Podcasts are perfect for over-the-road entertainment. Truckers know this, but podcasts are ideal for anyone with a 20 to 30 minute work commute (brokers and dispatchers, looking at you). Lunch breaks are a good time to catch an episode, or, my favorite, the time it takes to get in a nice cardio work out. I love music, but occasionally, I need to learn something new.

Sometimes the branches of logistics can feel disconnected from each other. Brokers, drivers, and dispatchers all live in very different environments, but podcasts can bring us back together. Learn about something new going on in your truckers’ world, and keep up with what your truckers are talking about right now.

Here’s a list of some of the most popular trucking podcasts out there today. The first few are specifically about trucking, so they tie us all together. Each podcast has a spin that makes it a winner, so read about each one and check out the websites to sample an episode or two. If you’re looking to expand your podcast playlist and want to keep up on what’s important to your drivers, add these podcasts to your Stitcher list:

The Trucking Podcast

This podcast works for everyone in logistics. Buck Ballard and his son Don Ballard are both truckers who love talking about trucking, topics truckers find interesting, and offer some trucking business advice. They keep the content pretty fresh with a new episode released each week, so they aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel for anything to talk about, and forethought is put into each episode. The Trucking Podcast has a website what expands on the details of each episode. Whenever the Ballards publish an episode that resonates with you, you can visit the website and read more about the topic.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | Spotify

Trucker Dump

Host Todd McCann is a 20-year trucking veteran who talks about his own insights and views on truck driving. He releases one episode a month that lasts about an hour and a half, so these episodes come at you slowly, but they’re fun to listen to. Trucker Dump makes the list on all the best trucker podcasts, and once you listen, you’ll get it. While it’s geared towards truck drivers, it doesn’t hurt for everyone else to be tuned in. Why? McCann gives a trucker’s personal experience about shippers/receivers, customer experiences, and more. This kind of information provides insight on how others are running their businesses, sometimes inefficiently. That can prompt you to do an audit on your own business when he hits on a certain topic that could relate to you. When you find that topic, go to his website, click on the episode, and the content is right there for you to review.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

TalkCDL Trucking Podcast

This is a trucking podcast for truck drivers released every Friday morning. This is a trucking culture kind of podcast: the hosts are funny, they talk about the industry, and vent about issues and frustrations truckers face every day. TalkCDL brings current attention to safety issues, emerging technology, and evolving rules and regulations. If you have any kind of question about what’s going on in the life of a trucker, these hosts have covered it.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts

Alice Isn’t Dead

Shifting gears a bit, this serial fiction podcast makes the trucker lists because it blends the world of trucking with the sexy appeal of crime thrillers. Alice Isn’t Dead is a 48-episode podcast about an over-the-road trucker on a journey across the country to search out a wife he long thought dead. Much like Trucker Dump, this podcast is wildly popular among truckers and it spans interest beyond just over-the-road drivers. This podcast is especially attractive to the logistic industry for obvious reasons. Since the series has officially wrapped, you can binge listen to the whole thing now.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Your Turn: What Are You Listening To?

Now we want to hear from you: what podcasts are you listening to? Do you have any other trucker-oriented suggestions? Or do you have something outside of trucking you’re recommending to everyone right now?

Both my dad and my father-in-law are over-the-road truckers, and here are the podcasts they’re quick to recommend:

Freakonomics

My dad loves learning about economics, but when it comes to actually recommending a podcast for the general public, he doesn’t hesitate to suggest Freakonomics. Economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner look into all kinds of obscure topics and view them from multiple sides. They interview experts, dig up research, and present it all in an interesting way. The topics these guys cover have prompted some rather memorable conversations around the dinner table.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | Audible

Stuff to Blow Your Mind

My father-in-law is the kind of guy who never meets a stranger. He immediately has something interesting and fun to talk about. When someone has that kind of personality, you have to wonder where they’re getting their info. Enter Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a podcast that talks about anything and everything in minuscule detail. Hosts Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick do their due diligence to deliver interesting, researched, and speculated takes on topics from neuroscience to art and everything in between.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

What podcasts do you recommend? Share a link in the comments.