Superbowl Roundup with Ian Chillag

Superbowl Roundup with Ian Chillag

Author: The War on Cars, LLC February 10, 2026 Duration: 1:10:56

Super Bowl LX had everything, from ads for weight loss drugs and male grooming products to spots touting tax prep services and calming fears about our AI overlords. It also had one outstanding halftime performance from Bad Bunny. But what the game didn't have was a whole lot of car ads. (Or a whole lot of touchdowns, but that's a different story.) Why, after dominating the broadcast for decades, has the automobile industry gone cool on one of broadcasting's biggest nights? And what did the few cars ads that did run say about the state of the nation and American culture at this particularly fraught moment in time? Ian Chillag—creator and host of the award-winning Radiotopia podcast "Everything is Alive," the co-host of NPR's "How to Do Everything," and a senior producer of "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me"—joins us to break it all down.

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Watch all of the Super Bowl ads. (NY Times)

Listen to Ian Chillag's podcasts How to Do Everything and Everything is Alive.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

www.thewaroncars.org

 


Imagine a world not built around traffic jams and parking lots, but shaped for people. The War on Cars is a dispatch from the front lines of that effort, a collective conversation questioning the automobile’s dominance over our cities, our environment, and our daily lives. Each episode digs into the real-world fight to reclaim public space, examining everything from the politics of a new bike lane to the history of how cars came to rule. You’ll hear from urban planners, activists, historians, and ordinary people pushing back, offering a mix of sharp analysis, on-the-ground reporting, and compelling narratives. This isn’t just about transportation; it’s about the culture and societal choices that have led us here, and the tangible, often inspiring work to create safer, quieter, and more connected communities. Tune in for a thoughtful and necessary critique of the status quo, a podcast dedicated to the idea that our streets can-and should-be for so much more.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The War on Cars
Podcast Episodes
TEASER: Hess for the Holidays [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:07
Since 1964, the Hess Corporation has released a toy truck for the holiday season, an annual tradition that's highly anticipated by children and collectors alike. Models have included gas tankers, fire trucks, motorcycles…
Road Ecology with Ben Goldfarb [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:17
In his new book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, independent conservation journalist Ben Goldfarb writes about how roads and cars are wreaking havoc on nature across the globe. He reports…
What the Hell is Happening In the UK? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:44
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared it's time to end what he calls "the war on motorists." First, the Conservative Party leader announced he was delaying the UK's commitment to ban the sale of new gas-powered…
TEASER: Origin Stories [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:38
Have you ever found yourself wondering, how did Aaron, Doug and Sarah get mobilized into the war on cars? What made them this way? If so, you're in luck. In this bonus episode, exclusively for Patreon supporters, we dive…
John Bauters, America's Bike Mayor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:32
Since he was elected mayor in 2020, John Bauters has gained an international reputation for his work to transform transportation and housing in the tiny city of Emeryville, which is wedged between Oakland and Berkeley on…
Dark PR with Grant Ennis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:49
In his new book, Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment, Grant Ennis — a lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia — identifies the "nine devious frames" that corporations…
Unintended Consequences with Steven Johnson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:11
This year, 2023, marks the hundredth anniversary since chemical engineer Thomas Midgley, Jr. made the discoveries that led to the invention of leaded gasoline. Of all the many harms that the automobile has caused the env…
TEASER: Celebrating Your Wins! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:10
In this bonus episode just for Patreon supporters of The War on Cars, we do a quick news roundup before getting to the thing that matters most: WINNING. Last month we reached out to our liteners and asked them to send us…
Why Congestion Pricing Matters with Diana Lind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:44
After 16 years of slogging its way through municipal, state and federal government and every imaginable form of public process, congestion pricing is finally on its way to New York City. If all goes as planned, then anyo…
TEASER: Coach Balto's Bike Bus Lessons [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:59
While working on Episode 110, Back to School with the Bike Bus, we spoke with Sam Balto, a phys ed teacher in Portland, Oregon, who goes by @CoachBalto and who's become one of the most visible advocates in the global mov…