I’m a very recent convert to podcasts. Of course I’ve know about podcasts for years but never actually bothered to listen to any until the disaster that was my Ford Galaxy.

The car was bought with all good intentions. Having lots of kids, five, the seven seater, in theory, was perfect. However, I’m no mechanic and I bought what I think is known in the trade as a ‘Lemon’. The automatic gear box I thought would be perfect on long journeys struggled to get out of first until it had ‘warmed-up’, you could hear me coming from a good distance. When it collapsed on a French motor way on our holiday I should have known it was a money pit, but as I said I’m no mechanic.

Discovering podcasts

Sorry, I digressed. Anyway on one of the Galaxy’s many visits to the garage, they unplugged the battery, meaning the radio needed the code to work, of course I’d lost the code. So I turned to my iPhone and a hands free kit and downloaded a load of podcasts.

After much trial and error and a few suggestions from twitter, I found a steady stream of fantastic podcasts to help me through my radioless commute to work. So much so that now that the Galaxy is long gone, I still listen to podcasts via the hands free kit in my ‘new to me’ car.

So what have I listened to?

I went through the usual suspects, Radio 4 programs are a rich resource it has to be said, especially comedy, but that was what I was used to on the radio, when it worked, so I fished around. Here’s what I have on my Radio playlist on the phone at the moment, I’ve linked to the podcasts so you can have a listen yourself.

1. Jarvis Cocker’s Wireless Nights
2. Grayson Perry – Reith Lectures 2013
3. WiredUK podcast
4. Freakonomics Radio
5. Monocle 24 – The Entrepreneurs
6. The BeanCast Marketing Podcast
7. Duct Tape Marketing
8. And finally, my favourite by a mile – 99% Invisible

Why is 99% Invisible my favourite?

You just need to hear Roman Mars’ dulcet tones on the intro to be fully gripped by this amazing podcast. That’s before you find the content, for what is supposed to be an architecture podcast they cover some of the most intriguing stories I’ve ever heard and lots of them have made me stay in the car just to finish the story. They’re that good.

I’m sure you have your own favourite podcasts and I’d love to add them to my radio selection. So please leave your recommendations in the comments.