When this first came out I retrieved the list of stations (around 20k, I think it was just a JSON file), converted it to .m3u8, and I have since used it as a playlist for WinAmp. It's playing one of those streams right now, using 4MB of memory and practically no CPU.
Over the years, several streams (or the station themselves unfortunately) have gone offline. To refresh my list I'd have to scrape the "globe", and it doesn't feel like the right thing to do.
Has anyone encountered a similar website, but with a simple list of public streams?
> Everyone is free to use the collected data (station names, tags, links to stream, links to homepages, language, country, state) in their works. I give all the rights I have at the accumulated data to the public domain.
It was a challenge finding something truly foreign. I just kept stumbling across america's best hits of the 80s and 90s, all across the globe. With a steady helping of generic euro-pop.
But some revival preaching in africa really felt like visiting a foreign place, as did some cape town talk radio. Obviously the islamic world has a very different playlist, so that was a gimme. What a neat concept!
When I was first time in Paris, me and friends were blown away by the sheer number of stations and good, rave-class, electronic music on the waves. We used to wander around the city with walkman's on. Sounds weird... good times.
Also, when I was a small kid, used to go to the furthest room in the house, close the door and lay down with small, pocket radio, catching foreign stations on LW. The further, the better.
> lay down with small, pocket radio, catching foreign stations on LW.
You were probably listening to shortwave stations, not longwave. Most international broadcasting was done in the shortwave bands, typically in the range of 3 MHz (100 meter wavelength) to 30 MHz (10 meter wavelength).
That's cool... I would have a hard time finding a radio-set around, though. Few months ago I spent half of a night watching video streams from tokyo public transit stations, so I guess kid inside is doing fine.
I assume you're referring to Cape Talk 567 [1], which broadcasts on 567 kHz AM/MW in the Cape Town region. I also enjoy it, although the late night political debates can become tiring. It has a sister talk radio station in Gauteng, Radio 702 [2]. Both are owned by Primedia.
Your first paragraph is similar to when I first started traveling and was surprised to hear so much American music everywhere. That's when I truly realized the scale of American cultural hegemony and what "soft power" really means.
Um. Just did a quick stroll down memory lane. Ya. Me Phi Me's album ONE hasn't exactly held up well... So here's another movie soundtrack single that I still enjoy:
Revival was on a soundtrack of a (mediocre) movie Reality Bites. It has wonderful sense of South-style communion for me. I remember that was the only song by Me Phi Me, which I enjoyed at that time.
I love this website! Also, if you like this site, be sure to check out radiooooo.com for a similar premise, but with more of a historical aspect. I'll additionally plug everynoise.com solely because it has every genre of music you've ever heard of, and then thousands more!
Both sites (and radio.garden) are great for finding new music.
Why did I listen to a Lowe's commercial on a radio station from Port Mathurin? For reference, an island in the middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean: https://radio.garden/visit/accacia/Y2DoPxzU
My guess is they are just streaming spotify on some VPN with a stolen account that puts them in Florida.
I've heard a lot of German ads on Nigerian stations. Turns out they were all served by zeno.fm ("The easiest way to create and listen to radio stations and podcasts") which seems to proxy local stations, making money from cramming ads into the streams.
Music rights are a bit of a mess across the Atlantic. PRS/PPL licences don't reciprocate with the American equivalents and vice versa. Either it's two sets of licences (and possibly legal entities) or you end up geo blocking. Though on the up side you can stream to parts of Europe and even Australia from the UK IIRC.
Licencing bodies are also fairly actively monitoring these things. I've had them try to chase me for royalties for services that have been shut down because they're still listed in public directories.
Came here to say that! It's a nice app and very innovative, but if I have fire up a f*** VPN every time I want to listen to stations outside the UK, forget it!
I don't think the developers care either: I've emailed numerous times without an answer, and even less-than-favourable reviews on the App Store failed to elicit a response. At least tell us the reason for the UK- hatred if you're not going to fix it?!
“unfortunately the restriction must be extended for an indefinite period due to copyright and neighbouring rights related matters that require clarification. ”
“Our original configuration was fully HTTPS-enabled; however, we had to adjust this when browser manufacturers started blocking HTTPS websites from loading HTTP streams.
Approximately 20% of the stations featured on Radio Garden are accessible via HTTP streams, which would become inaccessible if we switched entirely to HTTPS. Given the recent changes in Chrome's behavior towards forcing an HTTPS connection, we are considering moving back to an all-HTTPS setup in the near future.”
WMPH.net 91.7Mhz FM They play everything from Big Band to Taylor Swift (sometimes even back to back). Give a listen, if nothing else they will go "Wow people from around the world listen to us!"
I'd like to just give some thanks to the author; I use this sometimes when I'm feeling homesick to hear my old local radio stations in the UK. It really quells the feeling of disconnect I sometimes feel to my homeland and gives me comfort when I feel wayward in my spirit.
This is an interesting comment in that the stations in my home town are no longer the same. Clear Channel has come in bought up all (only a slight exaggeration) of the stations. The stations I listened to as a kid are no longer around, and some of the stations that are still on the air are different formats. If child me were to listen to radio today, nothing would be recognizable
Ah! It is its time to be submitted again. I remember submitting it when I found it a few years back. This pops up once a while (seeing a pattern here) and people loving it.
Being able to pick radio stations by geolocation is a really nice feature. I can go explore the world! But then it's a bit disappointing how similar many stations sound, no matter where they are.
It went straight to my local radio station and I listened for 2 minutes straight of ads! It was actually kind of weird to hear ads for local businesses, like the pub just down the road.
This is really cool. My wife and I spent a few months in Merida, MX. Great to listen to music broadcast from there. A great city with a few disadvantages. ;)
I once had a little radio show (10 episodes or so) exploring radio garden. I picked some, contacted them for permission, talked a bit and was happy. South American classic music (Strawinsky!) vs Korean classic music (way too much Austrian influence, boring), KTRU Houston vs WFMU Jersey, Rwanda free radio as classic example of inciting genocide, lots of interesting history bits.
Over the years, several streams (or the station themselves unfortunately) have gone offline. To refresh my list I'd have to scrape the "globe", and it doesn't feel like the right thing to do.
Has anyone encountered a similar website, but with a simple list of public streams?
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