch via BBC sounds.

WKCR 89.9 (Columbia University) in my car nearly always. My favorite shows:

Birdflight (replays of Phil Schapp's Charlie Parker show Tue-Thu).
Footsteps of Reggae (Reggae Saturday Morning while I'm running errands).
Across 110th Street (Groovy Classic Funk and Soul Saturday afternoon while I'm running errands)
Tennessee Border Show (Post 1950s Country Music show on Sunday afternoon)
Various Jazz Programming (mostly Jazz Alternatives and 24-hour Birthday broadcasts).
Bachfest (24/7 Bach from 12/25 to 01/01 every year).

I have an old KLH Model Twenty One (FM Only), which is one of the greatest table top radios ever made.. designed by Henry Kloss
I usually have NPR in the background while I'm working, occasionally the jazz or classical station

This is really saddening to me for some reason (thanks Bari!):
CBS News will shut down CBS News Radio on May 22 as part of a restructuring that includes a 6% reduction in staff.

The development will leave approximately 700 affiliated stations seeking another source for features such as news at the top of the hour.
The CBS News Radio division dates back to Sept. 27, 1927.

I used to love CBS Radio Mystery Theater as a kid... archived here:
https://www.cbsrmt.com/

Ever since NPR became a no-go for me I've pretty much kept my radio soaked to KEXP, it helps that I share a similar taste in music as DJ Evie Stokes.

Soaked = dialed

Yes, because my aux cord won't work.

xps Used to love hearing Phil Schapp whenever I visited NY.

I swear our I [Heart] Radio station is broadcasting its streaming site and not the other way around.

In Minneapolis, we have the often-great, often-lolworthy public indie-leaning station called The Current, which is always on the stereo in our living room if I'm not playing records. In the car, if the missus is driving, more Current if they aren't on a pledge drive, whereas if they are, its Kool 108 (the "oldies" station that now plays songs from the 1990s, oh well, I guess "Black Hole Sun" is even more of a Capital-O Oldie than, like, Gary U.S. Bonds's "Quarter to Three" was in the late '80s).

When I drive, I throw on Radio K, the U of MN's college station (their official motto: "I just went to Soulseek and downloaded this Donald Fagen remix of Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz's "Deja Vu - Uptown Baby", go ahead and cancel your plans for the next 11 minutes"), or KRSM, an independent low-power but highly-needed mix of classic and modern Hip Hop/Funk/Soul/R&B, among other rowdiness.

I listen to the local college station all the time. It doesn't even matter if I don't happen to like the particular program, I just like the fact that it's college folks playing music they like live and that other people are out there listening to the same thing at the same time.

― henry s, Sunday, April 5, 2026 8:57 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's something about that sense of "other people are out there" which is a big part of the joy of radio for me

― the Don King of donking (Noodle Vague), Sunday, April 5, 2026 8:59 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'll add to the previous positivity towards y'all's words.

When I was age 11 to 14, I had a wild anxiety about listening to cassettes or records as I went to sleep because the lack of a DJ felt claustrophobic/melancholic (not the words I would have used then, obv). There is something comforting about radio - that idea that others were hearing the same songs as me, plus the even-if-spare narration of a human telling me what was just played, which was also aided by the lack of predictability of what awaited when the song ended. It's ironic that when I finally shook the anxiety in 1990, the first album that I could handle at night was not daytime faves like Jody Watley's debut or ABC's How to Be A Zillionaire* (having 2 older sisters is like skipping grades in pop culture), but Pink Floyd's The Wall, which is about as claustrophobic and melancholic as it gets. What the hell?

*Jesus H, "15 Storey Halo" definitely didn't help the anxiousness!

Car companies hate AM radio and want to stop including it

― Brad C., Sunday, April 5, 2026 1:53 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

my spouse got a new Volvo last year and when i waiting out in the car to pick my kids up from dance i was shocked to discover it wasn't included.

yes often in the car & esp Psychedlic Sundays on local fm station KZAP when i run Sunday errands

Car companies hate AM radio and want to stop including it

― Brad C., Sunday, April 5, 2026 1:53 PM (seven hours ago)

That's a damn shame. AM is the people's band — which, yes, is ironic since FM was originally the anti-establishment band.

I listen most of the time to a rock station on AM that's mostly Skynyrd and Floyd, but also sprinkles in numbers from the grunge era. And let me tell you something, "Black Hole Sun" sounds great on AM. It also reminds me of listening to ... Radio K 770!

no. i have a cd wallet of burned cds for the car. fun little project.

There is something comforting about radio

when I was about 18 or 19 I had the worst possible acid trip of my life, laying in bed and seeing smoke demons pointing and cackling at me.. I heard a bottle break outside around 3am and I knew in all my heart that the world was ending and we were all doomed. I flipped on my clock radio (sill have it!) and heard a comforting voice: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 13 points, but shares in after hours trading rose slightly blah blah blah.." and honestly one of the most comforting things I've ever heard... I even managed to get some sleep

just kill me if i can't get a car with a cd player in it anymore.

I listen most of the time to a rock station on AM that's mostly Skynyrd and Floyd, but also sprinkles in numbers from the grunge era. And let me tell you something, "Black Hole Sun" sounds great on AM. It also reminds me of listening to ... Radio K 770!

― pplains, Sunday, April 5, 2026 9:08 PM (eleven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hell yeah! Like our Seattle friends, a lot of their '70s heroes have this cool-as-hell vibe on AM. I don't really understand why - maybe it's a weird serendipity of recording style and composition techniques. One of my faves was when a Radio K DJ played The Carpenters' "Superstar", leading the car to shake like I was playing "187" off of the Deep Cover soundtrack

well AM is mono and I think there used to be an effort to make mixes that worked in both stereo and mono.. probably just as important today with those portable digital speakers

just kill me if i can't get a car with a cd player in it anymore

My car doesn't have a CD player. My wife's car - a 2009 Nissan Versa - has a 6CD changer.

some completely backwoods station in Northeast Vermont broadcasts about as perfect of a 60-80s classic rock station that i'm amazed even exists. next to no advertisement breaks/station identifications. it's so low tech their official website just redirects to a livestream of what's playing. i've had it on in the background for the past 2 hours while housecleaning. i love going on drives in small town parts of the country and finding stations like this.

https://www.outlawfm.com/

I still check in on the low-power FM station of a tiny northern MN town that I vacationed in once. its like the real life version of the radio station Northern Exposure, a total gem. When its their pledge drive, the host will be interrupted by townsfolk just physically knocking on the station's front door to drop off a check. I once heard a DJ do a weather report by leaving the studio to run outside for a sec and then describing what it felt like out there.

The Carpenters' "Superstar", leading the car to shake

See, this is what we need to tell Volvo about.

well AM is mono and I think there used to be an effort to make mixes that worked in both stereo and mono.. probably just as important today with those portable digital speakers

Same station occasionally will broadcast only "half" of a song. Heard "Space Oddity" once where it was just Bowie going "3-2-1, lifft off" over some bass.

seeing smoke demons pointing and cackling at me

The cackling is one thing, but I never understood why they had to point like that.

when i spin the dial on long road trips, its amazing how often i'll hear fully automated radio stations playing two songs at once

awww I love this thread. I am finally giving up my weekly public radio spot after 35 years, it's bittersweet so it's really great to read all this.

There's something about that sense of "other people are out there" which is a big part of the joy of radio for me

"I'm here, I'm glad you're there" - St. GIGA - Tide of Sound Archive (90's Japanese ambient/new-age/house radio)

I only listen to the radio while in the car, and mostly when I'm driving with my wife. If I'm by myself, I'll more often than not listen to a podcast or Spotify. But if my wife is with me, it's easier to just turn on the radio and flip between a few preset stations. We don't have to make decisions about what to listen to, and it's nice to talk about whatever's on. Plus, I do like keeping up with top 40 radio a bit.

Does linear radio broadcast on UHF over the TV count? Because, if so ABC Jazz and ABC kids get a lot of play.

Same! Or similar... it's most likely to be non-music-oriented ABC (RNational, NewsRadio, Local, etc) as I guess I like a low-level, vaguely informative din in the background and it's seamless for switching to television proper.

I tend to play (frequently ancient) CDs in the car rather than radio. But I can say an unqualified 'yes' up top because I frequently want an even lower-level background din from a conventional bedside radio while anticipating sleep or waking up. That sometimes does involve music, depending on the RRR/PBS/MBS schedule, etc.

I answered no but if I do any driving when I'm visiting relatives, I revisit the old stations I used to listen to like WXRT or WBEZ (or whatever they're listening to if they're driving). But it's really all about having a car and once I left that behind, radio wasn't a regular part of my life anymore.

Voted Yes, but it's much much less than I used to. I've pretty much stopped listening to my local NPR station (which was only in the car and I don't drive much these days), in favor of music podcasts I'm trying to get caught up on. I just tuned into Luxxury's show on KCRW two nights ago on my home receiver. Don't really listen to the mainstream stations, or even the local college ones. I keep wanting to give Pacifica (KPFK) out here another shot, but every time I tune in it's either cranks or crystals it seems.

Back when I used to drive more for work (up and down California), I would try to tune in to the Punjabi radio station whenever I was near Bakersfield because I liked the music. Last time I went through there and tried to find it, I instead found a low-power station called KSVG (Savage Radio) that was incredible. I listened to their online stream for a while after that and turned a few friends on to them as well.

(I know this thread isn't about this, but I have gone through phases in the past with internet radio like dublab and intergalactic.fm. Never got into NTS although I understand they're another good one. I never had an HD-radio so I was never able to get it terrestrially, but I liked KROQ HD2 10+ years ago and was able to get it via TuneIn on my old a/v receiver and would play that weekly until they left the platform. Just looking now I guess they're on Audacy these days lol)

this is for the present-day "left of the dial" people.

at the job i work at, someone was apparently granted the ability to just blare the local "classic rock" station all day. normally, on a short drive it would be fine. but when you have a running piece of paper that tracks if "welcome to the jungle" (sidebar for if other staples) was played, it becomes maddening.

yeah lots

radio new Zealand national & bumper (Auckland student station) mostly

Same! Or similar... it's most likely to be non-music-oriented ABC (RNational, NewsRadio, Local, etc) as I guess I like a low-level, vaguely informative din in the background and it's seamless for switching to television proper.

For whatever reason when I listed to RN it’s always through the app on the phone, but music radio through the TV.

I made my husband go and buy an emergency radio last year during some big storms because I do all my radio listening through the internet. I do listen to a lot of radio, though, for the reasons cited above. The Current is a favourite, as well as BBC Radio 3 and 6 Music. I sometimes listen to the music programmes on RTE Radio One as well, for company, but there are too many ads on Irish radio, and every single news break seems to have a sports bulletin of equal length, which pisses me off.

The touchscreen in my car broke a couple of years ago, so I can only get radio rather than stream my phone now. I will switch between Radio 1 / Radio 1xtra / Radio 3 / Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra / Radio 5 Live (just for the football results) / Radio 6 Music / Cambridge Radio / Resonance FM (though it's annoyingly only on one stereo channel) / there was a drum & bass station but it has disappeared.

The only things I deliberately tune in for these days are Gideon Coe on 6 and the Urban Bassline show on Cambridge Radio.

just in the car. mostly MeTV radio which is like an oldies station but with a much wider catalog than your typical oldies station, and our local community radio station, which can be great or awful depending on who's djing at the moment. some sports radio too, ideally if there's a baseball game on.

Yes, usually community/college radio, or oldies/classic rock. When I lived in Atlanta I would listen to hip hop stations/R&B stations but here in Nashville those aren't as good/varied.

fm radio in the bathroom got replaced by a dab radio that needed power. i fed the cable from the adapter under the door but it wasn't ideal and i removed it when the electrician visited. since then (October?) it's been radio via catch-up only. (late junction, front row, Radcliffe + maconie, freak zone...). 12 hours a week or so.

(xpost - i have a new phone & had not yet thought to turn off autocorrect - "bumper" should read "bfm")

Classical station on clock radio.

Local indie stations in car once in a while

In the car I'll listen to one of two college radio stations, and at home I prefer listening to ballgames on the radio over watching on TV.

surprised there were no Mike Francesa clips!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3keQJ09lTE

being in your car and listening to something like this is exactly what keeps me tuning the dial

I don't drive but I do own an old analogue cassette/radio. I've always disliked New Year's Eve, so for years my wife and I had this thing where we would stay in and put the radio on and listen to an LBC phone-in show. We would also occasionally listen to a live football (soccer) commentary on Five Live or Talksport. The last time I put the phone-in show on though, a lot of the callers really annoyed me by trying to be light-hearted or funny, so we haven't done that in the last few years.

In the old days (1980s and 1990s), I loved listening to pirate stations playing house, soul etc.

DAB Radio - BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3.
Internet radio - RTE1, RTE Lyric, Beatles Radio, KEXP, Soho Radio, German 90s Grunge station.
FM Radio - south east pop stations when I'm in Ireland, and need something to listen to when cooking/washing up.

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Yes. Listen to KISN fm here in the Portland metro area. Wildly obscure songs. Then on Saturdays if we’re out and about, we’ll try to catch a replay of Casey Kasems top 40 on 106.7. We heard a best of 1976 coming back from the coast and were like, “I don’t think I’ve heard this song since 1976!”

Yes! In the car and at home--KCRW out of LA, NPR and music, some other local programming. I stream KEXP when I'm not feeling the KCRW DJ (looking at you, Novena Carmel).

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