Radio Around the World
December 12, 2016 9:46 PM Subscribe
Radio.garden A browsable map of streamable radio stations around the world.
This is the most amazing thing ever. I love living in the future.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:53 PM on December 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Keith Talent at 10:53 PM on December 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
Fantastic. I'm gobsmacked at how simple and amazing this is.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:42 AM on December 13, 2016
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:42 AM on December 13, 2016
This is mind blowing! I'll use this, but I'll still go back to Public Radio Fan (http://www.publicradiofan.com) just because.
posted by james33 at 4:21 AM on December 13, 2016
posted by james33 at 4:21 AM on December 13, 2016
Very, very cool. I'm assuming it starts on where you live? Or else that was a wild coincidence that it started with some Toronto talk radio. Then I went to Erie, PA for a strange Christmas story from the 40's then onto Cuba, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
I'll be playing with this all day.
posted by chococat at 5:10 AM on December 13, 2016
I'll be playing with this all day.
posted by chococat at 5:10 AM on December 13, 2016
Fun! Pilipili FM out of Mombasa, Kenya, is much more conducive to life today than Wintry Mix Ohio.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:17 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 5:17 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is a really nice interface, but in the parts of the world I'm familiar with, the selection is odd, to say the least. In Iceland, for instance, there's a pop station and a crazy right-wing talk radio station (charged for hate speech crazy). In Helsinki, there are stations which I'm pretty sure aren't Helsinki based. Neither place has its public broadcaster, and same was true of most European countries where I roamed. That said, it's been really special to roam around the world with the AM radio on. Got the AM sound, got the radio on. Got the rocking modern neon sound.
posted by Kattullus at 5:25 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 5:25 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ah, everything old is new again.
I love new radio UIs. These days, you could even do a real radio version of this - there are databases of what's on every frequency and ways to know which ones worldwide are in range...
posted by Devonian at 5:38 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love new radio UIs. These days, you could even do a real radio version of this - there are databases of what's on every frequency and ways to know which ones worldwide are in range...
posted by Devonian at 5:38 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is a really fun way to sort of browse stations as an adventure. It's a delight.
If you find yourself with more straightforward questions like "Does the area I am driving through have an NPR station?" or "Does the bluegrass station I heard driving through Missouri still exist?" or "What kind of [genre] stations can I find that stream online?" you might check out Radio-Locator.com, as it excels at giving that kind of info quickly.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:59 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you find yourself with more straightforward questions like "Does the area I am driving through have an NPR station?" or "Does the bluegrass station I heard driving through Missouri still exist?" or "What kind of [genre] stations can I find that stream online?" you might check out Radio-Locator.com, as it excels at giving that kind of info quickly.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:59 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
very Contact, much vibe.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:27 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 7:27 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is awesome.
After playing with this for an hour, I think two thirds of the world's population is listening to some form of Christmas music right now.
posted by cmfletcher at 7:36 AM on December 13, 2016
After playing with this for an hour, I think two thirds of the world's population is listening to some form of Christmas music right now.
posted by cmfletcher at 7:36 AM on December 13, 2016
This is great (to add to the chorus). If you like jazz, Moscow's Jazz 101 has nothing but classic jazz, one cut after another, no IDs (so have your Shazam/SoundHound handy), just the occasional station ID ("Dzaz Sto Odin!"). My day has been improved.
posted by languagehat at 8:14 AM on December 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by languagehat at 8:14 AM on December 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
(I guess "classic jazz" isn't unambiguous; they've been playing Sonny Rollins, Sonny Clark, Ben Webster, Earl Hines, Bucky Pizzarelli, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Raney, and now Lee Morgan.)
posted by languagehat at 8:18 AM on December 13, 2016
posted by languagehat at 8:18 AM on December 13, 2016
This is fun I shall enjoy trawling around.
Reminds me of oh so long ago (early 80´s) listening to Radio Free Grenada on HF whilest on night watch running south down the Red Sea and the propogation was right.
posted by adamvasco at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Reminds me of oh so long ago (early 80´s) listening to Radio Free Grenada on HF whilest on night watch running south down the Red Sea and the propogation was right.
posted by adamvasco at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just FYI, running the Ghostery extension, I had to pause blocking of web trackers for the site to load.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:13 AM on December 13, 2016
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:13 AM on December 13, 2016
This is such a great idea. It's not working well for me, though, as most stations in Spain and especially South America I tried were just not accessible. Is this browser-dependent? I tried FF and Chrome with no improvement.
posted by the sobsister at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2016
posted by the sobsister at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2016
I have to say this is fantastic, in what can only be described as amazing serendipity I immediately found a reggae dub station based out of Cyprus (!!!!).
I had no particular reason or motivation to look at that part of the Earth, but started listening to it a bit and one hour later it was still on, and these DJs are badass! Some of the best reggae/dub playlists I've ever heard.
Enjoy for yourself: Cyprus Dub Community
posted by jeremias at 11:25 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I had no particular reason or motivation to look at that part of the Earth, but started listening to it a bit and one hour later it was still on, and these DJs are badass! Some of the best reggae/dub playlists I've ever heard.
Enjoy for yourself: Cyprus Dub Community
posted by jeremias at 11:25 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Winterhill -
I agree with a lot of what you say about diversity and conformity in radio, but in some respects it's the same as in other aspects of publishing. A good radio station needs a lot of skill, commitment and imagination, and unless you are exceptionally talented, energetic and have a lot of free time, you're going to need to pay people. And there are a lot more places to go and things to do on the Internet.
Against that, two things. First, in some areas there is still a lot of diversity and experimentation - I can get my fill of weird and lovely music that would never trouble a commercial playlist practically any time I like, and in programme form with attached humans rather than el-rando shuffle.
And second, it's never been easier to set up a pirate station. As an experiment, I bought a 5 watt stereo transmitter off eBay for about twenty quid/thirty bucks, set it up in my apartment and strung a so-so antenna out of the window. I found a spare frequency, plugged in some distinctive but not obviously come-and-get-me-uncle-charlie audio, and went wandering around my neighbourhood with a little FM radio on headphones. Listenable range was a good half-to-three-quarter miles radius, and in a big city that's a lot of people. It wouldn't have taken much extra effort or expense to have increased that range considerably. I haven't (yet) repeated the experiment with digital radio, but I know that it's not far off being as simple and cheap, these days. (And you should see what the hams are doing with digital TV these days.)
The game has changed. I, too, miss the days when UK cities and regions had their own distinctive local voices on commercial radio and TV, but even well-intentioned and helpful efforts by Ofcom to re-establish that sort of broadcasting have failed. Things have moved on. But radio is still there for people to take up and create with, if they wish.
posted by Devonian at 12:37 PM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
I agree with a lot of what you say about diversity and conformity in radio, but in some respects it's the same as in other aspects of publishing. A good radio station needs a lot of skill, commitment and imagination, and unless you are exceptionally talented, energetic and have a lot of free time, you're going to need to pay people. And there are a lot more places to go and things to do on the Internet.
Against that, two things. First, in some areas there is still a lot of diversity and experimentation - I can get my fill of weird and lovely music that would never trouble a commercial playlist practically any time I like, and in programme form with attached humans rather than el-rando shuffle.
And second, it's never been easier to set up a pirate station. As an experiment, I bought a 5 watt stereo transmitter off eBay for about twenty quid/thirty bucks, set it up in my apartment and strung a so-so antenna out of the window. I found a spare frequency, plugged in some distinctive but not obviously come-and-get-me-uncle-charlie audio, and went wandering around my neighbourhood with a little FM radio on headphones. Listenable range was a good half-to-three-quarter miles radius, and in a big city that's a lot of people. It wouldn't have taken much extra effort or expense to have increased that range considerably. I haven't (yet) repeated the experiment with digital radio, but I know that it's not far off being as simple and cheap, these days. (And you should see what the hams are doing with digital TV these days.)
The game has changed. I, too, miss the days when UK cities and regions had their own distinctive local voices on commercial radio and TV, but even well-intentioned and helpful efforts by Ofcom to re-establish that sort of broadcasting have failed. Things have moved on. But radio is still there for people to take up and create with, if they wish.
posted by Devonian at 12:37 PM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Give me KEXP or give me death! Oh man, I miss that Seattle non-profit station. Rock for the people!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:14 PM on December 13, 2016
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:14 PM on December 13, 2016
KPFT (streaming live from kpft.org) is one of the only reasons I could ever bear even the idea of living in Houston again. (Not that I'm going to move to flippin' Houston. Jesus. Just saying, is all.) KPFT is the most fantastic radio station I've ever come across. A *ton* of volunteer DJs, amazing musical programming with a different show every 3 or 4 hours, programming of all kinds, Democracy Now, etc and etc.
KPFTs tower was blown down by the KKK the first week they started broadcasting and they were up and running again within a week and haven't stopped broadcasting since. I am not an atheist but I absolutely *loved* listening to The National Atheist Hour because I always heard some of the sanest, most decent, most civil ppl ever calling in or interviewed or what-have-you. A woman asked me once what it's about, I was bragging on KPFT and she asked me what is KPFT about and I told her it's just the best and she had to give it a whirl, and she a relatively conservative person, she did tune in and found a show hosted by a coven of lesbian witches and I'd bet $28,483.46 she's never turned her dial to The Mighty 90 (KPFT 90.1 FM) ever again. I was so proud. I was so happy. I was a KPFT evangelist! One night I was leaving Houston, late on a Friday or Saturday night, tuned into The Mighty 90 and they had this crazy gay guys show came on at like 1 AM, and it was right at Christmas and they played some of the funniest, craziest, most profane, most disgusting holiday songs I have ever heard -- it was outstanding! It was the best! It was so hard to leave the broadcasting area that night, these guys were having a blast and so was I until they faded out, 65 miles outside of Houston maybe ....
I love me some KPFT...
posted by dancestoblue at 12:25 AM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
KPFTs tower was blown down by the KKK the first week they started broadcasting and they were up and running again within a week and haven't stopped broadcasting since. I am not an atheist but I absolutely *loved* listening to The National Atheist Hour because I always heard some of the sanest, most decent, most civil ppl ever calling in or interviewed or what-have-you. A woman asked me once what it's about, I was bragging on KPFT and she asked me what is KPFT about and I told her it's just the best and she had to give it a whirl, and she a relatively conservative person, she did tune in and found a show hosted by a coven of lesbian witches and I'd bet $28,483.46 she's never turned her dial to The Mighty 90 (KPFT 90.1 FM) ever again. I was so proud. I was so happy. I was a KPFT evangelist! One night I was leaving Houston, late on a Friday or Saturday night, tuned into The Mighty 90 and they had this crazy gay guys show came on at like 1 AM, and it was right at Christmas and they played some of the funniest, craziest, most profane, most disgusting holiday songs I have ever heard -- it was outstanding! It was the best! It was so hard to leave the broadcasting area that night, these guys were having a blast and so was I until they faded out, 65 miles outside of Houston maybe ....
I love me some KPFT...
posted by dancestoblue at 12:25 AM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
« Older Don't you boys know any nice songs? | ok ok we got this Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Apparently, it was created by TRE (Transnational Radio Encounters). It is so awesome to be able to travel around this amazing planet, see the geographic details on the map, listening to the languages, music, ambiance, news in so many countries, far flung corners of the world. Just like that. Boom. One moment listening to music in Bamako, Mali, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Bengaluru, India then swiveling the globe and listening to music in Chalcis, Greece.
I love the Stories part of this website too, in different accents. The History part too around the world, in different languages. Even the Jingles part is cool.
Looking at the globe is wonderful as well, connecting to parts of the world by their radio programs is an interesting sort of intimacy. I like targeting the littler dots in exotic places I've never heard of before.
What a great sound adventure this is.
posted by nickyskye at 10:18 PM on December 12, 2016 [6 favorites]