A radio receiving apparatus for a vehicle includes a radio receiver, a control circuit, a storage device, a manual switch. The radio receiver receives a radio broadcast signal at a predetermined reception frequency. The control circuit records sound information contained in the received broadcast signal on the storage device and plays back the recorded sound information from a predetermined playback position. The manual switch is used to manually change the reception frequency. The control circuit automatically changes the reception frequency when a predetermined condition is met. The control circuit determines whether the reception frequency is changed manually or automatically. When the reception frequency is manually changed, the control circuit sets the playback position to a position corresponding to when the change of the reception frequency is completed.