Anyone unfortunate enough to schlep around Joburg knows just how tedious the traffic can get.

Throw in the occasional bout of load-shedding and minutes can turn into hours.

Radio used to be the go-to option to jive things up, but in Joburg the choices are limited: news stations tend to be dominated by an obsession with our infantile and indulgent political set, or the latest crime by the whackjobs who seem to lurk on every corner. Or hosts with faux laughs and a PC mindset.

Not great listening.

Music stations vacillate between good stuff and bubble gum; that is, when they aren’t pumping out vacuous advertising.

(Why is local radio advertising so persistently dreadful and unimaginative?)

Short of digital radio, which is thankfully on the way, our options are limited.

Happily, my driving experience has been turned upside down in the past few weeks since I discovered the joy of podcasts, specifically the “Serial” phenomenon (http://serialpodcast.org/).

When you’re going to test drive a new “medium”, it helps to trip over the most popular podcast in history, as I did. It’s been downloaded 68 million times.

The 12-part podcast focuses on a real-life 16-year-old case involving the strangling death of a Baltimore high school student and her former 17-year-old boyfriend (who is now serving a life sentence for the crime). Stick with me, it’s not all grim.

The research and reportage is staggering in scope and scale. The only disappointment is being unable to listen from beginning to end (although you could if you were road-tripping). It’s compelling and a reminder of the virtues of radio’s golden age.

Serial is the spinoff of the popular US radio programme This American Life and sets the standards for all to follow. Not surprisingly, many others have tried to copy the formula.

The podcast poses so many questions and options you’re none the wiser whether the guy who got nailed for the crime deserves to be in prison or not. I kept changing my mind.

There is tons of other good stuff if you know where to look. One of the best resources can be found here: http://longform.org/podcast

The smart folk at Longform regularly invite some of America’s outstanding writers and reporters to chat about their craft. The writers tend to come from many of the great reservoirs of good writing, like Grantland, The New York Times, GQ, Buzzfeed, Vanity Fair, Slate and the New Yorker.

This latest is with Noreen Malone, who wrote this  week’s cracking cover story in New York magazine on Bill Cosby: https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-bonus-noreen-malone

I’m an avowed boxing and writing fan, so the interview with Brin-Jonathan Butler, who wrote A Cuban Boxer’s Journey, was a particularly special treat (http://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-102-brin-jonathan-butler).

Butler’s gift for writing is allied to a remarkable instinct and eye for detail. It helps that he’s fairly obsessive, too, which means he truly gets to the heart of his story. His encounters with great Cuban fighters are remarkable and he tells the stories with rich clarity.

There was a nice line from Politico writer Jack Shafer, who I just listened to: “Journalists don’t have thin skin. They have no skin. They are easily offended.”

There are more treats.

As “Death, Sex and Money” describes itself,  it’s a podcast about the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation. It’s excellent, too, with tons of good listening.

Check it out here: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/deathsexmoney/

I’m sold.

Give it a try. You might like it.