The Modern Driveway Moment

Public radio has this thing they call a driveway moment. (Oh, Mary, mother of God, it's not just something they call a driveway moment, it's something they have obtained a service mark for--so it's a Driveway Moment[sm].)Anyway, the idea is that you are listening to a story so compelling that when you arrive at your destination, like your home driveway, instead of turning off the radio (how quaint, listening to a live broadcast but that's the demographic), you sit in your car and listen to the rest of the piece. There are a lot of implications in that which have to do with the driveway. You drive a car. You have a driveway. You have the time (or will make the time) to sit in the car instead of going instead. You got it: 40-60 year old Caucasians living in suburbs. Anyway, again, the modern driveway moment is different for me. I plug my iPhone into an integrated car stereo which charges and plays back content directly. I listen to a podcast; this morning, it was one of my favorite NPR productions, Planet Money, which exists only as a podcast with some pieces also being aired. I arrived at my destination, and the piece is so interesting, I don't stay in the car. I unhook the iPod, plug in my headphones, and listen to the rest of the podcast as I walk to work. When I arrive at work, I dock the iPod and continue to play it, now through speakers in the office. What's that? The Intermodal Playback Moments? I don't know what to call it.