Truckers Tuning Into NPR

Trucker Finn Murphy

In July last year, long-haul truck driver Stephanie Klang got a rare speeding ticket because she was too engrossed listening to public radio.

“It’s okay, I only get a speeding ticket about once every 10 years,” she said. “… It was worth it for the story.”

According to Current, she told the state patrolman that yes, she knows listening to the radio is not a valid excuse, then proceeded to tell him all about the radio show that took her mind off her speed — an episode of BackStory about the history of taxes in the U.S. after the country had just broken away from England.

Klang has been a truck driver for 37 years, going through all 48 contiguous states, and she listens to public radio all the time. She said she used to have a small booklet listing all the public radio stations in the country, which she got as a gift for pledging support.

“I used that book until it absolutely fell apart, and I wish I’d ordered two of them now,” she said.

NPR's Terry Gross

After years of listening, she has memorized some local stations — for example, 90.1 in Dallas and 90.7 in St. Louis.

She’s not the only truck driver who listens to NPR — far from it, according to Finn Murphy, who has been a long-haul trucker for more than 30 years.

“Every single driver I’ve ever talked to listens to NPR,” said Murphy.

He recently published The Long Haul, a book about his experiences. “If I can, I’ll schedule my driving to catch Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” Murphy wrote. “ … I’ve got a little crush on Terry, actually. It’s probably because I’ve spent more time with her than anyone else in my life.”

Murphy writes that even if truckers “may not like the slant, if there is one,” they still listen to public radio. Aside from the content, according to Murphy, drivers like NPR for the continuity. They can keep listening to the same programs from state to state.

They also like NPR because they’re bored.  According to Murphy discussion on NPR "is still a whole lot more interesting than anything else you’re going to find on the radio,” Murphy said. “If you want to get excited and exercised and activated about different points of view from yours, that also makes the miles go by.”